Anthropology Interview Question:

Which came first? Monotheism or Polytheism

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Max Müller, Emile Durkheim, some neo-Darwinist theories describe that after animism, it was polytheism which came in to practice and then evolved polytheism in most of the cases (which include most of the great traditions or major religious trends). For example, comparative religion often shows that Judaism underwent a process of evolution from animism to polytheism to henotheism (the transitional stages from polytheism to monotheism) to monotheism. However, it is not applicable to Buddhism, as it is neither considered as monotheism nor polytheism, rather a philosophy and a religion … at least to most of the followers of Buddhism. In addition, it becomes confusing when we move to Sumerian and Egyptian evidences of religious artifacts.
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