scholarly journals Four-Meter-High Gods and Heroes: Mythological Bodies

Indialogs ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Linda Anne Hemphill
Keyword(s):  
High Gods

The Size of Societies, Stratification, and Belief in High Gods Supportive of Human Morality

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frans L. Roes
Keyword(s):  
Regional Differences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Relation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
High Gods

Two hypotheses about belief in high gods supportive of human morality were tested with data from the Ethnographic Atlas and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. A significant positive relation between the size of societies and such a belief is demonstrated, and this relation appears to be independent of both regional differences and differences in stratification of the societies. On the other hand, stratification itself is also significantly related with the belief in high gods supportive of human morality, but this relation could not be shown to be independent of regional differences or differences in size.

Do Women Have Higher Social Status in Hunting Societies without High Gods?

Social Forces ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Patrick Gray
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
High Gods

Climate Variability, Drought, and the Belief that High Gods Are Associated with Weather in Nonindustrial Societies

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-272
Author(s):  
Carol R. Ember ◽  
Ian Skoggard ◽  
Benjamin Felzer ◽  
Emily Pitek ◽  
Mingkai Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Resource Stress ◽  
Climate Patterns ◽  
High Gods ◽  
Path Models ◽  
Cold Extremes

AbstractAll societies have religious beliefs, but societies vary widely in the number and type of gods in which they believe as well as their ideas about what the gods do. In many societies, a god is thought to be responsible for weather events. In some of those societies, a god is thought to cause harm with weather and/or can choose to help, such as by bringing needed rain. In other societies, gods are not thought to be involved with weather. Using a worldwide, largely nonindustrial sample of 46 societies with high gods, this research explores whether certain climate patterns predict the belief that high gods are involved with weather. Our major expectation, largely supported, was that such beliefs would most likely be found in drier climates. Cold extremes and hot extremes have little or no relationship to the beliefs that gods are associated with weather. Since previous research by Skoggard et al. showed that greater resource stress predicted the association of high gods with weather, we also tested mediation path models to help us evaluate whether resource stress might be the mediator explaining the significant associations between drier climates and high god beliefs. The climate variables, particularly those pertaining to dryness, continue to have robust relationships to god beliefs when controlling on resource stress; at best, resource stress has only a partial mediating effect. We speculate that drought causes humans more anxiety than floods, which may result in the greater need to believe supernatural beings are not only responsible for weather but can help humans in times of need.

A Mahāyānist Movement in the Luohei Shan (Lahu Mountains) of Southwestern Yunnan

Inner Asia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-333
Author(s):  
Anthony Walker
Keyword(s):  
Religious Architecture ◽  
High Gods ◽  
Village Communities ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Ritual Architecture

AbstractSome village communities of the mountain-dwelling, Tibeto-Burman speaking Lahu peoples support temples and an associated priesthood, whose principal purpose is to honour their creator-divinity G'ui sha. Neither temples nor ritual devotion to a High God are commonly present among the Lahu people's upland neighbours. Relatively small spirit shrines are the principal form of ritual architecture and high gods are typically seen as being unconcerned with human affairs; consequently, it can serve no useful purpose to “worship” them. This paper seeks to demonstrate that these peculiarities of Lahu custom and belief derive from a Mahayanist movement that swept through the Lahu mountain homelands in southwestern Yunnan, probably beginning in the late seventeenth to mid eighteenth centuries CE. The result was (a) the establishment of temples as the principal form of religious architecture among many (not all) Lahu communities and an identification of their high-god G'ui sha with the Buddha Śākyamuni and consequently–following Mahāyānist ideology – with transcendental Buddhahood.

Three High Gods of Chu

1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance A. Cook
Keyword(s):  
High Gods
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