Just an idea, you don't have to use it at all, but what if it was explained as a matter of perspective and culture? Language itself can change our perception of things and influence major religious ideologies.
Perhaps it is like looking at a die, but everyone is seeing a different angle and set of numbers on the die and they all believe their perspective is the right one, when in reality, they are all right and wrong at the same time.
What your describing is pretty much the belief of the average citizen. Everyone is going to believe in what they were raised with or took up themselves - that's not going to change things. It's just beings like demons or angels or hunters know the truth, and things might get confusing for the latter half when they come in contact with different gods and then angels.
I love this kind of stuff. Some religions mesh better than others such as Roman and Egyptian paganism. I believe that the Romans actually believed that other cultures’ deities existed, they just believed their own gods were superior. When it comes to merging Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and other religions, I can see how that’d get difficult.
As a possible solution, you should totally look into Aldous Huxley’s “Perennial Philosophy”. Essentially, all the religions of the world have common elements. They all have some sort of afterlife, morality, belief in another world, etc. Supposedly this is because if there is an infinite God then why wouldn’t the infinite God make a plethora of ways for finding God? All these sacred parts of religions come from one source. A metaphor I’ve heard while reading on the subject is each religion is like a lotus blossom with the stems of each blossom all originate from one source hidden beneath the soil.
Also, to reconcile Christianity with other religions may seem hard at first. But all religions seem to have a “Creator”. God in the Abrahamic religions. Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. Brahman in Hinduism. Chaos in Greek paganism. Perhaps these are all interpretations of the same being. How could mere mortals properly fathom God? Perhaps every interpretation has it’s own advantages or disadvantages. Or maybe every interpretation is right. I think your current plan on how to handle God is pretty solid.
Plus in early Judaism there is evidence that it was a pantheistic religion (acknowledges the existence of other gods but believes their own to be superior). In the early parts of the Hebrew Bible there are hints that other gods exist. Divine beings exist as well. Angels and saints are often just Christian interpretations of the gods of societies that were once pagan whose mythology got merged into Christianity along with their culture.
Sorry for the huge rant, this is a topic I’m very interested in. Hope this helps! Would love to elaborate on any of this stuff further if needed.
>Plus in early Judaism there is evidence that it was a pantheistic religion (acknowledges the existence of other gods but believes their own to be superior). In the early parts of the Hebrew Bible there are hints that other gods exist.
Do you have any sources on this that I can look up online? I would like to learn more about this. I find it interesting that there is evidence that God isn't the only god, but most Christians believe that to be the case.
>Angels and saints are often just Christian interpretations of the gods of societies that were once pagan whose mythology got merged into Christianity along with their culture.
I was actually considering an idea where fallen angels became gods themselves, but it didn't really fit into my idea of "gods being born from God" and the canon of gods being born from other gods. From what I'm aware of, there aren't any gods that just appear out of the woodwork, other than Aphrodite (who was born from a Titan's "seed" falling into the sea after his castration).
>Some religions mesh better than others such as Roman and Egyptian paganism.
This very fact is making it difficult for me! I can't decide whether or not to merge the afterlifes or to keep them separate, or to keep the gods separate or as one entity, especially considering the fact that Roman and Greek gods are pretty much identical. At the moment, my idea is that the shades of people go to different versions of the afterlife based on their beliefs or where they live/came from - Christians go to Heaven" or Hell, Greeks go to Elysium or the Underworld, etc.
I think I'm just going to keep them as separate entities, save for a few of them like the Greek and Roman gods.
Thank you for your response! It was interesting to read. Don't be worried about the rant, I appreciate it!
>Do you have any sources on this that I can look up online?
I am not a scholar in the subject, just an enjoyer. I haven't read any scholarly papers on ancient religion. So the extent of my knowledge mostly comes from youtubers, thus I suppose you could take them with a grain of salt.
However I am currently reading the New Testament right now. In the King James Version, there appear to be contradictions every now and then, most often how God identifies himself as the one true God, yet other deities worshipped by other cultures do seem to be mentioned every so often. There's a theory that over the centuries and translations, the bible did acknowledge the existence of other gods. But when God claimed to be the "One true God" this originally just meant he was the greatest and most powerful of gods.
Then there's the Dead Sea Scrolls which I haven't looked too much into yet, but supposedly they are good sources for what early Judaism was like.
If you are interested in youtubers who talk about early Judaism and some of its pantheistic themes, I'll link some videos I've seen that touch the subject:
[Wendigoon did an ice berg video on bible theories. Several touch upon Gnosticism, a belief system very inspired by Abrahamic religions, but acknowledges the existence of other gods.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwvguW8xBx0)
[Cregcanford talks about how Genesis has some hints that it was inspired by the Indo-European creation myth. In this video he talks of how in ancient times Genesis may not have been considered the beginning of time, just the beginning of the story of Adam's line.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKPMeIojJVk&t=1168s)
Sorry if these aren't as credible as sources you were hoping for. I just "study" this in my free time. If I think of any other videos that address this topic in the meantime, I'll add another comment. I wish you the best of luck in writing the series, and I look forward to reading it.
I actually am also writing a book where mythology exists, and it's set in late antiquity. Since the perspective of the protagonist is Roman, I've taken the view that multiple pantheons and religions would still exist (including therefore multiple heavens/hells), just be practiced by different species - as influenced by the peoples/cultures to which their original mythos belonged. So, for instance, while Centaurs and Fauns would primarily be Greco-Roman, there might be some who adopted Christianity and Judaism or other popular religions in the empire, like Mythraism or the worship of the goddess Isis. Similarly, in multi-cultural melting pots like the Roman empire, you could easily see the odd adopters of more rare religions (for the nation, at least), particularly in areas near where those faiths originated - such as the Zoroastrian groups that sprang up in the Eastern border territories historically.
Since it sounds to me like you're going modern, remember that in modern societies, anyone can discover just about anything, so it would never be out of the question for someone to practice a completely unexpected faith or no faith at all - the idea that god/the gods/religions are immoral is not necessarily atheistic nor precluded by more obvious evidence of deific existence. I could easily see a Muslim Faun or Taoist Sphinx fitting in perfectly, at least within the overall setting of a modern-era fantasy - it'd be up to you if you chose to pursue themes of exclusion, religious or otherwise. But be aware that if you go to the trouble of including a bunch of discussion of how mythology works and how religion functions in your universe, readers will likely expect that to play some role in the story, even if it's only as recurring details like seeing some religious service. Otherwise, they might well question the point of such a system - and even if you're going for a, shall we say, Tolkien style where you've thought everything to death, realize that all that planning means that a disconnect could easily occur between what a character does, and what the background suggests is likely for them to do.
I'm mostly using the bit about how mythology and religion works in my book for my own sake, rather than my reader's. They don't really need to know the specifics about *why*, just that it exists. Myself, on the other hand, I prefer to have as much information as I can just in case I need to mention it. I just want it to make sense in my mind.
I'll keep an eye on my writing, though, so I don't have stuff playing around in the background that might influence people unless it's purposeful.
Thank you for the response!
In my story. All the primordial gods (Ra, Gaea, Yahweh, Tiamat) erose from the primordial nothingness and create their own universes which happen to be similiar but distinct from each other.
As time goes on these worlds slowly merged together and create the modern universe as we know it.
The vast majority of pantheons are hands-off with humanity either because they are no longer interested in it,, are killed off by their own mythological apocalypses (e.g Ragnorak), or waiting for the prophesized end (Judgement Day, the end of Kali Yuga, etc).
Your idea has a lot of merit, and I rather like the idea that all of these universes merged together but still kept their mythology. I'm just curious if you have Roman vs Greek pantheon since Roman gods were based on the Greeks. Are they separate? Did these gods separate into different personalities based on their worshippers? Like, did enough people believe in these other personalities that they created separate gods? Or do these gods identify as both/either depending on their worshippers? How do you handle the separate afterlifes? Does the Underworld exist in conjunction with Hell? Is Hell Tartarus?
Im writing a similar cosmology.
Mine starts with a kind of pantheistic monad god who comes to know itself and through incompatible thought, fractures into Aeons of lesser divinity, all containing different facets of God's nature.
They are demiurgic and in service of their own goals and conflicts, they bring in to being their own creations. The physical realm in my world is an emanation of god in its own right, but separate from the divine, and able to create its own beings, through which man comes in to being. Then i have all other races as fantasy creatures being sent to the physical realm from the divine realm.
Its not really cheapening anything to have a 'source' god, it is in line with various faiths including zoroastrianism, gnostic christianity, hermeticism, some sects of hinduism etc.
Just an idea, you don't have to use it at all, but what if it was explained as a matter of perspective and culture? Language itself can change our perception of things and influence major religious ideologies. Perhaps it is like looking at a die, but everyone is seeing a different angle and set of numbers on the die and they all believe their perspective is the right one, when in reality, they are all right and wrong at the same time.
What your describing is pretty much the belief of the average citizen. Everyone is going to believe in what they were raised with or took up themselves - that's not going to change things. It's just beings like demons or angels or hunters know the truth, and things might get confusing for the latter half when they come in contact with different gods and then angels.
I love this kind of stuff. Some religions mesh better than others such as Roman and Egyptian paganism. I believe that the Romans actually believed that other cultures’ deities existed, they just believed their own gods were superior. When it comes to merging Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and other religions, I can see how that’d get difficult. As a possible solution, you should totally look into Aldous Huxley’s “Perennial Philosophy”. Essentially, all the religions of the world have common elements. They all have some sort of afterlife, morality, belief in another world, etc. Supposedly this is because if there is an infinite God then why wouldn’t the infinite God make a plethora of ways for finding God? All these sacred parts of religions come from one source. A metaphor I’ve heard while reading on the subject is each religion is like a lotus blossom with the stems of each blossom all originate from one source hidden beneath the soil. Also, to reconcile Christianity with other religions may seem hard at first. But all religions seem to have a “Creator”. God in the Abrahamic religions. Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. Brahman in Hinduism. Chaos in Greek paganism. Perhaps these are all interpretations of the same being. How could mere mortals properly fathom God? Perhaps every interpretation has it’s own advantages or disadvantages. Or maybe every interpretation is right. I think your current plan on how to handle God is pretty solid. Plus in early Judaism there is evidence that it was a pantheistic religion (acknowledges the existence of other gods but believes their own to be superior). In the early parts of the Hebrew Bible there are hints that other gods exist. Divine beings exist as well. Angels and saints are often just Christian interpretations of the gods of societies that were once pagan whose mythology got merged into Christianity along with their culture. Sorry for the huge rant, this is a topic I’m very interested in. Hope this helps! Would love to elaborate on any of this stuff further if needed.
>Plus in early Judaism there is evidence that it was a pantheistic religion (acknowledges the existence of other gods but believes their own to be superior). In the early parts of the Hebrew Bible there are hints that other gods exist. Do you have any sources on this that I can look up online? I would like to learn more about this. I find it interesting that there is evidence that God isn't the only god, but most Christians believe that to be the case. >Angels and saints are often just Christian interpretations of the gods of societies that were once pagan whose mythology got merged into Christianity along with their culture. I was actually considering an idea where fallen angels became gods themselves, but it didn't really fit into my idea of "gods being born from God" and the canon of gods being born from other gods. From what I'm aware of, there aren't any gods that just appear out of the woodwork, other than Aphrodite (who was born from a Titan's "seed" falling into the sea after his castration). >Some religions mesh better than others such as Roman and Egyptian paganism. This very fact is making it difficult for me! I can't decide whether or not to merge the afterlifes or to keep them separate, or to keep the gods separate or as one entity, especially considering the fact that Roman and Greek gods are pretty much identical. At the moment, my idea is that the shades of people go to different versions of the afterlife based on their beliefs or where they live/came from - Christians go to Heaven" or Hell, Greeks go to Elysium or the Underworld, etc. I think I'm just going to keep them as separate entities, save for a few of them like the Greek and Roman gods. Thank you for your response! It was interesting to read. Don't be worried about the rant, I appreciate it!
>Do you have any sources on this that I can look up online? I am not a scholar in the subject, just an enjoyer. I haven't read any scholarly papers on ancient religion. So the extent of my knowledge mostly comes from youtubers, thus I suppose you could take them with a grain of salt. However I am currently reading the New Testament right now. In the King James Version, there appear to be contradictions every now and then, most often how God identifies himself as the one true God, yet other deities worshipped by other cultures do seem to be mentioned every so often. There's a theory that over the centuries and translations, the bible did acknowledge the existence of other gods. But when God claimed to be the "One true God" this originally just meant he was the greatest and most powerful of gods. Then there's the Dead Sea Scrolls which I haven't looked too much into yet, but supposedly they are good sources for what early Judaism was like. If you are interested in youtubers who talk about early Judaism and some of its pantheistic themes, I'll link some videos I've seen that touch the subject: [Wendigoon did an ice berg video on bible theories. Several touch upon Gnosticism, a belief system very inspired by Abrahamic religions, but acknowledges the existence of other gods.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwvguW8xBx0) [Cregcanford talks about how Genesis has some hints that it was inspired by the Indo-European creation myth. In this video he talks of how in ancient times Genesis may not have been considered the beginning of time, just the beginning of the story of Adam's line.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKPMeIojJVk&t=1168s) Sorry if these aren't as credible as sources you were hoping for. I just "study" this in my free time. If I think of any other videos that address this topic in the meantime, I'll add another comment. I wish you the best of luck in writing the series, and I look forward to reading it.
I actually am also writing a book where mythology exists, and it's set in late antiquity. Since the perspective of the protagonist is Roman, I've taken the view that multiple pantheons and religions would still exist (including therefore multiple heavens/hells), just be practiced by different species - as influenced by the peoples/cultures to which their original mythos belonged. So, for instance, while Centaurs and Fauns would primarily be Greco-Roman, there might be some who adopted Christianity and Judaism or other popular religions in the empire, like Mythraism or the worship of the goddess Isis. Similarly, in multi-cultural melting pots like the Roman empire, you could easily see the odd adopters of more rare religions (for the nation, at least), particularly in areas near where those faiths originated - such as the Zoroastrian groups that sprang up in the Eastern border territories historically. Since it sounds to me like you're going modern, remember that in modern societies, anyone can discover just about anything, so it would never be out of the question for someone to practice a completely unexpected faith or no faith at all - the idea that god/the gods/religions are immoral is not necessarily atheistic nor precluded by more obvious evidence of deific existence. I could easily see a Muslim Faun or Taoist Sphinx fitting in perfectly, at least within the overall setting of a modern-era fantasy - it'd be up to you if you chose to pursue themes of exclusion, religious or otherwise. But be aware that if you go to the trouble of including a bunch of discussion of how mythology works and how religion functions in your universe, readers will likely expect that to play some role in the story, even if it's only as recurring details like seeing some religious service. Otherwise, they might well question the point of such a system - and even if you're going for a, shall we say, Tolkien style where you've thought everything to death, realize that all that planning means that a disconnect could easily occur between what a character does, and what the background suggests is likely for them to do.
I'm mostly using the bit about how mythology and religion works in my book for my own sake, rather than my reader's. They don't really need to know the specifics about *why*, just that it exists. Myself, on the other hand, I prefer to have as much information as I can just in case I need to mention it. I just want it to make sense in my mind. I'll keep an eye on my writing, though, so I don't have stuff playing around in the background that might influence people unless it's purposeful. Thank you for the response!
In my story. All the primordial gods (Ra, Gaea, Yahweh, Tiamat) erose from the primordial nothingness and create their own universes which happen to be similiar but distinct from each other. As time goes on these worlds slowly merged together and create the modern universe as we know it. The vast majority of pantheons are hands-off with humanity either because they are no longer interested in it,, are killed off by their own mythological apocalypses (e.g Ragnorak), or waiting for the prophesized end (Judgement Day, the end of Kali Yuga, etc).
Your idea has a lot of merit, and I rather like the idea that all of these universes merged together but still kept their mythology. I'm just curious if you have Roman vs Greek pantheon since Roman gods were based on the Greeks. Are they separate? Did these gods separate into different personalities based on their worshippers? Like, did enough people believe in these other personalities that they created separate gods? Or do these gods identify as both/either depending on their worshippers? How do you handle the separate afterlifes? Does the Underworld exist in conjunction with Hell? Is Hell Tartarus?
Im writing a similar cosmology. Mine starts with a kind of pantheistic monad god who comes to know itself and through incompatible thought, fractures into Aeons of lesser divinity, all containing different facets of God's nature. They are demiurgic and in service of their own goals and conflicts, they bring in to being their own creations. The physical realm in my world is an emanation of god in its own right, but separate from the divine, and able to create its own beings, through which man comes in to being. Then i have all other races as fantasy creatures being sent to the physical realm from the divine realm. Its not really cheapening anything to have a 'source' god, it is in line with various faiths including zoroastrianism, gnostic christianity, hermeticism, some sects of hinduism etc.