Comments on: Natural Theology: Polytheism Beyond the Pale

By: Naturalism and the Gods – No Unsacred Place

Naturalism and the Gods – No Unsacred Place — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:43:22 +0000

[...] check out Alison Leigh Lilly‘s Article Natural Theology: Polytheism Beyond The Pale from [...]

By: The Dance of Will and Surrender (Part 1) | Working the Three Realms

The Dance of Will and Surrender (Part 1) | Working the Three Realms — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:56:32 +0000

[...] That is a complex question, but I find myself once again going back to ecology and the idea of “natural polytheism” as I described it back in my post on NUP: [...]

By: Nature and … the nature of the Otherworld « Pagan Layman

Nature and … the nature of the Otherworld « Pagan Layman — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:22:01 +0000

[...] is very different from the philosophy and physics in the early days of the Enlightenment. Here and here you can read Allison Leigh Lilly’s plead for a natural (poly)theology which embraces the [...]

By: Adventures in Natural Polytheism: A to Z - Alison Leigh Lilly

Adventures in Natural Polytheism: A to Z - Alison Leigh Lilly — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:23:42 +0000

[...] to take shape for me. I tried to answer this question, or at least articulate it, in a couple of posts over on No Unsacred Place, and they became two of the most popular posts on the blog. I [...]

By: 2012 Blog Roll, Looking Forward to 2013 (Part 1) | The Allergic Pagan

2012 Blog Roll, Looking Forward to 2013 (Part 1) | The Allergic Pagan — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:17:27 +0000

[...] where she explores the porous nature of our experience of identity, which led into her next post, “Natural Theology: Polytheism Beyond the Pale”, where she proposed the novel idea of an ecological or natural polytheism, which might serve as a [...]

By: The Three Kindreds « Naturalistic Pantheist Musings

The Three Kindreds « Naturalistic Pantheist Musings — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:55:18 +0000

[...] few ideas from two bloggers I follow who recently shared some fascinating insights. The first, from Alison Leigh Lilly, is the idea of “natural polytheism” which, if i’m understanding it right, is the idea [...]

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:54:45 +0000

I love this post. Being a theology nerd, I especially appreciate the questions concerning natural theololgy and “hard polytheism” versus “natural polytheism.” These are the same type of questions that arise in monotheistic traditions (of course) when trying to make sense of “special revelation” and “general revelation.” Arguably religious establishments prefer to give priority to “special revelation” (like sacred texts) and “hard theism” (with its creeds) over general revelation and natural theology, which are by nature (pun intended) more subjective. I think that for many people the Divine speaks most clearly through nature and natural theology is more compelling than special revelation. Arguably any special revelation or “hard theology” had its origins in the natural experiences of shepherds, farmers, hunters, and the like. Arguably therefore natural theology is more primal, and to many folks therefore more real. But obviously many people take comfort in special revelation, hard theology and the like. I vote for mutual respect among theists of all stripes. May we all soak in the wonder in beauty that is revealed to us both naturally and through our sacred traditions.
Great post.
peace

By: Lupa

Lupa — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 05:13:15 +0000

Huh. The theological level of the ecosystem. I like it!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:47:31 +0000

Great post! I have a Master’s degree in Ecology, and I think that makes me think differently about polytheism than some people do. I’ve also been accused of not being “hard” enough in my polytheism.

I do worship my gods as distinct personalities, because that’s how they interact with me, but I also keep in mind that it’s probably more complicated than that. I usually explain by saying “the gods are as individual as we humans are, but we humans aren’t as individual as we think we are.” Except in order to interact with other humans, you have to perceive each other as individuals. Same thing with the gods.

Humans love to put things into little boxes. It’s a useful, but it’s merely a model for understanding the universe. For example, most people (even a lot of biologists) think of a species as being distinct. One species is completely different from another. In reality it’s a much more fluid and complicated concept. You have things like ring species, hybrid zones, polyploidism, etc. all blurring the lines between different species of organisms.

Maybe gods are like that too. They appear distinct unless you look very closely, and then they start to blur around the edges (some more than others). But the species is still a useful concept to biologists, and I still find polytheism to be the most useful -theism for me.

By: Pagan Voices: Donald Michael Kraig, Ivo Dominguez Jr., Alison Leigh Lilly, and More!

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:23:41 +0000

[...] and ‘What for?’” - Alison Leigh Lilly, from her recent blog post: “Natural Theology: Polytheism Beyond the Pale”P. Sufenas Virius Lupus“Are British Traditional Witchcraft practitioners in the U.S. [...]