Random Gods. About People Who Unwittingly Became Deities

Since 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of the New World and was proclaimed an envoy of heaven, random gods have pursued our era. From Haile Selassie, proclaimed on Jamaica as the Living God, to British Prince Philip, who accidentally became a key figure in a new religion on an island in the southern Pacific, people who became divine—indeed, people—have emerged on all continents. And since these deifications always arise in moments of upheaval—civil wars, imperial conquests, revolutions—they can teach us much. Over five centuries, a pantheon of remarkable deities has formed in various corners of the planet, the study of which helps to find answers to complex questions about how our modern concept of religion was invented and why religion and politics are constantly intertwined in our supposedly secular age.