Polytheism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Polydeism<!--'Polydeism' redirects here-->== {{Deism sidebar |expanded=movements}} '''Polydeism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> (from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ΟΞΏΞ»Ο ''poly'' ("many") and [[Latin]] ''[[deus]]'' meaning god) is a [[portmanteau]] referencing a polytheistic form of [[deism]], encompassing the belief that the [[universe]] was the collective creation of multiple [[deity|god]]s, each of whom created a piece of the universe or [[multiverse]] and then ceased to intervene in its evolution. This concept addresses an apparent contradiction in deism, that a monotheistic God created the universe, but now expresses no apparent interest in it, by supposing that if the universe is the construct of many gods, none of them would have an interest in the universe as a whole. [[Creighton University]] Philosophy professor [[William O. Stephens]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/phil/Bill.htm |title=Article on "Bill" Stephens |access-date=2018-07-07 |archive-date=2016-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129102418/http://puffin.creighton.edu/phil/Bill.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> who has taught this concept, suggests that [[C. D. Broad]] projected this concept<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/phil/Stephens/phl-323-Spr05-Revu-Q-4.htm |title=article on C. D. Broad's concept projection |access-date=2018-07-07 |archive-date=2006-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621180119/http://puffin.creighton.edu/phil/Stephens/phl-323-Spr05-Revu-Q-4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> in Broad's 1925 article, "The Validity of Belief in a Personal God".<ref>C. D. Broad, "The Validity of Belief in a Personal God", reprinted in C. D. Broad, ''Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research'', (1953), 159β174.</ref> Broad noted that the arguments for the [[existence of God]] only tend to prove that "a designing mind ''had'' existed in the past, not that it ''does'' exist now. It is quite compatible with this argument that God should have died long ago, or that he should have turned his attention to other parts of the Universe", and notes in the same breath that "there is nothing in the facts to suggest that there is only one such being".<ref>Id. at 171.</ref> Stephens contends that Broad, in turn, derived the concept from [[David Hume]]. Stephens states: {{Blockquote|David Hume's criticisms of the [[argument from design]] include the argument that, for all we know, a committee of very powerful, but not omnipotent, divine beings could have collaborated in creating the world, but then afterwards left it alone or even ceased to exist. This would be polydeism.}} This use of the term appears to originate at least as early as [[Robert M. Bowman Jr.]]'s 1997 essay, ''Apologetics from Genesis to Revelation''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atlantaapologist.org/GenesisToRevelation.PDF |title=Apologetics β From Genesis to Revelation |access-date=2018-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831025947/http://www.atlantaapologist.org/GenesisToRevelation.PDF |archive-date=2006-08-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bowman wrote: {{Blockquote|[[Materialism]] (illustrated by the [[Epicureans]]), represented today by [[atheism]], [[skepticism]], and deism. The materialist may acknowledge superior beings, but they do not believe in a Supreme Being. Epicureanism was founded about 300 BC by [[Epicurus]]. Their world view might be called "polydeism:" there are many gods, but they are merely superhuman beings; they are remote, uninvolved in the world, posing no threat and offering no hope to human beings. Epicureans regarded traditional religion and [[idolatry]] as harmless enough as long as the gods were not feared or expected to do or say anything.}} Sociologist [[Susan Starr Sered]] used the term in her 1994 book, ''Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women'', which includes a chapter titled, "No Father in Heaven: Androgyny and Polydeism". She writes that she has "chosen to gloss on 'polydeism' a range of beliefs in more than one supernatural entity".<ref name="Sered">[[Susan Starr Sered]], ''Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women'' (1994), p. 169.</ref> Sered used this term in a way that would encompass polytheism, rather than exclude much of it, as she intended to capture both polytheistic systems and nontheistic systems that assert the influence of "spirits or ancestors".<ref name="Sered"/> This use of the term, however, does not accord with the historical misuse of ''deism'' as a concept to describe an absent [[creator god]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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