It's not like those ideas are entirely absent in Christianity. The debate over Christ's divinity was a very heated one in the earlier days of the religion, and a popular idea of the second coming is Christ as the Lion as opposed to the Lamb.
But while Andrastism is something of a conflagration of the different Abrahamic religions, the Chantry's place in the culture and society is very much the equivalent of the Catholic Church.
Very true.
I'd also include Native Americans as a strong influence on the Elvhen People. My grandfather was Native American (Abenaki) and he was institutionalized in a "reform" school like many of his peers, where he was beat and stripped of his cultural identity as well as his beliefs and language. Many were also raped as well as beat, boys and girls alike. This mind you, was still happening less than 100 years ago. I call that subtle genocide through "assimilation".
Anyways
1. Loss of cultural identity
2. consisting of different clans/tribes
3. Their (our) homeland was "stolen"
3. Were enslaved/reformed/assimilated and live in reserves i.e. Alienages
4.Have been nomadic
5. Are/have been persecuted for their race and for their religion/way of life ( example: treaties made with the "savages")
6. Were literally forced to abandon their beliefs/"religion" and convert to Christianity i.e. the Elves of the Dales forced to renounce their gods and convert to Andrastianism in order to live "among" the humans.
7.Used to be very spiritual i.e. parallels with The Fade and dreams
etc.
Many parallels with the Elves in Dragon Age.
I guess you could compare the Elves with a lot of different persecuted people groups, especially the indigenous. I'm mostly focusing on the religious similarities, but many cultural and historical ones can be made as well. I'm glad Bioware didn't just base the elves off generic fantasy tropes.
To be honest I see more similarities with Islam in the Chantry than Christianity.
1) War leader prophet
2) Debate over the divinity of said prophet and their successor
Remember Andraste is based off of Joan d' Arc, who is now a revered Catholic saint and one of the most badass women in history 
Remember Andraste is based off of Joan d' Arc, who is now a revered Catholic saint and one of the most badass women in history
and was absolutely bat sh*t insane
<snort> There aren't any ideologies that disagree.
You may have a point. Perhaps I should have said ideologies that OPENLY state that as their goal at this point in history.
and was absolutely bat sh*t insane
As are many of history's most famous people.
To be honest I see more similarities with Islam in the Chantry than Christianity.
1) War leader prophet
2) Debate over the divinity of said prophet and their successor
That's a rather short list of similarities and the second one is dubious. Islam doesn't have a lot of debate about the prophet's divine status.
Whereas the Chantry is
1. Organized in a bureaucratic structure modeled on the the administrative hierarchy of the empire that killed the prophet.
2. Has two rival hierarchies, one of which is the state church of what is left of said empire, while the other is an international organization that has spread through multiple realms and has Templars and possibly an Inquisition.
3. Has oaths of celibacy for its priesthood.
4. May not have a prophet modeled on Jesus, but does have one modeled on Jeanne.
5. Decided that its prophet was part of its God's family
6. Carries on a brisk trade in bogus holy relics which notably include alleged bits of a holy person's post mortem remains
7. Maintains monasteries
8. Restricts the priesthood to the sex of the prophet.
There is also a broader similarity. In both real life and in Thedas the gods are fiction, and in both worlds the few and powerful uses it as a tool to control the ignorant masses. Taking this into account there is really no need to identify the straws when you can identify the haystack. For what it's worth your post is fairly accurate though.
The Elven gods are no fiction. Neither are spirits worshiped by the Avvar, the Tevinter Old Gods, or the titans who inhabit The Stone. These are all objectively real entities of great power at least at one time.
The problem with having Christianity in Thedas it doesn't work WITH a world with multiple "deities". Old Testament was diferent in that there was no question about whreher or not the god of the Hebrews was real (nonHebrews believed the god of Abraham was real if you read passages from the old testament involving them). The question was whether or not said deity was TOP DOG compared to the other gods that would appear in the old testament.
I think everyone has the right of it with White Andrastianism=Roman Catholicism if Jesus/Joan of Arc was a woman, and Black Andrastianism being its Greek Orthodox sibling. Though Andrastianism is more a Deist religion in its actual belief system.
The Qun fits the geo-political role of the Caliphate, with Rivain being the melting pot of Moorish Spain. But the Qunari themselves have a sort of weird Communist Confucian Borg thing going on. 
Tevinter is basically the Byzantine Empire if they had held onto Italy instead of Greece and Asia Minor, and actually maintained the Republic structure of government. The Archon and Black Divine would be the closest things to consuls, but most of the power still rests in the Senate/Magisterium.
I've seen the dwarves compared to the Roman Republic as well, mostly for the backstabbing politics and the focus on maintaining the way of the Paragons/the mos maiorum, and the arena fighting. But then they have Ethiopian architecture (apparently), a strict caste system, and are in general unusual for fantasy dwarves.
The modern elves resemble the Jews for all of the reasons mentioned. Arlathan reminds me of Greece, with the crazy pantheon shenanigans, the focus on magic/philosophy and spending most of their time infighting before the remnants are conquered and absorbed by Romans/Tevinter.
Ferelden is Anglo-Saxon England that managed to kick the Normans out after a generation or two. Orlais is obviously France. Nevarra is weird. And the Anderfels are almost Prussian, with the Grey Wardens taking the place of the Teutonic Knights.
and was absolutely bat sh*t insane
Well we'll never know for sure if she was. It depends if her visions were real or not, but she was a 16 year old girl who liberated her country. That has to count for something. How many 16 year old girls do you know who can inspire and lead an army?
The problem with having Christianity in Thedas it doesn't work WITH a world with multiple "deities". Old Testament was diferent in that there was no question about whreher or not the god of the Hebrews was real (nonHebrews believed the god of Abraham was real if you read passages from the old testament involving them). The question was whether or not said deity was TOP DOG compared to the other gods that would appear in the old testament.
You kinda get that a lot in fantasy mediums (inlc. books, movies, games), were everyone in that world acknowledges the existence of a wide variety of deities, even those that are not their own. This is a call back to our own history a well. Before the three Abrahamic religions became dominant throughout the world, people where generally fine with having many different gods and believed they all existed, because the majority of religions were pantheistic. For example, the Romans adopted Greek gods as their own. The problem with the Abrahamic religions is that Yahweh/God/Allah is ONE ALMIGHTY god of ALL of creation, thus making it impossible for there to be other gods at the same time. Either those gods are false or they are severely weaker in comparison to the god of the Bible and Qur'an. So yes, you are correct.
Ferelden is Anglo-Saxon England that managed to kick the Normans out after a generation or two. Orlais is obviously France. Nevarra is weird. And the Anderfels are almost Prussian, with the Grey Wardens taking the place of the Teutonic Knights.
I've never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense.
Was Prussia poor, sparsely populated and war-torn?
The problem with having Christianity in Thedas it doesn't work WITH a world with multiple "deities". Old Testament was diferent in that there was no question about whreher or not the god of the Hebrews was real (nonHebrews believed the god of Abraham was real if you read passages from the old testament involving them). The question was whether or not said deity was TOP DOG compared to the other gods that would appear in the old testament.
I don't see the contradiction. Non-Abrahamic deities were seen as either nonexistent or as demons/Satan himself. That's much like the Chantry's view of other people's gods. For example, they accept the Old Gods existed, but they don't believe them to be gods. And really this whole debate comes down to how one defines a god. Is it an omnipotent, omniscient, immortal creator being, or is it simply a being of incredible power? The Abrahamic religions and Andrastianism would favor the first definition, while other people would favor the latter.
inspire, while others lead and actually carry out the business of winning warsWell we'll never know for sure if she was. It depends if her visions were real or not, but she was a 16 year old girl who liberated her country. That has to count for something. How many 16 year old girls do you know who can inspire and lead an army?
inspire, while others lead and actually carry out the business of winning wars
Sorry, can you elaborate? I'm not sure what you mean.
I don't see the contradiction. Non-Abrahamic deities were seen as either nonexistent or as demons/Satan himself. That's much like the Chantry's view of other people's gods. For example, they accept the Old Gods existed, but they don't believe them to be gods. And really this whole debate comes down to how one defines a god. Is it an omnipotent, omniscient, immortal creator being, or is it simply a being of incredible power? The Abrahamic religions and Andrastianism would favor the first definition, while other people would favor the latter.
There _IS_ a difference. Non abrahamic deities were seen as existing but as "aspects of Satan", but more importantly, the gold of the old testament WAS an active god and you could point to actual evidence for it existing...In Thedas however, other than Andraste herself saying that everyting she does was through the maker, there's no overt evidence of the maker's hand.
There _IS_ a difference. Non abrahamic deities were seen as existing but as "aspects of Satan", but more importantly, the gold of the old testament WAS an active god and you could point to actual evidence for it existing...In Thedas however, other than Andraste herself saying that everyting she does was through the maker, there's no overt evidence of the maker's hand.
I don't see any difference. What proof is there that the God of the OT existed and was that would satisfy nonmembers of the faith?
Would the egyptians disavow that the god of the hebrews was real? Would the people of the city of jericho not believe the god of the hebrews existed? In the old testament, people believed in the gods not because of faith but because the gods would actually be active. You could SEE their power. The only question was who was top dog among the gods.
The hebrews most assuredly believed the the gods of the egyptians for example were REAL. They just did not believe said deities were equal to GOD.
I dont think this works for Thedas with the Chantry since Bioware has said "we only want to have people believe in the Maker based on faith" but that is a NEW Testamant idea where after the death of christ, overt miracles attributed tot he god of the NT become much, much less common, but also instances of acts attributed to the gods of other people pretty much disappear.
Sorry, can you elaborate? I'm not sure what you mean.
I mean that Jeanne was an almost entirely symbolic person whose own battlefield behavior was borderline moronic and she only succeeded as well as she did because of the extensive help and experience she go from other nobles and the Court.
Would the egyptians disavow that the god of the hebrews was real? Would the people of the city of jericho not believe the god of the hebrews existed? In the old testament, people believed in the gods not because of faith but because the gods would actually be active. You could SEE their power. The only question was who was top dog among the gods.
The hebrews most assuredly believed the the gods of the egyptians for example were REAL. They just did not believe said deities were equal to GOD.
I dont think this works for Thedas with the Chantry since Bioware has said "we only want to have people believe in the Maker based on faith" but that is a NEW Testamant idea where after the death of christ, overt miracles attributed tot he god of the NT become much, much less common, but also instances of acts attributed to the gods of other people pretty much disappear.
I don't get what you're trying to say here. You're trying to use scripture to prove the OT God real, but earlier in this discussion you just hand waved Andrastian scripture away.
No...what I'm trying to get across was that in pre AD times, EVERYONE believed in deities even if said deities were NOT YOUR OWN. An indian had no trouble believing that the greek deities existed and vice versa. The old testament is written from that viewpoint as well but it goes beyond that. Hebrews believed that the other deities existed because said deities had actual physical effects on the world. Similarly, non-Hebrews believed in the god of the hebrew because they could see with their own eyes what the god of the hebrew did.
Conversely, post AD, physical actions directly attributed to the god of the flegling christian religion drop off sharply to be almost non-existent but this is not a big deal since mentions of OTHER deities with physical manifestations disappear as well. Thedas, post Inquistion is now a world where only 1 religion is based on "faith" whereas all other religions are based on "knowledge".
No...what I'm trying to get across was that in pre AD times, EVERYONE believed in deities even if said deities were NOT YOUR OWN. An indian had no trouble believing that the greek deities existed and vice versa. The old testament is written from that viewpoint as well but it goes beyond that. Hebrews believed that the other deities existed because said deities had actual physical effects on the world. Similarly, non-Hebrews believed in the god of the hebrew because they could see with their own eyes what the god of the hebrew did.
Conversely, post AD, physical actions directly attributed to the god of the flegling christian religion drop off sharply to be almost non-existent but this is not a big deal since mentions of OTHER deities with physical manifestations disappear as well. Thedas, post Inquistion is now a world where only 1 religion is based on "faith" whereas all other religions are based on "knowledge".
I mean that Jeanne was an almost entirely symbolic person whose own battlefield behavior was borderline moronic and she only succeeded as well as she did because of the extensive help and experience she go from other nobles and the Court.
Well she was only 16 yrs old and untrained. I wouldn't call her 'moronic' when it come to the battlefield though, since many of the sources we have from her friends and generals reveal that they had immense respect for her and they continually make reference to situations in which she displayed bravery. But you are correct in saying that she had experienced generals with her to help. Just out of curiosity, are you basing your information off the Hollywood representation of Joan or actual historical first-hand sources? I don't mean this is any negative way, I'm only asking because I meet a lot of people who reference movies like "the Messenger" as a valid source of information.
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