Случайные боги. О людях, невольно ставших божествами

S 1492 goda, kogda Khristofor Kolumb vysadilsi͡a na bereg v Novom Svete i byl provozglashen poslannikom nebes, sluchaĭnye bogi presledui͡ut nashu ėpokhu. Ot Khaĭle Selassie, provozglashennogo na I͡Amaĭke Zhivym Bogom, do britanskogo print͡sa Filippa, kotoryĭ sluchaĭno stal kli͡uchevoĭ figuroĭ novoĭ religii na ostrove v i͡uzhnoĭ chasti Tikhogo okeana, li͡udi, stavshie bozhestvennymi, - imenno li͡udi - poi͡avilisʹ na vsekh kontinentakh. I poskolʹku ėti obozhestvlenii͡a vsegda voznikai͡ut v momenty potri͡aseniĭ - grazhdanskikh voĭn, imperskikh zavoevaniĭ, revoli͡ut͡siĭ, - oni mogut mnogomu nas nauchitʹ.Za pi͡atʹ stoletiĭ v raznykh ugolkakh planety sformirovalsi͡a panteon udivitelʹnykh bozhestv, izuchenie kotorykh pomogaet naĭti otvety na slozhnye voprosy o tom, kak byla izobretena nasha sovremennai͡a kont͡sept͡sii͡a religii i pochemu religii͡a i politika postoi͡anno perepletai͡utsi͡a v nash i͡akoby svetskiĭ vek.

Since 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed in the New World and was proclaimed the messenger of heaven, random gods have been haunting our era. From Haile Selassie, proclaimed a Living God in Jamaica, to the British Prince Philip, who accidentally became the key figure of a new religion on an island in the South Pacific, people who became divine — namely people — appeared on all continents. And since these deifications always arise in moments of upheaval—civil wars, imperial conquests, revolutions—they can teach us a lot.Over five centuries, a pantheon of amazing deities has formed in different parts of the world, the study of which helps to find answers to difficult questions about how our modern concept of religion was invented and why religion and politics are constantly intertwined in our supposedly secular age.