 In 1971 , Erik Hornung published a study <unk> these views . He points out that in any given period many deities , even minor ones , were described as superior to all others . He also argues that the unspecified " god " in the wisdom texts is a generic term for whichever deity the reader chooses to <unk> . Although the combinations , manifestations , and iconographies of each god were constantly shifting , they were always restricted to a finite number of forms , never becoming fully interchangeable in a monotheistic or <unk> way . <unk> , Hornung says , describes Egyptian religion better than other labels . An Egyptian could worship any deity at a particular time and credit it with supreme power in that moment , without denying the other gods or merging them all with the god that he or she focused on . Hornung concludes that the gods were fully unified only in myth , at the time before creation , after which the multitude of gods emerged from a uniform <unk> . 
