Greece and Babylon : a comparative sketch of Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic religions / by Lewis R. Farnell.

  • Lewis Richard Farnell
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Greece and Babylon : a comparative sketch of Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic religions / by Lewis R. Farnell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the religions of the Mediterranean area, and hope thereby to indicate the main problems which the student of comparative religion must try to solve, or the leading questions he must ask, and thus, perhaps, to be able to suggest to others as well as to myself special lines of future research and discussion. What, then, are the questions which naturally arise when we approach the study of any religion that has advanced beyond the primitive stage ? We wish to discover with definiteness what is the idea of divinity that it has evolved, in what forms and with what con¬ cepts this idea is expressed—whether, for instance, the godhead is conceived as a vague “ numen,” or as a definite personality with complex character and functions, and whether it is imagined or presented to sense in anthropomorphic forms. The question whether the religion is monotheistic or polytheistic is usually answered at a glance, unless the record is unusually defective ; but in the case of polytheism careful inquiry is often needed to answer the other morphological questions that press them¬ selves upon us, whether the polytheism is an organised system of co-ordinated and subordinated powers or a mere medley of uncorrelated deities. If the former, whether the unifying tendency has developed in the direction of monotheism or pantheism. Again, the study of the attributes and functions ascribed and the titles attached to the deity will enable us to answer the questions concerning his relation to the world of Nature, to the social sphere of law, politics, and morality ; and in this quest we may hope to gain fruitful suggestions concerning the interaction of religion, social organisation, and ethics. We shall also wish to know whether the religion is dogmatic or not—that is
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