polytheistic theology
So it's a common trope that beliefs give gods power, but I don't actually think that's how it works. In significant part, "power" doesn't seem like a useful way to phrase what gods do in the first place.
What I do think is that belief helps give gods *form*. How a particular god manifests and expresses themself is due in part to what folks expect of them. It's bidirectional, since a god does tell followers some about who they are. The manifestation is negotiated.
polytheistic theology
@starkatt And yeah in general, I cannot overestimate how spot-on this is, in my experience. I would like to re-post a very resonant quote that I found of, in all things, a tabletop RPG book:
"The Gods don’t need humans, but they do need humanity — not to exist, not to maintain their power, but as a mirror. Human worship is the way by which the Gods know themselves."
polytheistic theology
@indi @starkatt as much as I like the story American Gods, I think it's wrong about the life cycle of deities. I think that it's *very* difficult and rare for a god to "die." they change, they adapt, but their core is built around one or another fundamental aspect of human nature, and unless/until *that* aspect in all of humans disappears, the god will still be with us--even if we don't know its name, or see it as a personified force.
polytheistic theology
@indi @starkatt also, I think that gods can merge, like the populations that worship them do; and new gods bud off from older ones, as a new group finds that it has new needs that aren't being met by the previous iteration. Catholicism and its ongoing plethora of saints and Madonnas is a good example. there are a *lot* of Catholics whose worship of "God" as understood by the Vatican is entirely secondary to continued veneration of their local deity in different robes.
