henotheism
Apr. 20th, 2015 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordhenotheism (HEN-uh-thee-iz-uhm) - n., the worship of one deity without denying the existence of others.
Or as one dictionary puts it, the worship of one deity among several as the special god of one's family, clan, or tribe. Yeah, there are all those other gods, but this is the one we deal with. Coined by German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, to describe a stage of early monotheism, from Greek roots heno-, combining form of hén, one (neuter) + theism, and adopted into English around 1860.
---L.
Or as one dictionary puts it, the worship of one deity among several as the special god of one's family, clan, or tribe. Yeah, there are all those other gods, but this is the one we deal with. Coined by German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, to describe a stage of early monotheism, from Greek roots heno-, combining form of hén, one (neuter) + theism, and adopted into English around 1860.
---L.
