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Full Idea
The Greeks lack a normative theology: everyone has the right to deal with it in a poetic manner and he can believe whatever he wants.
Gist of Idea
The Greeks lack a normative theology: each person has their own poetic view of things
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1872-74 [1873], 19 [110])
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Unpublished of 'Unfashionable Obs' period (v 11)', ed/tr. Gray,Richard T. [Stanford 1995], p.38
A Reaction
There is quite a lot of record of harshness towards atheists, and the trial of Socrates seems to have been partly over theology. However, no proper theological texts have come down, or records of the teachings of the priests.
| 1742 | Thales said the gods know our wrong thoughts as well as our evil actions [Thales, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 15659 | Purifying yourself with blood is as crazy as using mud to wash off mud [Heraclitus] |
| 1522 | It is wretched not to want to think clearly about the gods [Empedocles] |
| 12097 | There are as many eternal unmovable substances as there are movements of the stars [Aristotle] |
| 22729 | The concepts of gods arose from observing the soul, and the cosmos [Aristotle, by Sext.Empiricus] |
| 9287 | Bruno said that ancient Egyptian magic was the true religion [Bruno, by Yates] |
| 14827 | The Greeks saw the gods not as their masters, but as idealised versions of themselves [Nietzsche] |
| 7208 | Paganism is a form of thanking and affirming life? [Nietzsche] |
| 14864 | The Greeks lack a normative theology: each person has their own poetic view of things [Nietzsche] |
| 7348 | The Jews sharply distinguish human and divine, but the Greeks pull them closer together [Johnson,P] |
| 20666 | Most polytheist recognise one supreme power or law, behind the various gods [Harari] |
| 20667 | Polytheism is open-minded, and rarely persecutes opponents [Harari] |
| 20665 | Mythologies are usual contracts with the gods, exchanging devotion for control of nature [Harari] |