4. According to J Lubboch, the religious history of humanity is divided in six periods. What are they?

5. Where, according to Emmanuel, are the genesis of all religions of mankind?

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Polytheism means the belief in the plurality of Gods

1. Spiritism teaches us in question number 667 of the Spirits Book, that the conception of only one God existing could only exist in men as the result of the development of their ideas. Incapable of conceiving the existence of an immaterial being, without a specific form, men gave this being some human attributes. These attributes were related to body nature and, since then, everything that could cross the limit of the common intelligence would be seen as Divinity, a supernatural power.

2. Polytheism is the religious belief in the plurality of Gods or the adoration of more than one God. As the spirits say in the question number 668 of the mentioned book, when men believed that everything supernatural was God, they also believed in spirits as Gods. As a result, when a man was outstanding from the crowd, by his/hers actions, personality or by an occult power that the majority couldn’t understand, they used to make him/her a God and after his/hers death, they would worship them.

3. The word God used to have a very vast meaning and didn’t mean a personification of the Lord of Life as it is nowadays. It was a general idea given to everybody who was outstanding from the crowd, which it’s easy to notice when studying the Divinities of old times.

4. These are some of the many factors responsible for the creation and multiplication of Gods: a) Personification of the force of nature; b) Divinisation of heroes and old characters; c) Political centralisation of big states, provoking fusion and unification of beliefs and culture. From this there are three main system of polytheism: Idolatry-  adoration of many Gods personified in average idols; Sabeismo - worship of fire and planets; and fetishism or fetishism that means the adoration of everything that causes an impression on imagination and that is attributed power to.

5. The word paganism is usually used as synonym of polytheism. In essence, it is the same, but from the historical and theological point of view, it isn’t. When Constantine enforced Christianity as the new religion of the Roman Empire, the non-Christians were called pagans who were adepts of Paganism. Polytheists and non- Christian monotheists  were generalised as pagans.  

Religious history of humanity was divided in six periods

6. The fetishists were, in their origin, polytheists, as savage people still are. According to C. Brosses, in “The Cult of Fetishes”, all religions, except Hebrews, came from fetishism which had its origin from fear. J. Lubboch divided religious History in six periods : 1^st- Atheism; 2^nd- Fetishism; 3^rd- cult of nature; 4^th- xamanismo (religion of xamas, professional witches and warlocks); 5^th- anthropomorphism; 6^th – belief in a creative God and providential. There isn’t an general agreement about the precise differentiation between xama, warlock and sacerdotal. Usually the term xama, like xamanismo, in the context of Asiatic people.

7. In 1767, French man N. S. Beigier, defended the thesis that fetishism was explained by the similarity between the mentality of a primitive men and a kid, who gives soul and personality to objects around them. The compared ethnology permitted E. B. Taylor to get back and develop this idea.

8. Studying the origins of polytheism and paganism, Emmanuel affirmed in his book “Pathway to Light”, that the genesis of all religions of Humanity had their origins in Jesus’ heart. Jesus is the governor of Earth. From time to time, he sends messengers to Earth to teach and spread the truth which are received and interpreted according to the level of evolution of each period in time.

9.It is a mistake to judge societies as barbarian or pagan because they don’t know the evangelical truth. Jesus assistance is still always present in the evolution of every society through time in every part of Earth. The history of China, Persia, Egypt, India, Arabic, Israelis, Celtics, Greeks and Romans, was influenced by those messengers sent by Christ and many confused them as being Jesus himself. This happened because the messengers were very successful in their teachings in various reincarnations.

10. Another advice that Emmanuel gives is about the substantial unit of religions. Emmanuel affirms that all books and religious traditions of Old ages have in common the substantial unit. Revelations evolve gradually and all refer to a God who is the essence of life and universe.

Appendix

Myth - It’s a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or Gods or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation.

Mythology -  Study of myths. Not all religions are connected to mythology, but the religions that were polytheists offer, at first, subject for mythical imagination.

Origins of myths - Related to the observation of nature and its various and multiform elements. Human imagination personified natural phenomena and imagine them as free individualities, independents. Their acts were submitted to invariable moral laws and had physically loads of similarities to human body.  

Evolution of myths - Greek mythology was much richer than Roman and other societies mythology. Greek spirit was more creative while Roman spirit was more practical.  

Fount of mythology - Based on creations of Greek and Latin poets where Homero is one of them.

How the Gods were - The appearance of Gods were totally human however it was better and prettier. Strong and more vigorous, they had all the qualities of a human being but amplified. They needed to sleep, eat and drink like men, and also wore clothes, especially the Goddesses. The Goddesses always chose their clothes carefully. Their birth was always similar to humans birth, but Gods were genius and had childhood period shortened. Immortals, they never got old and were never ill. Morally, the Gods were superiors than mortals, and because evilness, impurity and injustice bothered them, they never stopped punishing men for their mistakes. Although they were superior physically, morally and spiritually, Gods were tied up to their destiny. Gods were always looking for pleasures and amusement.

Sacrifices - Primitive and polytheists societies adored Gods bringing them gifts, cults, rituals, that generally meant sacrifices of animals or human beings.  

Answer Key