Why does polytheism seem to have been so prevalent throughout human history?
The answer to this may be that almost everything to which human beings attribute greatness is complex. The word “complex” refers to things “consisting of many different and connected parts.”
This applies to things found in nature such as trees and rivers, human endeavors such as architecture or engineering, and non-tangibles such as eco-systems, governments, and philosophies. The tendency, therefore, is to equate importance and sophistication with complexity. The structural cooperation required for a complex object or system to function translates to elegance and appreciation. With some exceptions, the greater the complexity, the greater something is, and the simpler, the more primitive.
Human beings’ anthropocentric tendencies applied to Divinity may have led us to produce complex theological systems that we believe are superior to simpler ones. In terms of God, a network of gods is more appealing, and may be more effective from a practical perspective. Complexity finds expression even within monotheistic theology in the form of, for example, the Trinity.
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