was much in this new theology that was extremely different from the traditions of the old. "The Hymn to the Aten" introduced a great many new concepts to the religion of the Egyptian people. The nature of Aten as the creator is different from previous religious beliefs. Aten was said to have created the world out of his own will to do so, not out of necessity. Also, we see Aten being distinguished from nature, as well as seeing that nature is not a separate being in the theological order of things. Nature is now believed to be ordered under Aten, with no separate, sovereign being of its own. The Nile is no longer believed to be the embodiment of a god, but a creation of the god, Aten. These two views are the result of the shift toward the monotheist belief that Aten is the sole god in the cosmos, worshipped by the Pharaoh and his family, who are in turn worshipped by the Egyptian people. Aten is now seen as a universal god, who is worshipped by everyone on earth, just in forms and fashions differing from those of the Egyptians; not as a god who was specific to the Egyptian people. Though this hymn offers much that is vastly different from the old beliefs in Egyptian culture, it is also an effort to revitalize the old beliefs. "The Hymn" is intending to bring the Pharaoh back into the center of Egyptian religion, politics and culture. It is an attempt to revive and reestablish the unquestionable divinity of the Pharaoh. However, it is going about it by completely severing ties with the old traditions of Egyptian religion. "The Aten had no moral philosophy or attractive mythology which could inspire the general worshipper" (David 157). "The Hymn" also creates a paradoxical relationship between the two theological views as expressed in Egyptian culture. On one hand, there is the new tendency toward a monotheistic religion, with Aten as the sole god, and no other gods governing nature, etc. On the other hand, there are the old views...
