Transactions

I got across this list of 4 blog posts that describe ancient religion as a form of black box technology, with the inner mechanisms being latent. You do a ritual, you expect certain results if you do it properly and if the Gods agreed. Very RL-y (you do certain actions, dice are rolled, you do or do not get the reward).

https://acoup.blog/2019/10/25/collections-practical-polytheism-part-i-knowledge/ https://acoup.blog/2019/11/01/collections-practical-polytheism-part-ii-practice/ https://acoup.blog/2019/11/08/collections-practical-polytheism-part-iii-polling-the-gods/ https://acoup.blog/2019/11/15/collections-practical-polytheism-part-iv-little-gods-and-big-people/

It must have been Augustine who brought the extreme version of orthodoxy into Christianity – unless you believe certain things, you will end up suffering eternally.