National god
Encyclopedia
The concept of a national god is most closely associated with the God of Israel (YHWH) who in the Torah
is described as the sole God to be worshipped
by the nation of Israel. This understanding is expressed, for example, by the prophet Michah (4:5), who states:
This understanding of divinity was common in the Ancient Near East
during the Late Bronze Age.
Deities were geographically localized by association to their main cult center, ultimately as tutelaries of their respective city-states
. In Egypt
, Horus
came to be interpreted as the national god, identified with the currently ruling pharaoh
. Horus was in competition with Amun
, who became the national god of Egypt under the Theban dynasties. The first of the national gods to aspire to universal supremacy was probably Marduk
, the national god of Babylon
, with the rise of Babylonia
from the time of Hammurabi
. Marduk's claim was later imitated by Aššur
, the national god eponymous of the Assyrian capital
, from the 10th century BC.
During the Iron Age
, the notion of national gods began to give way to emerging monotheism
, by the process of individual national gods beginning to claim universal validity. Smith (2008) interprets this process in terms of a loss of "translatability" between deities, reflecting the essentially monopolar political landscape in the Near East during the Iron Age, the Assyrian Empire linearly succeeded by the Medo-Persian Empire and later the Seleucid Empire
, a process that also gave rise to the concept of translatio imperii
.
In this interpretation, the development of a "one-god" worldview in 7th century BC Judah was a response to the claims to hegemony of the Mesopotamian (Assyrian) "one-god" ideology of the time. Some parts of the Torah
which predate the 6th century BC preserve vestiges of the theology centered on a national god during the monarchic period
.
In antiquity, each national god was usually also considered the original progenitor of his people, as for example in pre-Islamic Arabia
Almaqah
was the national god of Saba`
, Wadd
of Ma`in
, Shams
of Himyar
, etc.
Examples from Canaan
include Milcom of the Ammonites, Chemosh
of Moab
, etc.
Beginning in the Hellenistic period
, and fully developed by the Roman era, the theological view of the mainstream of Greco-Roman culture was monotheistic or monistic
with national gods remaining as little more than national allegories, such as Athene as the tutelary goddess of Athens
.
From the point of view of Greco-Roman ethnography, it was the barbarian
nations who retained a genuine tribal polytheism
with a different national deity worshipped by each, such as Zalmoxis
of the Getae
, the "Mercury" of the Celts and the Germanii, etc.
Christian missionaries have repeatedly re-interpreted national gods in terms of the Christian God. This fact is reflected in the names of God
in various languages of Christianized peoples, such as Shangdi
or Shen
among Chinese Christians, Ngai
among a number of tribes of Kenya
, etc.
In a modern context, the term of a "national god" addresses the emergence of national church
es within Christianity. This tendency was of "nationalizing" the Christian God, especially in the context of national churches sanctioning warfare against other Christian nations during World War I
, was denounced as heretical by Karl Barth
.
In Islam, the term Ummah
means the nation of Muslims.
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
is described as the sole God to be worshipped
Monolatrism
Monolatrism or monolatry is the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity...
by the nation of Israel. This understanding is expressed, for example, by the prophet Michah (4:5), who states:
- "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods (elohimElohimElohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
); we will walk in the name of the (YHWH) our God (ElohimElohimElohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
) for ever and ever." (NIV)
This understanding of divinity was common in the Ancient Near East
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
during the Late Bronze Age.
Deities were geographically localized by association to their main cult center, ultimately as tutelaries of their respective city-states
Cities of the ancient Near East
The largest cities in the Bronze Age ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age with some 30,000 inhabitants was the largest city of the time by far...
. In Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
came to be interpreted as the national god, identified with the currently ruling pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
. Horus was in competition with Amun
Amun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
, who became the national god of Egypt under the Theban dynasties. The first of the national gods to aspire to universal supremacy was probably Marduk
Marduk
Marduk was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi , started to...
, the national god of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, with the rise of Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
from the time of Hammurabi
Hammurabi
Hammurabi Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ʻAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer", from ʻAmmu, "paternal kinsman", and Rāpi, "healer"; (died c...
. Marduk's claim was later imitated by Aššur
Ashur (god)
Ashur is the head of the Assyrian pantheon....
, the national god eponymous of the Assyrian capital
Assur
Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
, from the 10th century BC.
During the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, the notion of national gods began to give way to emerging monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, by the process of individual national gods beginning to claim universal validity. Smith (2008) interprets this process in terms of a loss of "translatability" between deities, reflecting the essentially monopolar political landscape in the Near East during the Iron Age, the Assyrian Empire linearly succeeded by the Medo-Persian Empire and later the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
, a process that also gave rise to the concept of translatio imperii
Translatio imperii
Translatio imperii, Latin for "transfer of rule", is a concept invented in the Middle Ages for describing history as a linear succession of transfers of imperium, that is of supreme power concentrated with a series of single rulers .-Origin:...
.
In this interpretation, the development of a "one-god" worldview in 7th century BC Judah was a response to the claims to hegemony of the Mesopotamian (Assyrian) "one-god" ideology of the time. Some parts of the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
which predate the 6th century BC preserve vestiges of the theology centered on a national god during the monarchic period
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
.
In antiquity, each national god was usually also considered the original progenitor of his people, as for example in pre-Islamic Arabia
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Pre-Islamic Arabia refers to the Arabic civilization which existed in the Arabian Plate before the rise of Islam in the 630s. The study of Pre-Islamic Arabia is important to Islamic studies as it provides the context for the development of Islam.-Studies:...
Almaqah
Almaqah
Almaqah or Ilmuqah was the moon god of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Saba' and the kingdoms of Dʿmt and Aksum in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia . The ruling dynasty of Saba' regarded themselves as his children...
was the national god of Saba`
Sabaeans
The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula.Some scholars suggest a link between the Sabaeans and the Biblical land of Sheba....
, Wadd
Wadd
Wadd "Love, Friendship", known variously as Ilumquh, ʻAmm and Sīn, was the Minaean moon god. Snakes were believed to be sacred to Wadd. He is mentioned in the Qur'ān as a deity of the time of the Prophet Noah....
of Ma`in
Minaeans
The Minaeans from Arabic or were an ancient Arab group in Yemen during the 1st millennium BC. Their Minaean Kingdom was one of important kingdoms in ancient Yemen and Southwestern Arabia...
, Shams
Shamash
Shamash was a native Mesopotamian deity and the sun god in the Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian pantheons. Shamash was the god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu...
of Himyar
Himyar
The Himyarite Kingdom or Himyar , historically referred to as the Homerite Kingdom by the Greeks and the Romans, was a kingdom in ancient Yemen. Established in 110 BC, it took as its capital the modern day city of Sana'a after the ancient city of Zafar...
, etc.
Examples from Canaan
Canaanite religion
Canaanite religion is the name for the group of Ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites living in the ancient Levant from at least the early Bronze Age through the first centuries of the Common Era....
include Milcom of the Ammonites, Chemosh
Chemosh
Chemosh , was the god of the Moabites . The etymology of "Chemosh" is unknown. He is also known from Ebla as Kamish....
of Moab
Moab
Moab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in Jordan. The land lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over...
, etc.
Beginning in the Hellenistic period
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
, and fully developed by the Roman era, the theological view of the mainstream of Greco-Roman culture was monotheistic or monistic
Monad (Greek philosophy)
Monad , according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings, Monad being the source or the One meaning without division....
with national gods remaining as little more than national allegories, such as Athene as the tutelary goddess of Athens
Classical Athens
The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...
.
From the point of view of Greco-Roman ethnography, it was the barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
nations who retained a genuine tribal polytheism
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
with a different national deity worshipped by each, such as Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis , is a divinity of the Getae, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories IV, 93-96...
of the Getae
Getae
The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
, the "Mercury" of the Celts and the Germanii, etc.
Christian missionaries have repeatedly re-interpreted national gods in terms of the Christian God. This fact is reflected in the names of God
Names of God
Names of God, or Holy Names, describe a form of addressing God present in liturgy or prayer of various world religions. Prayer involving the Holy Name or the Name of God has become established as common spiritual practice in both Western and Eastern spiritual practices...
in various languages of Christianized peoples, such as Shangdi
Shangdi
Shangdi , also known as Di in Oracle Bone Inscription and Thirteen Classics, refers to the supreme god or a divine power regarded as the spiritual ultimate by the Chinese people from the Shang Dynasty. He controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the kingdom, and the weather...
or Shen
Shen (Chinese religion)
Shen is a keyword in Chinese philosophy, Chinese religion, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.-Pronunciation:Shén is the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 神 "spirit; god, deity; spiritual, supernatural; awareness, consciousness etc". Reconstructions of shén in Middle Chinese Shen is a...
among Chinese Christians, Ngai
Ngai
Ngai is the supreme God in the religions of the Kamba, Kikuyu and Maasai nationalities of Kenya....
among a number of tribes of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, etc.
In a modern context, the term of a "national god" addresses the emergence of national church
National church
National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
es within Christianity. This tendency was of "nationalizing" the Christian God, especially in the context of national churches sanctioning warfare against other Christian nations during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, was denounced as heretical by Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
.
In Islam, the term Ummah
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
means the nation of Muslims.
See also
- Constitutional references to GodConstitutional references to GodSeveral national constitutions make reference to God, most often in the preamble. Such invocationes or nominationes dei are found notably in several European constitutional traditions and in the constitutions of Islamic countries.In constitutional...
- Ethnic religionEthnic religionEthnic religion may include officially sanctioned and organized civil religions with an organized clergy, but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation to the people in question. Contrasted to this...
- God and the StateGod and the StateGod and the State is the best-known literary work of Russian anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin.-Composition:God and the State was written between February and March 1871. It was originally written as Part II of a greater work that was going to be called The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution...
- Imperial cultImperial cultAn imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor, or a dynasty of emperors , are worshipped as messiahs, demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense...
- National churchNational churchNational church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
- National allegory
- Religious exclusivismReligious exclusivismReligious exclusivism is the doctrine that only one particular religion is true. In its normative form it is simply the belief in one's own religion and non-belief in religions other than one's own...
- TutelaryTutelaryA tutelary is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture or occupation. Both tutelary and tutelar can be used as either a noun or an adjective...
- UmmahUmmahUmmah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...