I am reading a paper about Ancient Egyptian religion and I came across this:
In contrast, even the most cursory examination of the many world religions, past and present, major or small-scale, refutes any notion that divinity, particularly cosmic or supreme divinity, is always embodied in some material form. For the Nuer, their highest divinity, Kwoth Nhial, is only suggested by the majestic spread of the horns of the ox. The Nuer are very careful to distinguish between a divine cosmic power which is suggested rather than embodied or represented by the ox horns, and a lesser power which takes tangible form. Kwoth Nhial is non-locatable – too ubiquitous and too powerful to be constrained by material form. For the Nuer, only the "spirits of the below", the totems, and fetishes take on a material aspect. The "spirits of the above" have a remote and omnipresent quality which cannot be "trapped" within localised and limited forms. African tribal people, in particular, are loath to embody their higher deities in material form.
Despite the rich iconography of African religion, these icons are invariably representations of ancestors, spirits, and demons rather than supreme divinities. In fact, John S. Mbiti (1969) in his exposition of African religions implicitly responded to the common prejudice of African "idol" worship with the statement, "... no idols have been reported in African traditional societies" (Mbiti 1969: 71). Yet non-represented deities are often mentally conceived as anthropomorphic and mediated by human agents such as "priests, rainmakers, elders, diviners, medicine-men, Kings, chiefs and the living dead" (ibid 71).
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Aside from being too powerful or omnipresent, the cosmic deities are often conceived as being too remote to warrant representation. In the case of Sumerian Mesopotamia, among the most frequently represented deities on cylinder seals are Inanna and Enki. Both are far from supreme, but both take an active role in the activities of humankind. Inanna (later as Ishtar) performs an annual sacred marriage with the king in order to ensure agricultural fecundity. Enki is famous for his interventions on behalf of humankind when a higher god, Enlil, threatens to destroy it. But the most supreme deity of all, An, is rarely depicted, rarely petitioned, and features in myths infrequently.56
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Purely anthropomorphic forms are particularly avoided, even though worshippers might mentally conceive these deities in human terms and approach them, through mediation, as superior human-like beings. Only in centralised, state-based religions does iconography of higher deities tend to become important, as in the case of the sedentary, centrally-ruled Shilluk culture of the Sudan. The following section applies these observations to specific Egyptian deities, especially Osiris.
SOURCE07.pdf (une.edu.au)
This is not dissimilar to something I wrote before on RF, that generally the 'Sky Father' is too high and holy to be depicted, and in polytheistic systems many of those that become Gods start off as what we'd now call spirits - water spirits, spirits of the dead, etc. and are not seen as Gods in the way we now understand this word.
In contrast, even the most cursory examination of the many world religions, past and present, major or small-scale, refutes any notion that divinity, particularly cosmic or supreme divinity, is always embodied in some material form. For the Nuer, their highest divinity, Kwoth Nhial, is only suggested by the majestic spread of the horns of the ox. The Nuer are very careful to distinguish between a divine cosmic power which is suggested rather than embodied or represented by the ox horns, and a lesser power which takes tangible form. Kwoth Nhial is non-locatable – too ubiquitous and too powerful to be constrained by material form. For the Nuer, only the "spirits of the below", the totems, and fetishes take on a material aspect. The "spirits of the above" have a remote and omnipresent quality which cannot be "trapped" within localised and limited forms. African tribal people, in particular, are loath to embody their higher deities in material form.
Despite the rich iconography of African religion, these icons are invariably representations of ancestors, spirits, and demons rather than supreme divinities. In fact, John S. Mbiti (1969) in his exposition of African religions implicitly responded to the common prejudice of African "idol" worship with the statement, "... no idols have been reported in African traditional societies" (Mbiti 1969: 71). Yet non-represented deities are often mentally conceived as anthropomorphic and mediated by human agents such as "priests, rainmakers, elders, diviners, medicine-men, Kings, chiefs and the living dead" (ibid 71).
[...]
Aside from being too powerful or omnipresent, the cosmic deities are often conceived as being too remote to warrant representation. In the case of Sumerian Mesopotamia, among the most frequently represented deities on cylinder seals are Inanna and Enki. Both are far from supreme, but both take an active role in the activities of humankind. Inanna (later as Ishtar) performs an annual sacred marriage with the king in order to ensure agricultural fecundity. Enki is famous for his interventions on behalf of humankind when a higher god, Enlil, threatens to destroy it. But the most supreme deity of all, An, is rarely depicted, rarely petitioned, and features in myths infrequently.56
[...]
Purely anthropomorphic forms are particularly avoided, even though worshippers might mentally conceive these deities in human terms and approach them, through mediation, as superior human-like beings. Only in centralised, state-based religions does iconography of higher deities tend to become important, as in the case of the sedentary, centrally-ruled Shilluk culture of the Sudan. The following section applies these observations to specific Egyptian deities, especially Osiris.
SOURCE07.pdf (une.edu.au)
This is not dissimilar to something I wrote before on RF, that generally the 'Sky Father' is too high and holy to be depicted, and in polytheistic systems many of those that become Gods start off as what we'd now call spirits - water spirits, spirits of the dead, etc. and are not seen as Gods in the way we now understand this word.
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