logical Beings; Mountains; Müller, F. Max; Num;
Num-Tu ̄rem; Pettazzoni, Raffaele; Polytheism; Preuss, Kon-
rad T.; Radin, Paul; Schmidt, Wilhelm; Shangdi; Sky; Sö-
derblom, Nathan; Spener, Philipp Jakob; Tangaroa; Tian;
Tylor, E. B.; Ülgen; uNkulunkulu; Varun:a; Viracocha;
Zeus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
General Works
A number of important studies treat the general investigation of
supreme beings on a large scale. In addition to their theoreti-
cal and historical value, these works also provide ample bibli-
ographies on the subject. Mircea Eliade’s Patterns in Compar-
ative Religion (New York, 1958) deals at length with the
question of supreme beings in chapter 2, “The Sky and Sky
Gods.” There follow twelve pages of bibliography containing
some three hundred entries grouped by geographic and cul-
ture area. For a brief synthesis of Raffaele Pettazzoni’s view
on the issue, see his “The Supreme Being: Phenomenological
Structure and Historical Development,” in The History of Re-
ligions: Essays in Methodology, edited by Joseph M. Kitagawa
and Mircea Eliade (Chicago, 1959), pp. 59–66. Other im-
portant works by Pettazzoni include Dio: Formazione e svi-
luppo del monoteismo nella storia delle religioni (Rome, 1922);
“Allwissende höchste Wesen bei primitivsten Völkern,” Ar-
chiv für Religionswissenschaft 29 (1930): 108–129, 209–243;
and L’onni-scienza di Dio (Turin, 1955). A wealth of material
is contained in the eleven thousand pages of Wilhelm
Schmidt’s Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, 12 vols. (Münster,
1912–1955). Other general works central to the discussion
of supreme beings include Nathan Söderblom’s Das Werden
des Gottesglaubens: Untersuchungen über die Anfänge der Reli-
gion, 2d ed. (Leipzig, 1926); Gerardus van der Leeuw’s “Die
Struktur der Vorstellung des sogenannten Höchsten
Wesens,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 29 (1931): 79–107;
Carl Clemen’s “Der sogenannte Monotheismus der Primiti-
ven,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 27 (1927): 290–373;
and Paul Radin’s Monotheism among Primitive Peoples (Lon-
don, 1924).
Specific Studies
Most of the recent works on the subject make no attempt to en-
compass the wide parameters of the nature and meaning of
supreme beings. Any list of these studies specializing in the
supreme being of one culture area could become inordinately
long. The following works, not included in the bibliogra-
phies of the general treatises cited above, serve as illustrations
of the kind of works that bring clarity to the state of the ques-
tion in their particular field.
China
David N. Keightley, “The Religious Commitment: Shang Theol-
ogy and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture,” History
of Religions 17 (1978): 211–225. Joseph Shih, “The Notion
of God in the Ancient Chinese Religion,” Numen 16 (1969):
99–138. Homer H. Dubs, “The Archaic Royal Jou Reli-
gion,” T’oung pao 46 (1958): 217–259.
Oceania
Hans Schärer, Ngaju Religion: The Conception of God among a
South Borneo People, translated by Rodney Needham (The
Hague, 1963). Anicetus B. Sinaga, Toba-Batak High God:
Transcendence and Immanence (St. Augustin, West Germany,
1981).
Africa
E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Nuer Religion (Oxford, 1956). Godfrey
Lienhardt, Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the Dinka
(Oxford, 1961). John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philoso-
phy (New York, 1969). Charles H. Long, “The West African
High God: History and Religious Experience.” History of Re-
ligions 3 (1964): 328–349.
South America
Mircea Eliade, “South American High Gods, Part I,” History of
Religions 8 (1968–1969): 338–354. Mircea Eliade, “South
American High Gods, Part II,” History of Religions 10 (1970–
1971): 234–266. Arthur Andrew Demarest, Viracocha: The
Nature and Antiquity of the Andean High God (Cambridge,
Mass., 1981). Ana Maria Mariscotti, “Die Stellung des
Gewittergottes in den Regionalen Pantheen der Zentralan-
den,” Baessler-Archiv (Berlin), n. s. 18 (1970): 427–436.
Mesoamerica
Miguel León Portilla, La filosofía nahuatl estudiada en sus fuentes,
2d ed. (Mexico City, 1959). Bodo Spranz, Göttergestalten in
den mexikanischen Bilderhandschriften der Codex Borgia-
Gruppe (Wiesbaden, 1964). Mercedes Olivera de Vazquez,
“Los ‘dueños del agua’ en Tlaxcalcingo,” Boletin del Instituto
Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico City) 35 (1969).
Ferdinand Anders, Das Pantheon der Maya (Graz, 1963).
North America
Josef Haekel, “Kosmischer Baum and Pfahl in Mythus und Kult
der Stämme Nordwestamerikas,” Wiener völkerkundliche
Mitteilungen 6 (1958): 3–81. A ̊ke Hultkrantz, “The Struc-
ture of Theistic Beliefs among North American Plains Indi-
ans,” Temenos 7 (1971): 66–74. A ̊ke Hultkrantz, Religions of
the American Indians, translated by Monica Setterwall (Los
Angeles, 1979).
Australia
E. A. Worms, “Djamar, the Creator,” Anthropos 45 (1950): 641–- T. G. H. Strehlow, “Personal Monototemism in a Poly-
totemic Community.” In Festschrift für A. E. Jensen, edited
by Eike Haberland et al. (Munich, 1964), pp. 723–754. Mir-
cea Eliade, Australian Religions (Ithaca, N.Y., 1973).
New Sources
Egwu, Raphael. Igbo Idea of the Supreme Being and the Triune God.
Würzburg, 1998.
Global God: Multicultural Evangelical Views of God. Edited by
Aida Besancon Spencer and William David Spencer. Grand
Rapids, Mich., 1998.
Gupta, V. P. Cult of Mother Goddess: A Global Perspective. Delhi,
Hodgson, Janet. God of the Xhosa: A Study of the Origins and De-
velopment of the Traditional Concepts of the Supreme Being.
Cape Town and New York, 1982.
Motz, Lotte. Faces of the Goddess. New York, 1997.
Pruett, Gorden E. As a Father Loves His Children: The Image of
the Supreme Being as Loving Father in Judaism, Christianity
and Islam. Bethesda, Md., 1994.
Ryan, Patrick. “‘Arise, O God:’ The Problem of ‘gods’ in West
Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa 11/3 (1980): 161–171.
Schwartz, O. Douglas. “Hardship and Evil in Plains Indian The-
ology.” American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 6/2–3
(1985): 102–114.
Spirituality and the Brain. Is God a Figment of the Imagination?
Films for the Humanities & Sciences. Princeton, 2002.
8880 SUPREME BEINGS