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Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many

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I bought this book after reading Freud's "Moses and Monotheism", where it is attached to the pharaoh Akkenaton the origin of a monotheist cult and religion to the god Athon( or Athun), later to be dismissed and abandomned by his son Tutankamom who pulled back to polytheism. The importance of the debate is big, nothing less than the influence this type of cult had on the formation of the Jewish religion (Jews were held captives in Egypt at Akenaton's time) and later on Christianism and Catholicism.

"The Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt - The One and the Many" was written in German in the 1970's and translated into English in the 80's. Dates are of the utmost importance here due to the archeological material available to the researcher, which has in his hands much more pertinent information than a writer 50 years ago. Both writer and translator are eminent figures of modern Egyptology who has in German and in France many of its most important researchers. The task they face is gigantic, nothing less than trying to interpret the meaning of abstract religious concepts, the concept of God being the foremost.

Religion is one of the most important aspects of a Culture, if not the most important aspect, and has to be interpreted by its own sticks and standards and not by the stick and measures of any other Culture, and this is the essential point which shows the true hardship of managing this subject and then avoiding the acceptance of standars of Western theology. Thus, many questions appear which ask for the most excruciating analisys from the part of the author : what was the meaning of God for the Ancient Egyptian? Is the word God equivalent to the (consonantal) word for god in the language of old Egypt, ntr? Was Egypt first polytheist and later monotheist or the other way around? What is the rule syncretism played in the religion? Was there a people's religion parallel to a cultured religiosity? How the representation of God evolved in time from fetishism (the representation of gods trough not animated things, an staff for instance) to representation of gods trough animals (hawks, ibises, crocodiles etc) and, in the later stages, trough human forms or anthropomorphism and even in a triad of mixed forms (staff, hawk and human)?

"The Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt" is a challenging book but it is not an introductory book targeted for the lay reader, who must be familiar with a difficult vocabulary; wadi, ostraca, papyri, nome, ennead are some of the words in English that crop up in the text and are not conveniently explained by Erik Honnung neither easily found in a good English lexicon. Also a good old Egyptian glossary is missing, thus making the understanding of the texts a real nightmare to the common reader. Finally, also is lacking a good map of ancient North Africa to better locate the cities and geographical accidents cited in the book. As a good add-on, there is a good cronological map of the dynasties of Egypt and a much interesting glossary of the names of the many gods quoted in the book with some paralel with their Greek counterparts.

To sum it up, the book is a pretty good one but could not be taken as an easy read for any one not familiar with things of old Egypt.

This book is at the top of many lists for those wishing to study ancinet Egyptian religion in-depth. Upon reading it, I can see why! This book explores what exactly the ancient Egyptians thought god(s) were, how the gods reacted to humans, and how humans reacted to the gods. Given the unique and often confusing nature of the concept "ntr" or god, this book is very useful indeed.

It is extermely detailed, (though admittedly dry,) and leaves the reader with a good idea of what the Egyptian Gods were like and how they developed throughout the millenia. The beginning also nicely addresses the erroneous notion that the Egyptians were really monotheists from the start, and that only the ignorant common people held polythistic beliefs; a Victorian bias that taints the studies of many ancient cultures. Horning clearly has a great deal of respect for the ancient Egyptian religion, and as a Kemetic pagan, I really appreciate that this book exists in English.

"Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt" is an English translation of a German publication from 1970. While its definately in the 'academic' category with some pages weighing in longer on footnotes than on text, its an interesting read throught. The section on Akhenaton in the chapter entitled "Classification and Articulation of the Pantheon" is my favorite.
Highly recommeded.

I thought the chapters on the characteristics and manifestations of the gods were fascinating, and I also enjoyed the chapter about the names of the gods. Many people love this book, but I found the chapter on the use of the word ntr to be somewhat dry. The information in this chapter was very informative, but the subject matter just did not hold my interest; perhaps this shows more where my interest lay, rather than the skill of the author. However those interested in this aspect of Egyptian religion, will probably get a lot out of this book.

In this book, the author introduces the basic concepts of the gods. He first defines the terminology for the word 'god' and then explains the names of the Ancient Egyptian gods as well as their characteristics. He provides an excellent historical overview of the gods. A useful glossary of gods is included, along with a great bibliography for further reading. It is a recommended necessary reading for those studying Ancient Egyptian religion.

Hornung is a top scholar in the field of Egyptology, yet he manages to avoid the condescending tone that many scholars fall victim to. John Baines' translation is precise and engaging, while a useful glossary is included at the back. For both the interested reader, and the serious scholar of ancient Egyptian religion, this would be the place to start. Basic concepts are discussed, such as the concept of god itself, the oft-perplexing issue of names & combinations of gods, depictions of gods, and the interaction between the living and divine.

Hornung's book "Idea into Image", a collection of lectures, is also highly recommended, but I think it is now difficult to find. It deserves to be reprinted too!

Several books have eloquently discussed the monotheism of central African groups, but this book clearly espouses the polytheism of the Ancient Egyptians, building upon work by Frankfort, and specifically refuting monotheistic interpretaions advanced by, for instance, Morenz and Budge. If you come to this book with an open mind you will find it truly exhilating, a demonstration why the mind-set of polytheism is necessary for the understanding of modern quantum mechanics. Henri Frankfort's "Ancient Egyptian Religion: an Interpretation" provides additional exposition and explanation. While this last book is out of print, libraries have it.

This is a book that is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing how the Ancient Egyptians thought. Highly recommended, and good to go through with a pen (to highlight sections) and an open mind. This is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one for the true Egyptophile.

Most of us think of Ancient Egyptian religion as being polytheistic. After meeting a missionary to the Zulus in Africa who wrote a PhD thesis on their religion proving that the Zulu had 20 names for God, but only one God, I was not surprised to find a similar study done on Ancient Egyptian religion. The work is well documented from original and secondary sources (papyri and their translations), and is a convincing argument that there is really one great mysterious creator God that was known at least to the priests. Now one asks the question, was Akhenaton a heretic or just a believer in the one great God? Dr. Constance T. Johnson, Ph.D.