Sky Gods and My Gods
What are we to think when we read comments like this, “Either we might think of Christ purely as God, in which case he is no longer human, has no share in our human experience, and becomes a divinity in the sky like Zeus or Thor, or else, in contrast, we focus so much on his humanity that we underplay the divine element and deny the Incarnation.”[i]
“Divinity in the sky”? Zeus? Thor?
Philip Jenkins, the author of those words, is a professor of the Humanities in history and religious studies at Penn State University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He is the author of several books.
You might expect him to show a little more awareness of Pagan realities, even if his real subject matter is Christianity.
Zeus and Thor come off in this comparison as remote and unapproachable. YHWH would have been a better example.
Why drag our gods into it?
The fact is that the gods of polytheism could not be more approachable. After all, their worshipers believed them to dine with them at the sacrificial feasts, right there among the mortal diners. In the ancient Middle East, gods would actually go traveling, visiting other countries with their attendants.[ii] In ancient Greece, gods were clothed and perfumed and anointed.
YHWH was remote. He didn’t even have an image. He was invisible and lived behind a curtain. The gods of polytheism were very visible and very approachable.
To simply call them “divinities in the sky” is to do them an injustice.
But I suppose that is how someone brought up in a Judeo-Christian worldview, and probably still part of it, might view things. After all, it is difficult to take idols seriously, and the gods are no more than this to monotheists, unless they are demons.
I doubt very much that my own ancestors viewed Thor in such a way. Stories abounded about the Norse gods participating in mortal life here on Midgard. The Greeks told similar stories of their gods. YHWH, on the other hand, remained aloof in Heaven and did not walk among humankind. Jesus did, but only briefly. And then he became like his father, or himself, or however that whole trinity thing works out.
The issue may be a small one in the grand scheme of things, but it goes to illustrate the vast gulf that still exists between monotheism and polytheism. We polytheists are all too well aware of how the god(s) of monotheism is perceived, but monotheists remain completely uninformed and unaware of Pagan realities.
Our spiritual landscape is invisible to them.
Still, as I said, you would expect a distinguished professor of religion to be better informed.
Clearly, too much attention can be given the old Indo-European Sky God routine. Just because the sky father is a sky father and the earth mother is an earth mother does not mean the earth mother is more approachable.
A note to monotheists (and professors of religion), our gods are benign and approachable, to be contrasted with a god who is remote and ill-tempered.
[i] Philip Jenkins, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years (2010), 2.
[ii] Amanda H. Podany, Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East (2010).
Hrafnkell Haraldsson is the author of A Heathen’s Day, which since 2005 has addressed the life and thoughts of a modern day Heathen. He is also the founder of the Mos Maiorum Foundation (www.mosmaiorum.org) which is dedicated to the study and support of Paganism as ethnic religion and writes for PoliticusUSA (www.politicususa.com) 
A good point about Jenkins’ mischaracterizations. Of course, his background is in history and criminology, and not in religious studies of any kind, although he may be an autodidact. I see that he also contributes to Christianity Today and First Things, which tells a bit of a story.
O/T, but you mentioned that “In the ancient Middle East, gods would actually go traveling, visiting other countries with their attendants.” Interestingly, we see exactly this occurring in Genesis 18.
Makarios, you wouldn’t know Jenkins’ background from the dustjacket…sort of a misrepresentation of the man’s credentials. Criminology, eh? Of course, I have degrees in history and philosophy, and I know these things. There is simply no excuse for an educated man not to inform himself properly before writing a book.
The Bible contains a lot of pre-monotheistic material. You can see the Bronze Age peeking through the 7th century texts here and there, and part of the reality of the world ancient Israel occupied.
Anyone who believes that the classical Pagan/PHA deities are remote and disconnected has never had one whack him in the head for being stupid, or hand him a hose when the defecation hits the rotary oscillator. Suggest he try buying some of them a drink as his next course of study.
No share in the human experience?!? Really? Does this man know anything about the Gods he mentioned, or their pantheons as a whole, beyond thier names? Many pagan gods are constantly getting involved in the lives of humans. Both in the mythology and in contemporary experience. In sagas and legends, many heros and kings are directly descended from the Gods, giving them a very tangible stake in the affairs of men.
You have to wonder if he knows more than that. A passing familiarity with the idea of the Indo-European sky god? You almost have to assume he has not familiarized himself with the data available.