The beliefs and excerpts of Xenophanes appear to be fairly unique considering he argued for a monotheistic form of a creator rather than follow the pluralistic tradition of Homer. In several of the excerpts such as B11, B12, B14, B15, B16, and A12 Xenophanes is raising concerns that many modern day Christians and monotheists would share about the Greek gods. They are far too human and perform actions that are immoral even for the Greeks. At times the most powerful of the gods, Zeus, acts dishonestly, adulterous, and unjust. These are traits that are seen as part of a human condition rather than a form of divinity. The gods may be powerful beyond measure, but they can act with the maturity of a teenager. This appears to be the result of too much humanity being placed into the belief of the gods. Although it is good for a certain human connection to be present as seen in Jesus, the Greek gods exhibit the extreme form of this. God is above race and material items in this world. He is immaterial and several excerpts seem to agree with this by amusingly noting how some might have thought about their gods.
At the same time there is something that Christianity contains and that the beliefs of Xenophanes lack, which may help explain why one spread throughout the world and the other did not. One answer is God's love for humanity as creatures of a specific kind exhibited through Jesus Christ. This radical idea of God loving us so much that he sent his only son to die for our sins and save us is something that the creator of Xenophanes never did. His god does not communicate with his creation and is somewhat removed from it. The Christian God not only interacts with his creation, but gives himself for the good of his creation through eternal love. This seems to be a proper balance between the immoral human Greek gods and the silent god of Xenophanes that has no love for us. What would Xenophanes think of our God? What major differences between the Christian God and the god of Xenophanes do you find interesting?
-BaylorBear16
Yes, you are right about salient differences. For me, the idea of God intervening through love in human affairs is radically different. I think X could bridge the gap, but I do think our tendency to anthropomorphize God and the aspects of the relationship between elements of the tritinty would continue to perplex X>
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