Euhemerism

From: yfcw29_at_castle.ed.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 95 10:56:38 BST


Ok, very well put.

Carl Fink says :

>>The what about actions by Men? by Heroes? If a man can become a god,
>>the acts of men become the acts of gods. Myth is not just a covenient
>>fiction, else heroquests would have no power.
>
>This is euhemerization again, defined as the idea that the legends of
>supernatural beings are really "mythologized" acts of historical human
>beings. I have little use for it.
>
>This is (again) NOT EARTH! In Glorantha, why can't there really be
>gods? I feel that Simon is using the fact that supernatural beings
>don't really exist here, in the real world, to devalue their
>"existence" in the fantasy world of Glorantha.
 

Devalue? The gods, in Glorantha, demonstrably exist. I have always supported this possition. I think we are suffering from a disagreement on what a god realy is. I believe the Gloranthan gods exist as (at least in some sense) personalised entities. I also believe that the relationship between a god, it's cult and worshipers can be altered by heroquesting. We know that the God Learners created gods which later demonstrated genuine power. Most of the majour religions have subcults founded by cult heroes. I don't believe there is a sharp division between god and heroquester. The two interact in a complex fashion.

Perhaps I am just not being very clear. Perhaps I am an euhemerist, but not in the sharp, black-and-white fashion you seem to think.

Answer me this. If you reject euhemerism completely, how do you explain the power of heroquesting to change myth?

Simon Hibbs
yfcw29_at_castle.ed.ac.uk


Powered by hypermail