In religious studies, the term special gods is sometimes used synonymously with functional gods, gods of appearance, or indigitamental gods, but it is used here in the narrower sense intended by H. Usener¶ when he introduced it. For Usener, special gods, equivalent to Varro’s di certi, represent one stage in the development of the human consciousness of God, understood as an evolutionary process (Evolution: II) characterized by continuous progress from the particular to the general.
The lowest stage is represented by the “momentary gods” (Moment, God of …