Of gods and men

The latest action/comedy from Marvel Studios, THOR RAGNAROK, draws inspiration from Norse mythology.  Thor, God of Thunder, is child of Odin - most powerful of the Norse gods. The movie centres around conflict with his siblings Loki and Angela.  Strangely Odin is only a third-generation god, yet far more popular than Ymir, the first and creator god.

As with the Greek and Roman pantheons, the Norse gods have been fashioned in the image and likeness of humans.  The mythology is full of stories of family strife, sibling rivalry, personal power struggles, incestuous marriages, jealousy, and wars, wars, wars...  It is as though, by creating gods in our own likeness, we validate our human failings as much as our strengths and achievements.  Quite different from the monotheism of our Judaeo-Christian-Islamic traditions.

Yet for all that, I cannot help but ponder that the temptation to turn our God into a superhuman version of ourselves is ever present. In so doing we seek to give divine approval to our failure to live in the image and likeness of our God.  Rather we prefer to see God as in our image and likeness!