Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Monotheism vs polytheism essays
Monotheism vs polytheism essays
Polytheism vs monotheism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Monotheism vs polytheism essays
Epictetus’s god is pantheistic
Because his teachings can be interpreted in different ways, Epictetus’s view of god is unclear. It is unclear whether Epictetus’s god is a pantheistic god who is one with the universe or whether his god is a personal god that answers prayers and watches over his people like the god of monotheism. While there is little doubt that Epictetus views god as all powerful and all good, I will argue that his texts also indicate that Epictetus views god as a pantheistic god possessing none of the defining characteristics of a personal god.
There is a significant difference between what Epictetus means by being all good and what monotheism defines as all good. What monotheism defines as all good is perfect morals while Epictetus defines the true nature of good as intelligence, knowledge, and right reason (Discourses 8:2). According to Epictetus, the true nature of good cannot be found in irrational creatures such as animals and plants. Rather, it can only be found in what is rational (Discourses 8:3). Only what possesses rationality can have the true nature of good and since the true nature of god is where the true nature of good is, one can only conclude that the true nature of god is rationality (Discourses 8:1). Epictetus’s god does not merely possess these qualities, but he is goodness, he is rationality itself. That is the defining difference between the good of Epictetus’s god and that of a personal god.
The texts make it clear that Epictetus sees god as all powerful. He describes god as being the artificer of the universe and that no one could possibly possess power equal to god (Discourses 6:10, 14:11). This could be interpreted as a personification of god because being an “artificer” and the ab...
... middle of paper ...
...e of ourselves, but simply to preserve ourselves as nature intended (Discourses 8:23). Epictetus’s god is not a caring, personal god as a cursory glance at the texts might have someone believe.
While at first glance it may seem as though Epictetus’s god appears to be a personal god, a closer look at the texts reveal that his god is a pantheistic one who is not at all like the personal god of monotheism. His god is one with the universe and the true essence of his god is the rationality of intelligence, right reason, and knowledge while a personal god is a separate entity from the world but cares and watches over from above. Although both Epictetus’s god and the personal god of monotheism are both all good and all powerful, they are so in very different ways. Epictetus’s god is clearly a pantheistic god possessing none of the traits which define a personal god.
This man had spent the better part of a year reading and rereading the Handbook of Epictetus, throughout that book the message is similar to one of the topics Sherman touches on, “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us,”(pg 2). Basically the circumstances maybe beyond our control, but ultimately what affects us is our judgements and the way we react. She makes a great point that we underutilize our ability to control ourselves when we let external things drive our happiness and that is the difference in so many people's lives, they wager their happiness and satisfaction on factors that should not ultimately
contrast the God of Epictetus, and the God of Augustine, and in the end, my stand will
I believe that due to morals other religions and the natural act of someone dying proves to be enough not to agree with Epictetus’. Based on other people’s religious beliefs and their moral values I do not think Epictetus’ views on death and grieving apply to everyone. Someone who believes in a certain religion is going to follow what that religion calls for when it comes to dealing with death. On the other hand, some may also have set values that call for accepting the death as is and follow the grieving process. I feel that the grieving process is not someone’s choice. I think that grieving is an instinct. The first thing that came to my mind when I lost a loved one was, no way this is real and why me. I believe that everyone grieves to a certain extent because of the instinct that his or her mind
The Greek gods were portrayed as humans, which meant that they were not perfect. That is, the gods made mistakes, felt pain (e.g. Aphrodite in love with the mortal Adonis), and succumbed to anger and their tempers (e.g.
Stoicism was the belief that emotions were only because of an error in judgment and those that were true intellectuals would be able to forgo all emotion. They felt that all things, including God and the soul were material, because they felt that in order to have true pairs, body and soul, God and the world, that both must be the same substance. (Stoicism [The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]) While Epicureanism was the belief that pleasure is the absence of pain and confusion. To truly follow this line of belief, the believer must seek reas...
Before one can understand the interactions between the Gods and mortals, one first has to understand the nature of the Gods. In Homer, the Olympian Gods are anthropomorphic; that is to say they have human characteristics. The Gods have both a human shape as well as human emotions and needs. It is very evident that the Gods behave much like the mortals they lord over. Another facet to the Olympians Gods is that they represent a facet of nature, such as fire, water, death, weather, love, anger, nature, and death. The duel nature of the Gods creates a paradox in which the Gods are both anthropomorphic, as well as abstract representations of nature. In Homer, the Gods alternate between each of these parts, and on occasion become one. It can be best said that while the Gods are anthropomorphic, they are also a personification of nature. There are numerous examples of this in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. In book 21 of the Iliad Achilles has to fight the river god Xanthus, but he is saved by the fire god Hephaestus. Hephaestus is portrayed both a fire God as well as the fire itself. Xanthus, who na...
The relationship between gods and mortals in mythology has long been a complicated topic. The gods can be generous and supportive, and also devastating and destructive to any group of humans. Mortals must respect the powers above them that cannot be controlled. The gods rule over destiny, nature, and justice, and need to be recognized and worshipped for the powerful beings as they are. Regardless of one's actions, intentions, and thoughts, the gods in Greek myth have ultimate power and the final decision of justice over nature, mortals, and even each other.
Epicurus, the founder of Epicureanism, saw death as a total extinction with no afterlife to ensue, he regarded the universe as infinite and eternal and as consisting only of space and atoms; where the soul or mind is constructed of indestructible parts that can never be destroyed. He sought to free humanity from the fear of death and of the gods, which he considered the main cause of unhappiness.
"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites”(Jefferson). Atheism is the belief that God does not exist and Judaism believes in only a unitary God and Christianity believes in the Trinity of God. This natural progression might be thought of as the stair steps to truth, but whose truth is the real question we need to answer, and I can assure you that it cannot be answered in a mere 8 pages. Disregard you’re current opinion and give merit to each point of view, and then decide which is right for you.
His idea of a god is akin to the character or Ishtar, a goddess who takes whatever she wants from others. “You loved the speckled allallu-bird, but struck him down and broke his wing: / now he stands in the woods crying, "My wing!" / You loved the lion, perfect in strength, / but for him dug seven pits and seven / You loved the horse, so famed in battle, / but you made his destiny whip, spur, and lash. / You made his destiny a seven league gallop, / you made his destiny to drink muddy water, / and doomed Silili his mother to perpetual weeping." Ishtar was a homewrecker of a goddess; finding love and then crushing that person she adores. Like Gilgamesh and his narcissism, Ishtar only cares about her needs and takes pleasure in other's suffering. Ishtar makes the mothers of the men she loves weep as much as the mothers of the brides Gilgamesh defiles. The only difference between those two events is how the woman in Gilgmesh’s town still had enough ability to call on the gods for help. The men Ishtar woos are doomed to their fate the moment Ishtar sees them. In their time together, Gilgamesh sees his own future in the best way possible; someone who has already headed too far down the same road he’s on. He does not realize that in its own way, Ishtar's appearance was a warning that he did not heed. Ishtar gained more greed and evil by being immortal and not choosing to help
Ancient Greek religion was a polytheistic religion that believed in many gods and goddesses. To Greeks, these gods and goddesses would be able to control everything. Each god or goddess had his or her own distinct personality and territory. “Greek myths explained the origins of the gods and their individual relations with mankind” (Hemingway). Unlike current religions, like Christianity and Judaism, Greek gods were not known for being moral or being truly good or evil. Many of the Greek gods and goddesses were disorganized and self-contradicting. Although this was apparent to the Greeks, the Greeks believed that their religion was to brighten their own lives, rather than give them godlike guidance. The best example of a self-contradicting Greek god is Zeus – father of all gods and humans (Cunningham and Reich 32-33).
5. According to the epic, what are the respective roles of the gods and humans? What do the Mesopotamian deities require of humanity? What do humans expect of their gods?
Taylor then describes God as soft, gentle, feminine and has an eye for beautiful things and great designs. Taylor imagines that God is both male and female, and that he or she resides in all human endeavors and not only found in heaven, but in all objects of nature and of human construction. This evidence shows of a twofold consciousness. Taylor sees God through the interplay of the masculine and the feminine, the sacred and the profane, the temporal and the eternal, and the conscious and the unconscious
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
To begin with, the ancient Greeks explained the creation of the universe, in particular the Earth and its elements, by a system of anthropomorphism in which their gods are human-like and are representatives of these elements. For example, Zeus is the god of heaven while Hades is the underworld lord (Hesiod, p.145). Unlike the Christians’ god who is “flawless”, the ancient Greeks’ divinities are portrayed as humans and are far from perfect. Their gods behave like ordinary people except they are immortal and have supernatural powers. Like any human being, the Greeks’ gods have love, jealousy, sadness, etc. For instance, in Euripides’ Bacchae, Zeus falls in love with Semele, which makes Hera becomes jealous and tries to kill Semele and Dionysus (Euripides, p.209). The Greeks even have a physically imperfect god, Hephaestus. This is to say that the gods’ attitude toward mortals is affected by how people treat them as the Greeks’ gods have emotions like humans.