arsis there; but
it has been converted by them into a practical monotheistic cult, so
that a consistent dualism now exists nowhere in the world. The thought
of the great civilized nations has turned rather to a unitary view of
the divine government of the world.

+981+. The history of the movement which has elevated monotheism to the
highest place among the civilized cults extends over the whole period of
man's life on the earth. It is pointed out above[1799] that very
generally in low tribes a local supernatural personage is invested with
great power: he is creator, ruler, and guardian of morals; where a
tolerably definite civil and political organization exists he has
virtually the position and performs the functions of the tribal chief,
only with vastly greater powers and privileges; where there is no such
organization he is simply a vaguely conceived, mysterious man who has
control of the elements and of human fortunes, and punishes violations
of tribal custom. Such a personage is, however, at best only the highest
among many supernatural Powers. It is immaterial whether we regard such
a figure as developed from a spirit or as the direct product of
religious imagination. He is always crudely anthropomorphic and,
notwithstanding his primacy, is limited in power by his own nature, by
other supernatural Powers, and by men. Frequently, also, he tends to
become otiose and virtually loses his supremacy;[1800] that is to say,
in the increased complexity of social life a god who was once sufficient
for the needs of a simpler organization has to give way to a number of
Powers which are regarded as the controllers of special departments of
life. Such an otiose form may sometimes indicate a succession of divine
quasi-dynasties, somewhat as in the Greek sequence of Ouranos, Kronos,
Zeus. Handed down from a former generation, he becomes dim and is
neglected. That he is not worshiped is a result of the fact that other
divine beings, standing nearer to existing human interests, have come to
the front.

+982+. The theory has been held in the past, and is still held, that
monotheism was the primitive form of religion and that the worship of
many spirits or many gods is a corruption of primitive thought due to
man's intellectual feebleness or to his moral depravity. It is urged
that such a monotheistic system was the natural one for unsophisticated
man. The view has been widely held also that it was the result of a
primitive divine