One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World.

• Author: Beckman, Gary
• Position: Reviews of Books

One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World. Edited by BARBARA NEVLING PORTER. Transactions of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, vol. 1. Chebeague Island, Maine: CASCO BAY ASSYRIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 2000. Pp. ix + 350, illus. $25. [Distributed by CDL Press, Bethesda, Md.]

Simo Parpola of Helsinki University has recently created quite a stir in Assyriological circles by claiming not only that the religion of ancient Assyria was basically monotheistic, but also that this system of belief exercised a formative influence upon the development of such core concepts of Christianity as the nature of the trinity and the soteriological role of Christ. (1) The volume under review presents the papers delivered at an intimate conference of historians of ancient religions convened in September 1997 to consider Parpola's provocative ideas within the context of the larger question: Did the theologians of the early high cultures of the West hold divinity to be essentially singular and unitary, or multiple and diverse? With sad irony, the proceedings were dedicated to William L. Moran, but appeared in the same month as Professor Moran died in his Maine home at the age of 79.

In her introduction, Barbara N. Porter points out that the discussion should not be framed as a simple opposition of monotheism versus polytheism, since Christianity and Judaism, generally recognized as monotheistic faiths, recognize the existence of numerous para-human beings (e.g., "angels"), but deny them the status of divinities. Distinguishing between monotheism and polytheism thus entails preconceptions of classification and emphasis. It is not easy to draw a qualitative distinction between a system featuring a single god (say, Yahweh) surrounded by lesser, semi-divine minions, and one in which a primary deity (say, Assur) is strongly dominant over other beings recognized as gods or goddesses.

John Baines' essay, "Egyptian Deities in Context: Multiplicity, Unity, and the Problem of Change," shows how polytheism does not preclude the understanding of the divine world as a unity. In fact, "the unity of the concept of the divine or of deities sits at least as well in a polytheism as in a monotheism, where it is mainly tautological" (p. 71). At any moment, or for any particular worshipper generally, a single deity might become so much the focus of devotion that all other gods and goddesses are conceived as manifestations of him or her. But the political and social...