Preview

The Male Divine and World Mythology

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
379 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Male Divine and World Mythology
Male Divine Article
HUM/105 World Mythology

This article discusses the male divine and the myths surrounding him. This article starts by defining the male divine, then taking the reader back to the early myth of the gods and then showing how gods and the male divine still play an important part in today’s society and modern religion.
The male divine plays a large part in the worlds myths, but the male is not the only being in the world’s myths. About half of the world myths include the male divine but when you look at cave painting and other ancient engravings the female divine is a much more prevalent character. These myths and engraving also includes other beings that appear to have no specific gender, thus showing the unity of both the male and female divine.
There are numerous myths that talk about the male divine. These myths show the male divine in several different roles that include the creator, warrior, trickster, hunter and the hero. When looking at the female deities they are mostly see as the earth or are embodied as a part of the female reproductive system. On the other hand, the male divine are not seen as parts of the reproductive cycle or in the different seasonal cycles; they are mostly seen in the sociopolitical roles that they fulfill.
One of the major roles that you see the male divine in is the role of the creator. The role of the creator is shown in countless myths to include role of the Christian God. The Christian God and Jesus are both shown in the male form. The male divine plays a large role in the myths and beliefs of today’s society and religion.
In conclusion the male divine plays a large role in most all myths, from sacrifice myths to creation myths. The male divine also plays large roles in other myths from the hunter to the savior. Myths that tell of the male divine play a large role in the story of our beginnings, of which we can all learn something from.

References Leonard, S. & McClure, M. (2004).



References: Leonard, S. & McClure, M. (2004). Myth and knowing. An introduction to world mythology. Retrieved from University Phoenix Online Library: http://www.apollolibrary.com/Library/Library.aspx

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Humanities Wk3 Assignment

    • 1040 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Aphrodite is female. Her gender function would be the sexual aspect of the myth surrounding her because she is known for seduction.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author in this article questions the gender of god in the face of the onslaught of the question of the female divine; the varied criticisms and the study of the scriptures where God declares to Moses “I am that I am.” The article goes on to defend the male divine in that it argues from religious studies, scriptures and published studies the male nature of God from a Christian’s standpoint. Taking on certain criticisms and arguing against them point by point, the article is a reaction to the threat of women’s liberation and the wave of studies on the female divine. The author of this article goes on to reiterate the actions taken on by other religions to fall into a certain political correctness when discussing god, removing his gender which the author believes is confusing. Since the establishment of early Christianity as God is seen as the “Holy father” and Jesus as His “only Son”, the author of this article argues that God has no gender and that even with the male divine argument, God exists outside sexual differentiation. The attributes of the Male divine in God is due to the fatherhood personified in human worship of 'Him' and the female attributes come from the “female acts” that God is seen to perform according to the scriptures. Even then, the question of God's gender in this article while 'made invalid' due to God's “motherhood” still pronounces the “male divine” being that 'God' even from a Christian viewpoint due to the Jewish patriarchal nature of the Old Testament being that Jewish Theology is heavy on male transcendence. Judaism sees patriarchy as the mandate of giving life and of making reality - women need the male to “be heavy with child”, to look after the family, to carry the line from generation to generation. Thompson however argues that while this is so, the Male Divine is just a manifestation of the “wholeness” that is “God the Holy Spirit” and “Spirits” do not inhibit a corporeal body so gender does not limit them. The Dvine is…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athena Role Model

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Athena is one of the most well known goddesses from ancient Greece. She is Goddess of Wisdom and of War and is a good example of the template used for our modern day female superhero. Often called a feminist goddess, she is described as strong in both her character and body, independent and fierce, wise and rational. The story of Athena’s birth is well known. Zeus consumed the Titan goddess Metis and began to suffer a headache, Hephaestus then splits Zeus’ head open to relieve the ache and out of the wound sprung Athena. If you look close enough, Athena was born of man and woman asexually, but it was often said, even by Athena herself that she was born only of man. This course of action is a denial of the maternal origin and her mother is never seen in ancient myth as a disrespect. The denial of birth and female power to give birth commandeers this power and creates another layer of patriarchal views on the creation of life in the world. She belongs to only her father and sees herself as his greatest and most trusted heir. She was a part of the world in a way the women of her time were not allowed to be, a goddess of both war and wisdom, when the women in society were seen as irrational and unpredictable by the men around them. But she still remains a beacon of what a perfect women should be in their society, virginal, beautiful and loyally pledged to…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, we can clearly see the different roles women played in that time. These women were very diverse, some were considered harlots, others full of wisdom, and some were called gods. Each woman in these stories help the audience to see how important gender roles actually are. Women, as a whole, play a very key role in making this happen. Women start out to seem to be equal to the men in a sense that both genders are “gods." However, the main god happens to be the male. Women are also respected due to the fact that they are able to bear children and reproduce. It is also seen that in terms of physical attraction and sexuality, women are able to have control over the men and somewhat given the upperhand in that…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Thousands of years ago, the Goddess was viewed as an autonomous entity worthy of respect from men and women alike. Because of societal changes caused by Eastern influence, a patriarchical system conquered all aspects of life including religion. Today, the loss of a strong female presence in Judeo-Christian beliefs has prompted believers to look to other sources that celebrate the role of women. Goddess religion and feminist spirituality have increasingly been embraced by men and women as an alternative to the patriarchy found in traditional biblical religion.…

    • 1990 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    While some goddesses are credited for having strength, both mental and physical, and having strong manipulative powers over men, many more are held as mere vessels for carrying the kin of the gods. While Hesiod is describing Zeus’ wives, mistresses and children, it seems that he continues to impregnate numerous goddesses as though he is searching for the perfect genes to make the perfect child, or merely to populate the heavens with his children, all of whom have a different purpose or power. The majority of the text relays the feeling of women being inferior to men; however, their power is still recognized and almost feared.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Concubines Dbq

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Look closely at Document 1 we can tell there weren’t even any female gods. The Gilgamesh Epic reads, “… their father, Anu; Their counselor, the warrior Bel; Their leader, Nimurta; Their champion the god Enlil.” (doc. 1) All of the gods listed are male. Pleasing a god was an important objective when it came to everyday life; if you wanted your future to be prosperous, you would do everything you could to please the gods. The question is what would please a god, or what would a god find pleasing? The lord [nobleman] Ptah-hotep advises his son, “If you are a wise man, bring up a son who shall be pleasing to Ptah [a god].” (doc. 2) From this we can already tell that the gods favored male offspring rather than daughters. However it wasn’t only to gods did sons seem more cherished; even kings/rulers from all over the land seemed to fancy songs more than daughters. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, once wrote about Persia in his book, The Histories, “Those who have the most sons receive an annual present from the king.” (doc. 3) Why was it not ‘those who have the most daughters?’ Sons were obviously much more valued than…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even further, each man encounters a situation with a god and they intervene in their fate. The gods play a prevalent role. Either by strengthen or by changing their course. For example, Gilgamesh insults Ishtar by telling her she does not want her love so she punishes him by sending a Bull of Heaven to kill him. Gilgamesh however, defeats the Bull of Heaven, “I am Gilgamesh, I destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest, I grappled with the Bull that came down from heaven, and killed him.” (9.29-33) Gilgamesh still acting pretentious and presumptuous then upsets Ishtar, “Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian epic about a king who is two thirds god and one third man. The king does not meet his expectations of leadership as he is selfish and often angers the Gods. When his companion Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh goes off on a quest to attain immortality. He fails in this quest and eventually dies, but through his travel he came to terms with his own mortality and his greatness lived on. While the main characters are men, women have small but important roles in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The women in this epic reveal that ancient Mesopotamians valued womenÕs roles as child bearers and transmitters of civilization. While the Epic of Gilgamesh reveals much about Mesopotamian religion, the goddesses described also reveal, in some ways, how the Mesopotamian viewed and valued women. Ishtar is the goddess of both love and war, this shows that women have the power to be both wonderful and productive or destructive and horrible. A womanÕs most important role in life is to bear children and a woman who cannot bear children is seen as destructive to the population. Only a woman has the capacity to create life and that makes her important and valuable. The one who created the earth, according to the Epic of Gilgamesh, was a goddess, a woman. The wife of the sun is the dawn, giving birth to a new day. Because of…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    kettle corn

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the Epic of Gilgamesh, humanity and the divine are inextricably intertwined. The gods repeatedly intervene in the lives of men when their actions make them angry, and Gilgamesh himself is part divine. What is more, the gods are associated with physical places and people, for whom they act as patrons. Shamash is Gilgamesh's patron, for example, and Anu takes care of the town of Uruk.…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Just A Girl Poem Analysis

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The gender roles are visible in the text as men are portrayed to be stronger and above…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Possible options of divine roles include the following: father or mother divinities, divinities of war, home or hearth divinities, divinities of love, divinities of wisdom, divinities of medicine or health, divinities of the wind, divinities of agriculture, divinities of the sky, ruler of all the gods, and so on.…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although separated by the wide gulf of time and culture, myths involving supernatural characters and gods exist in almost every society throughout the world. While this commonality may not be spectacular by itself, a detailed comparative study of the myths reveals a more striking similarity. Even in cultures as different and antagonistic as those of the Ancient Greeks and the Sumerians, predecessors of the Persians, there exists a startling parallelism in imagery and themes of the myths of the respective peoples. The epics of Heracles and Gilgamesh are an exceptionally good example of these similarities.…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    This also implies man provides for the woman in this time period. Woman is however supposed to be inferior to man since was not created first and did not have the right to help man name all the animals on Earth. In the Shinto myth, it is not said to how men and women are created but how the gods came to be. The Shinto gods were both men and women. In this time period in Japan, men and women were seen as equals.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    I spent much of my life being told that I wasn't good enough and eventually bought into that lie. The gender of God had no impact on this, the cause of my self-esteem issues was of earthly nature caused primarily by bullying. I feel the same could be said of most of these patterns. I do not personally feel that God being more or less feminine would have an impact. I would be curious to see if there were higher instances of these patterns in a religion such as Hinduism that do have goddesses as well as gods. Personally I do not feel it would have an impact. As for patriarchy in the church, it has been much the same in the church as it has been in the culture for much of history. I do feel that it is accurate to attribute this to human sin, if you look at cultures devoid of Christian religion in most cases the male is still the primary holder of power. This was not something that originated in the church, it is something that has been engrained within human…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays