Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Polydeism - History of the term

Polydeism - History of the term: Encyclopedia II - Polydeism - History of the term

Polydeism: Encyclopedia II - Polydeism - History of the term

Polydeism - History of the term

Creighton University Philosophy professor William O. Stephens[1], who teaches this concept to his students, suggests that C.D. Broad projected this concept[2] in Broad's 1925 article, "The Validity of Belief in a Personal God" (reprinted in C.D. Broad, Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research, (1953), 159-174). 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." Id. at 171. Stephens contends that Broad, in turn, derived the concept from David Hume. Stephens states:

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.

Use of this term as a portmanteau for this purpose appears to originate at least as early as Robert M. Bowman, Jr.'s 1997 essay, Apologetics from Genesis to Revelation.[3] Bowman wrote:

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.