The Religion of Ancient Egypt

The Religion of Ancient Egypt Synopsis

Excerpt from The Religion of Ancient Egypt

There are in ancient theologies very different classes of gods. Some races, as the modern Hindu, revel in a profusion Of gods and godlings, which are continually being increased. Others, as the Turanians, whether Sumerian Babylonians, modern Siberians, or Chinese, do not adopt the worship of great gods, but deal with a host of animistic spirits, ghosts, devils, or whatever we may call them; and Shamanism or witchcraft is their system for conciliating such adversaries. But all our knowledge of the early positions and nature of great gods shows them to stand on anentirely different footing to these varied spirits. Were the conception of a god only an evolution from such spirit worship we should find the worship Of many gods preceding the worship of one god, polytheism would precede monotheism in each tribe or race. What we actually find is the con trary of this, monotheism is the first stage trace able in theology. Hence we must rather look on the theologic conception of the Aryan and Semitic races as quite apart from the demon-worship of the Turanians, Indeed the Chinese seem to have a mental aversion to the conception of a personal god, and to think either of the host of earth spirits and other demons, or else Of the pantheistic abstraction of heaven.

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