possessionmajor monotheistic religions arise within, and react against, prevailing
polytheistic religions, even though the term polytheism is not prevalent
before the seventeenth century.
Some important distinctions can be drawn between these two types of
religion. In comparison to monotheism, polytheism is less polemical and
less apt to call attention to its differences with monotheism. Polytheism
views the cosmos as a more cooperative process between gods and other
supernatural beings or between gods and humans. The many gods are
usually arranged in a hierarchically structured pantheon with the highest
god conceived as the creator, such as Marduk in Babylonia, Re and later
Amun-Re in Egypt, and Zeus in Greece. The hierarchical structure of the
pantheon often serves as a mirror image of the mundane political struc-
ture of a culture, with the king representing the highest god on earth.
Although the notion of divine unity is not totally missing from polythe-
istic religions, the many deities are clearly differentiated with their own
personal names, shape, and function. If the monotheistic Gods are tran-
scendent, the polytheistic deities are more imminent, closer to people,
and more apt to animate the world from within it. Gods and goddesses of
villages, towns, and cities in India and China are good examples of these
figures, as are Marduk and Babylon, Ptah and Memphis, and Athena and
Athens. If considered over a period of historical development, polytheis-
tic religions tend to be more ethnocentric. These religions tend to be less
concerned about orthodoxy (what is to be believed) and more about
orthopraxy (what is to be done).
Further reading: Burkert (1983, 1985); van der Leeuw (1963)POSSESSION
This is a complex, multivocal, and ubiquitous phenomenon evident
around the globe. It can be defined as an integration of spirit and matter
that represents a force, power or corporeal reality. A subject can become
possessed either suddenly or gradually. I. M. Lewis, writing about the
Tungas of the African Zambesi valley, identifies two psychosocial loci of
possession: central, which is highly valued because it supports prevailing
political, moral, and religious beliefs and whose spirits are sympathetic
to these beliefs; peripheral, which represents an intrusion of evil, amoral
spirits that is considered undesirable and dangerous. The central type of
possession occurs among persons of higher social status and power,
whereas the peripheral type happens to people lacking power and status.