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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Polytheism. () |
Hard polytheism and soft polytheism are terms describing a scale of approaches to polytheism and theology.
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Hard polytheism
Hard polytheism specifies a variety of polytheism which considers the various gods and goddesses to be real divine beings with distinct and separate personalities. Hard polytheists reject the idea that "All gods are One God", that the Gods are temporal manifestations or aspects of only one of the gods, or that deities merge or change into each other. Hard Polytheists also reject the idea that the gods are merely archetypes, or that they are simply personifications of natural forces. Hard polytheists tend to believe that all Gods are real, even perhaps some of those from other religions. This does not necessarily mean hard polytheists believe that every single deity is real in precisely the way they are portrayed by different religions. Some Gods who appear in the religions of closely-related cultures may be seen by hard polytheists as the same God, but not all hard polytheists are in agreement about this.
Soft polytheism
Soft polytheism is a variety of polytheism in which adherents believe in many Gods and Goddesses but consider them to be manifestations or "aspects" of a single God (or God and Goddess)rather than completely distinct entities. Soft polytheism may include varieties of monolatry, henotheism or polytheist mythologies coupled with forms of pantheism or panentheism. English occultist Dion Fortune was a major populiser of soft polytheism. In her novel, The Sea Priestess, she wrote, "All gods are one God, and all goddesses are one Goddess, and there is one Initiator." This phrase proved so popular among some Neopagans (notably, Wiccans) to the extent that it is often thought to be ancient, traditional lore, rather than the product of a recent work of fiction. Fortune's soft polytheist compromise between monotheism and polytheism has been described as "pantheism" (Greek: πάν ( 'pan' ) = all and θεός ( 'theos' ) = God).[attribution needed] However, "pantheism" has a longer history of usage to refer to a view of an all-encompassing imminent divine. Ancient Egyptian religion espoused soft polytheism in the form of triads or triple Gods or Goddesses. They believed that certain Gods were aspects of a great God. Amon was an aspect of Ra and was usually known as Amon-Ra. The presence of triple Gods such as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, or "the Trinity", shows that even though their Gods may have distinct personalities and traits, they are considered to be aspects of another deity. In Hinduism, the Smartha tradition can also be seen as a form of soft polytheism.
In historical polytheism
Hard polytheism is most prevalent in mythology, where the gods appear as independent agents who can, and often are, in conflict with one another. An example of hard polytheism is Euhemerism, the postulate that all gods are in fact historical humans. In this sense, hard polytheism from a monotheist perspective becomes indistinguishable from atheism. An example of gods in mutual conflict can be seen in Plato's Euthyphro, a foundational text for the emergence of Neoplatonist and Christian monotheism, wherein Socrates criticizes a definition of piety because of the possibility that the gods might disagree among themselves on whether to approve of a particular action. The emergence of "soft polytheism" in antiquity is a result of theological speculation. Monism emerges in early Hinduism, leading to the notion of Brahman existing alongside a continued vigorous polytheist tradition. Soft polytheism can also be detected in the tendency to identify gods as aspects of one another, e.g. in the interpretatio graeca of non-Greek gods, or the triads in Ancient Egyptian religion, which postulated that certain Gods were aspects of a great God.
In Neopaganism
The terms "soft" vs. "hard" polytheism are often used to describe theological positions in Neopaganism. Soft polytheism is prevalent in New Age and syncretic currents of Neopaganism, as are psychological interpretations of deities as archetypes of the human psyche. Hard polytheism is found more often among the Polytheistic Reconstructionst religions such as Hellenismos, Religio Romana and Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism.
