"... Narratives of divine warriors begin with a simple metaphor, for example, “The Lord is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). Once that figure is projected onto the Unknown, it invites—even necessitates—elaboration. If the gods are warriors, there must be terrible enemies, natural or supernatural; they will need celestial weapons (and what could be more appropriate than lightning, hail, wind?); the god and his “host” will need armor, armories, forges, mounts and chariots, bridles and reins, stables, divine wranglers and artisans, and probably celestial oats (fertilized, one supposes, with celestial dung). The metaphor God is Warrior vies with God is Father as the most frequently encountered in the Western tradition of mythological and religious narratives. This fact prompts the question: what is it about human existence that results in this sort of privileging of a combatative ideal? Clearly war gods must emerge from and exist among a cluster of related ideas and attitudes, perhaps fundamental to human nature but especially prominent in the early social, political, and religious narratives of the West. Whatever the case, narratives extolling combative prowess attach alike to divine and human actors. Whether man or god, the “hero with a thousand faces” (Campbell) or “the hero of tradition” (Raglan) enacts a narrative pattern apparently imposed through human desire and need ..."