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Spirituality & Religious Studies @spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com · 2026-06-10 · 00:53 UTC

Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

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GLOBAL Visibility aéPiot - by aePiot.ro @[email protected] · 2026-05-19 · 17:06 UTC

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PugJesus @[email protected] · 2026-05-13 · 23:06 UTC

"Thanks bro, Isa mad helpful in these trying times"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2059898/thanks-bro-isa-mad-helpful-in-these-trying-times

#religion #history #islam #meme #christianity #greece

PugJesus @[email protected] · 2026-05-13 · 23:06 UTC

"Thanks bro, Isa mad helpful in these trying times"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2059898/thanks-bro-isa-mad-helpful-in-these-trying-times

#religion #history #islam #meme #christianity #greece

GLOBAL Visibility aéPiot - by aePiot.ro @[email protected] · 2026-05-10 · 00:11 UTC

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Wanda :happy_anarcat: @[email protected] · 2026-03-11 · 00:35 UTC

I don't like how fellow Muslims talk about Islam to Western audiences. It's always defensive. Taking the offensive stance once in a while is necessary. Islam doesn't need defending. It's those who paint it as dangerous that need to explain themselves.

Read my critique of Western political frameworks. Consider it a mirror for those who claim to be allies in the West and “anti-imperialist.”

https://wrzky.com/orientalism-and-the-denial-of-muslim-political-agency/

#orientalism #muslimfeminism #antiimperialism #pluralism #Trotskyism #panislamism #liberalfeminism #secularism #decolonial #deconstruction #anarchism #muslim #islam #indonesia #palestine #marxism #iran #afghanistan #lebanon #syria #communism #syncretism

#orientalism #muslimfeminism #antiimperialism #pluralism #trotskyism #panislamism

Wanda :happy_anarcat: @[email protected] · 2026-03-11 · 00:35 UTC

I don't like how fellow Muslims talk about Islam to Western audiences. It's always defensive. Taking the offensive stance once in a while is necessary. Islam doesn't need defending. It's those who paint it as dangerous that need to explain themselves.

Read my critique of Western political frameworks. Consider it a mirror for those who claim to be allies in the West and “anti-imperialist.”

https://wrzky.com/orientalism-and-the-denial-of-muslim-political-agency/

#orientalism #muslimfeminism #antiimperialism #pluralism #Trotskyism #panislamism #liberalfeminism #secularism #decolonial #deconstruction #anarchism #muslim #islam #indonesia #palestine #marxism #iran #afghanistan #lebanon #syria #communism #syncretism

#orientalism #muslimfeminism #antiimperialism #pluralism #trotskyism #panislamism

quangobaud @[email protected] · 2026-03-08 · 14:50 UTC

Syncretism #Syncretism

wiki
Syncretism (/ˈsɪŋkrətɪzəm/) is the combining or merging of various distinct beliefs or schools of thought, particularly religious ones. For instance, features and components of one religion are incorporated and absorbed into another. It can include assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in theology and mythology, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to multiple faiths. While syncretism in art and culture is sometimes likened to eclecticism, in the realm of religion, it specifically denotes a more integrated merging of beliefs into a unified system, distinct from eclecticism, which implies a selective adoption of elements from different traditions without necessarily blending them into a new, cohesive belief system.

Criticism of the term

Véronique Altglas argues that the use of the term "syncretism" is an effort to make some religious practices and religions seem less legitimate, pure, or well-established. She argues that the term "syncretism" presupposes that the religions that syncretism combines were "pure" and unchanging before being combined. In reality, she believes, religions are all inherently syncretic to some degree because they combine many elements from different people's spiritualities and religions and different cultures. The term "syncretism" can serve the ends of ethnocentrism and purism in some cases in this view.

#syncretism

quangobaud @[email protected] · 2026-03-08 · 14:50 UTC

Syncretism #Syncretism

wiki
Syncretism (/ˈsɪŋkrətɪzəm/) is the combining or merging of various distinct beliefs or schools of thought, particularly religious ones. For instance, features and components of one religion are incorporated and absorbed into another. It can include assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in theology and mythology, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to multiple faiths. While syncretism in art and culture is sometimes likened to eclecticism, in the realm of religion, it specifically denotes a more integrated merging of beliefs into a unified system, distinct from eclecticism, which implies a selective adoption of elements from different traditions without necessarily blending them into a new, cohesive belief system.

Criticism of the term

Véronique Altglas argues that the use of the term "syncretism" is an effort to make some religious practices and religions seem less legitimate, pure, or well-established. She argues that the term "syncretism" presupposes that the religions that syncretism combines were "pure" and unchanging before being combined. In reality, she believes, religions are all inherently syncretic to some degree because they combine many elements from different people's spiritualities and religions and different cultures. The term "syncretism" can serve the ends of ethnocentrism and purism in some cases in this view.

#syncretism

Rowan the Selfsame @[email protected] · 2026-03-08 · 05:12 UTC

I seek Native American / American Indian input on a personal project and set of social campaigns that aim to resolve the political-philosophical tensions of and paralogical gaps within and between several projects of my own --- projects that, I hope, lend credibility to a tentative campaign of my own for local, state, and federal offices over the course of the next thirty years. If you, or someone(s) you know are Native American, indigenous to North America, or an American "Indian", please reach out and/or direct those persons to me. I seek to honor personal and cultural autonomy while practicing the principles of plurality and inclusion: our diversity _is_ our equity.

#NativeAmerican #AmericanIndian #BureauofIndianAffairs #NorthAmericanIndian #indigenous #Politics #Philosophy #Paralogic #Logic #Campaign #StatePolitics #NationalPolitics #culture #antiethnocentrism #autonomy #inclusion #diversity #equity #DEI #syncretism #syncreticfaith #faith #permaculture #threeethics #peoplecare #fairshare #earthcare #churchandstate #resolution #utopia #dystopia #intentionalcommunity

#nativeamerican #americanindian #bureauofindianaffairs #northamericanindian #indigenous #politics

Rowan the Selfsame @[email protected] · 2026-03-08 · 05:12 UTC

I seek Native American / American Indian input on a personal project and set of social campaigns that aim to resolve the political-philosophical tensions of and paralogical gaps within and between several projects of my own --- projects that, I hope, lend credibility to a tentative campaign of my own for local, state, and federal offices over the course of the next thirty years. If you, or someone(s) you know are Native American, indigenous to North America, or an American "Indian", please reach out and/or direct those persons to me. I seek to honor personal and cultural autonomy while practicing the principles of plurality and inclusion: our diversity _is_ our equity.

#NativeAmerican #AmericanIndian #BureauofIndianAffairs #NorthAmericanIndian #indigenous #Politics #Philosophy #Paralogic #Logic #Campaign #StatePolitics #NationalPolitics #culture #antiethnocentrism #autonomy #inclusion #diversity #equity #DEI #syncretism #syncreticfaith #faith #permaculture #threeethics #peoplecare #fairshare #earthcare #churchandstate #resolution #utopia #dystopia #intentionalcommunity

#nativeamerican #americanindian #bureauofindianaffairs #northamericanindian #indigenous #politics

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:34 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

#Archaeology #ClassicalArchaeology #Epigraphy #HistoryofReligions #Portugal #gods #romanization #syncretism #books #openaccess

#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:34 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

#Archaeology #ClassicalArchaeology #Epigraphy #HistoryofReligions #Portugal #gods #romanization #syncretism #books #openaccess

#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:33 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

#Archaeology #ClassicalArchaeology #Epigraphy #HistoryofReligions #Portugal #gods #romanization #syncretism #books #openaccess

#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:33 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

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#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:33 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

#Archaeology #ClassicalArchaeology #Epigraphy #HistoryofReligions #Portugal #gods #romanization #syncretism #books #openaccess

#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Marcial Tenreiro-Bermudez @[email protected] · 2026-02-14 · 03:33 UTC

Archaeoethnologica: Indigenous Divinities in Portugal - Book / Divinidades Indigenas em Portugal - Livro

+INFO in: https://archaeoethnologica.blogspot.com/2015/04/divinidades-indigenas-em-portugal-livro.html

#Archaeology #ClassicalArchaeology #Epigraphy #HistoryofReligions #Portugal #gods #romanization #syncretism #books #openaccess

#archaeology #classicalarchaeology #epigraphy #historyofreligions #portugal #gods

Rohini Lakshané @[email protected] · 2025-11-27 · 14:17 UTC

Baba's name suggests he was from Ishfahan in Iran. (Hazrat Baba Bahauddin Shah Asfahani) #Mumbai #Iran #Bombay #travel #syncretism

#mumbai #iran #bombay #travel #syncretism

Rohini Lakshané @[email protected] · 2025-11-27 · 14:15 UTC

This dargah is more than 3 centuries old. maps.app.goo.gl/MNRKHCwnBaLg... I am happy for the presence of #syncretic shrines in today's India. I didn't want to enter it because it was crowded but I did have some kickass lemon tea outside for only twelve rupees. #Mumbai #syncretism #travel

#syncretic #mumbai #syncretism #travel

WIST Quotations Has Moved! @[email protected] · 2025-10-16 · 03:57 UTC

A quotation from John Adams

But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1816-12-27) to François Adriaan Van der Kemp

More info about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35362/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #Christianity #fables #faith #holywar #Judaism #JudeoChristian #myth #religion #syncretism #violence

#quotes #quote #religion #violence #faith #christianity

WIST Quotations Has Moved! @[email protected] · 2025-10-16 · 03:57 UTC

A quotation from John Adams

But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1816-12-27) to François Adriaan Van der Kemp

More info about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35362/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #Christianity #fables #faith #holywar #Judaism #JudeoChristian #myth #religion #syncretism #violence

#quotes #quote #religion #violence #faith #christianity

Spirituality & Religious Studies @spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com · 2025-09-21 · 07:10 UTC

Apotheosis

This is also called divinization or deification. It’s from the Latin deificato, meaning “making divine.” This is the glorification of a subject to divine levels & commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity.

The original sense of apotheosis relates to religion & is the subject of many works of art. Figuratively “apotheosis” may be used in almost any context for “the deification, glorification, or exaltation of a principle, practice, etc.” So normally attached to an abstraction of some sort.

In religion, apotheosis was a feature of many religions in the ancient world. Some that are active today. It requires a belief that there’s a possibility of newly created God’s, so a polytheistic belief system.

The Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, & Judaism don’t allow this. Though many recognize minor sacred categories such as saints. They’re created by a process called canonization. In Christian theology, there’s a concept of the faithful becoming god-like, called divinization or in Eastern Christianity theosis.

In Hinduism, there’s some range for new deities. A human may be deified by becoming regarded as an avatar of an established deity, usually a major one, or by being regarded as a new, independent deity (usually a minor one), or a mix of the 2.

In art, an apotheosis scene usually shows the subject in the Heavens or rising towards them. They’re often partnered by a number of angels, putti, personifications of virtues, or similar figures.

Especially from Baroque art onwards apotheosis scenes may show rulers, generals, or artists purely as an honorific symbol. In many cases, the “religious” context is classical Greco-Roman pagan religion, like The Apotheosis of Voltaire, which features Apollo. The Apotheosis of Washington (1865) sits high in the dome of the United States of America Capitol Building is another example. Personification of places or abstractions are also shown receiving an apotheosis. The classic composition was suited for artistic placement on ceilings or inside domes.

Before the Hellenistic period, imperial cults were known in ancient Egypt (pharaohs) & Mesopotamia (from Naran-Sin through Hammurabi). In the New Kingdom of Egypt, all deceased pharaohs were deified as the god Osiris, having been identified as Horus while on the throne. They were sometimes referred to as the “son” of other various deities.

The architect Imhotep was defied after his passing away. Though the process seems to have been gradual. This took over 1,000 years, by which time he had become associated with medicine. About a dozen non-royal ancient Egyptians became regarded as deities.

Ancient Greek & Roman religions have many characters who were born as humans but became gods. Like Disney’s Hercules. They’re usually made divine by 1 of the main deities, the 12 Olympians. In the Roman story of Cupid & Psyche, Zeus gave the ambrosia of the gods to the mortal Psyche. This transformed her into a goddess herself.

In the case of the Hellenistic queen Berenice II of Egypt was deified like other rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The court dispersed a myth that her hair, that was cut off to fulfill a vow, had its own apotheosis before becoming the Coma Berenices, a group of stars that still bear her name.

In the Greek world, the 1st leader who granted himself diving honors was Philip II of Macedon. At the wedding to his 6th wife, Philip’s enthroned image was carried in procession among the Olympian gods. Such Hellenistic state leaders might be raised to a status equal to the gods before death, like Alexander the Great, or afterwards, like members of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

A heroic cult status that’s similar to apotheosis was also an honor given to a few reversed artists of the distant past, such as Homer.

Up to the end of the Roman Republic, the god Quirinus was the only 1 the Romans accepted as having undergone apotheosis, for his identification/syncretism with Romulus. Syncretism is the practice of meshing together different beliefs & various schools of thought. Eventually apotheosis in Ancient Rome was a process whereby a deceased ruler was recognized as divine by their successors. This was usually done by a decree of the Senate & popular consent.

The 1st of these cases was the posthumous deification of the last Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 42 BC by his adopted son, the triumvir Caesar Octavian. In addition to showing respect, the present ruler often deified a popular predecessor to legitimize himself & gain popularity himself & gain popularity with the people.

A vote in the Roman Senate, in the later Empire confirming an imperial decree, was the normal official process. But this sometimes followed a period with the unofficial use of deific language or imagery for the individual. This was often done rather discreetly within the imperial circle.

There was then a public ceremony, called a consecratio, including the release of an eagle which flew high. This represents the ascent of the deified person’s soul to Heaven. Imagery featuring the ascent, sometimes using a chariot, was common on coins & in other art.

The largest & most famous example in art in a relief on the base of the Column of Antoninus Pius, showing the emperor & his wife, Faustina the Elder, being carried up by a much larger winged figure, described as representing “Eternity,” as the personifications of “Roma” & the Campus Martius sit below, & eagles fly above. The imperial couple are represented as Jupiter & Juno (or Zeus & Hera).

The historian Dio Cassius, who said he was present, gives a detailed description of the large, & lavish, public consecratio of Perinax, emperor for 3 months in 193, ordered by Septimius Severus.

At the height of the imperial cult during the Roman Empire, sometimes the emperor’s deceased loved ones (heirs, empresses, or lovers) like Hadrian’s Antinous were deified as well.

Deified people were posthumously given the title ‘Divus’ for men & ‘Diva’ for women to their names to signify their divinity. Traditional Roman religion distinguished between a deus (god) & divus (a mortal who became divine or deified), though not consistently. Temple & columns were erected to provide a space for worship.

The imperial cult was mainly popular in the provinces. Especially in the Eastern Empire, where many cultures were well used to deified rulers, & less popular in Rome itself, & among traditionalists & intellectuals.

Some privately, & cautiously, ridiculed the apotheosis of inept & feeble emperors, as in the satire The Pumkinification of (the Divine) Claudius. This is usually attributed to Seneca.

Numerous mortals have been deified into the Taoist pantheon. Examples are Guan Yi, Iron-crutch Li, & Fan Kuai. Song dynasty general Yue Fei was deified during the Ming dynasty. He’s considered by some practitioners to be 1 of the 3 highest-ranking heavenly generals. The Ming dynasty epic Investiture of the Gods deals heavily with deification legends.

In the complicated, & variable, conceptions of deity in Buddhism, the achievement of Buddhahood may be regarded as an achievable goal for the faithful. Many significant deities are considered to have begun as normal people, from Gautama Buddha (the original Buddha & the creator of Buddhism) downwards. Most of these are seen as avatars or re-births of earlier figures.

Some significant Hindu deities, in particular Rama, were also born as humans. He’s seen as an avatar of Vishnu. In more modern times, Swaminarayan is an undoubted & well-documented historical figure, who’s regarded by some Hindus as an avatar of Vishnu, or as being a still more elevated deity. Bharat Mata (Mother India) began as a national personification devised by a group of Bengali intellectuals in the late 19th century. But now it receives some worship.

Various Hindu & Buddhist rulers in the past have been represented as deities, especially after death, from India to Indonesia. Jayavarman VII, King of the Khmer Empire the 1st Buddhist king of Cambodia, had his own features used for the many statues of Buddha/Avalokitevara he erected.

The extreme personality cult instituted by the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, has been to represent a deification. And continues to this day with the current leader. Even the nation is admittedly atheist.

In Christian theology, instead of the word “apotheosis,” they use the words “deification” or “divinization” or the Greek word “theosis.” Pre-Reformation, & mainstream theology, in both East & West, views Jesus Christ as the preexisting God who undertook mortal existence. Not as a mortal being who attained divinity. A view known as adoptionism. Adoptionism is an early Christian non-Trinitarian doctrine that holds that Jesus was born a mere human being. But Jesus was later adopted by God as His son, usually at Jesus’ baptism or resurrection, rather than being divine from eternity.

It holds that he has made it possible for human beings to be raised to the level of sharing the divine nature as II Peter 1:4 states that he became human to make humans “partakers of the divine nature.”

In John 10:34, Jesus referenced Psalm 82:6 when he stated: “Is it not written in your Law, I have said you are gods?” Other authors stated: “For this is why the Word became man, & the Son of God became the Son of man: so that Man, by entering into communion with the Word & thus receiving divine sonship, might be made God.” Accusations of self deification to some degree may have been placed on heretical such as the Waldensians.

The language of II Peter is taken up by St. Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, “if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods.” It becomes the standard in Greek theology. In the 14th century, St. Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word. In the 5th century, St. Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons “by participation” (Greek methexis). Methexis is “group sharing,” where the audience actively participates in the performance.

Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor. For whom the doctrine is the result of the Incarnation: “Deification, briefly, is the encompassion & fulfillment of all times and ages.”

The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t use the term “apotheosis” in its theology. This is equivalent to the Greek word theosis are Latin-derived words “divinization” & deification” used in the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church.

The concept has been given less prominence in Western theology than in that of the Eastern Catholic Churches. But is present in the Latin Church’s liturgical prayer.

Despite the theological differences, in the Catholic church art depictions of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in art & the Ascension of Jesus in Christian art do share many similarities in composition to apotheosis subjects. As there are many images of saints being raised into Heaven.

Anthropolatry is the deification & worship of humans. It was practiced in ancient Japan towards their emperors. Followers of Socinianism were later accused of practicing anthropolatry.

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