Connected Quote by William Robertson Smith

The god, it would appear, was frequently thought of as the physical progenitor or first father of his people.

— William Robertson Smith

Thus a man was born into a fixed relation to certain gods as surely as he was born into a relation to his fellow-men;…

— William Robertson Smith

In all the antique religions, mythology takes the place of dogma; that is, the sacred lore of priests and people... and these stories afford…

— William Robertson Smith

It is only in times of social dissolution, as in the last age of the small Semitic states, when men and their gods were…

— William Robertson Smith

In better times the religion of the tribe or state has nothing in common with the private and foreign superstitions or magical rites that…

— William Robertson Smith

This being so, it follows that mythology ought not to take the prominent place that is too often assigned to it in the scientific…

— William Robertson Smith

But, strictly speaking, this mythology was no essential part of ancient religion, for it had no sacred sanction and no binding force on the…

— William Robertson Smith

The god can no more exist without his people than the nation without its god.

— William Robertson Smith

Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship present much that is repulsive to modern ideas, and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile…

— William Robertson Smith

Belief in a certain series of myths was neither obligatory as a part of the true religion, nor was it supposed that, by believing,…

— William Robertson Smith

We are so accustomed to think of religion as a thing between individual men and God that we can hardly enter into the idea…

— William Robertson Smith

But if it not be true, the myth itself requires to be explained, and every principle of philosophy and common sense demand that the…

— William Robertson Smith