A Cultural clash: monotheism and Greek religion

When discussing the relationship between monotheism and greek religion it is best started with asking questions about what the idea of "religion" evokes. It became clear that there was a multitude of figures, ideologies and practices concerning the topic of religion. These ideas where then turned into examining the way they are used in Greek religion and it seems that all these features were central to the way that Greek citizens lived their lives. The most important differentiation between Greek religion and Catholicism (monotheistic religion) is the extent to which it influences daily routine. Using the example of Poseidon we can see that to cross a sea the Greeks would have rituals or pay tribute at a temple before voyaging. Whereas, praying for safe travels is not seen as important in Catholicism, followers do not believe God would punish you with natural disasters if you did not pay him favour. The influence that religion had over the Greeks everyday activities appears to be massive compared with that of a monotheistic religion from a modern day conception. The idea of Greek religion not pervading anything in ancient Greece is what seperates monotheism and Greek religion especially in fields such as politics and the private home. Many scholars have suggested that the two concepts of religion are difficult to identify with each other due to cultural estrangement.
The theory that has been put forward by Zaidman is "for 'us' the divine (in the form of a transcendent God) is external to the world...For 'them', the Greeks the gods were not external to the world." (Zaidman: pg.3). So when we try to adopt a lens to examine Greek religion when should examine the gods as being constantly watching everything mortals do within the same world. Futher analysis of Zaidman's view comes about from the looking at the cultural estrangement between us and them, which shows that Zaidman believes it is not a simple task for a modern scholar to change their outlook when a christianised view has been adopted for so long.
The cartoon sketch that has been used for this blog entry is a comic sketch of the disscussion as it shows Zeus suggesting that moving towards monotheism as downsizing, presumably due to the amount it affects the everyday life of a citizen. However, it is has been suggested by Scholars such as Pettazzoni "Christainity again could not but deny the old gods of Greek and Roman polytheism, yet it did not deny that they existed" (Pettazzoni: pg.7) The theory that Pettazzoni suggests Christianity had on Greek religion was that the gods of Greek religion were not omnipotent enough to be recognised as deities and therefore, were not true gods with a capital 'G', these immortal beings are recognised by christian followers as beings with longevity, but, not having the capabilities of a true monotheistic God.


Zaidman, L.B (1989) 'Religion in the Ancient Greek City' Translated by Paul Cartledge, Cambridge University Press pg.3-4
Pettazzoni, R 'Essays on the the History of Religions' E.J Breill, Leiden pg.7-9