Who are/is the Elohim? Before Yahweh, before the Ten Commandments, before the monotheism that would shape Western civilization, the land of Canaan was home to a rich, complex, and deeply embodied polytheistic religion.

This paper offers a neutral systemic diagnostic of Norse gods and their religion. It treats the religion as a human institution that evolved over centuries, accumulating resources, legitimizing social structures, and eventually being replaced when new political and economic conditions favored Christianity.

Shinto (神道, "the Way of the Kami") revolves around the veneration of supernatural entities called kami; spirits inhabiting natural phenomena, prominent landscapes, ancestors, and abstract concepts.