Elements of Slovenian Indigenous Religion

[Elements of Slovenian Indigenous Religion] This essay is a philosophico-theological intepretation
of the elements of Slovenian pre-Christian religious tradition, called “staroverstvo” (The old
faith). This essay is based on Pavel Medvešček - Klančar‘s recent book Iz nevidne strani neba (From
the Invisible Side of the Heaven) and first analyses Slovenian pre-Christian religion as preserved in
Posočje valley until the late 20th century and as documented in this book. Medvešček - Klančar‘s report
and interpretation of this religious tradition is here compared to the contemporary theories of
Indigenous religions of the world. The second part deals with Jan Assmann‘s theory of monotheism
and with Wilhelm Schmidt‘s theory of original monotheism. We argue that it was with Schmidt‘s
theory that for the first time in the history of theology Indigenous religions were takes as partners
in dialogue. Based on this, we present a specific religious setting of Slovenian indigenous religion,
called “staroverstvo” as an elemental religion and theology of nature. In the third part, we present our original philosophico-theological interpretation of the elements of this tradition in the light of
contemporary theories of process philosophy, quantum thinking in theology (i.e., entanglement)
and horizontal transcendence within natural religion. The final part deals with the possibility of the
future post-Christian and post-religious era, as based on the “Third Age” teaching of Amalric of
Bene and environmentally informed teachings of Slovenian tradition of “staroverstvo”.
Keywords: pre-Christian religion of Slovenia, natural religion, Slavic gods, theology of nature,
Slovenian indigenous religion, elemental philosophical theology, Pavel Medvešček -Klančar, Wilhelm
Schmidt, Jan Assmann