I'd say not so much dead as in a coma, only sporadically reaching brief moments of wilfulness and agency when the faith of mortals is strong and focused enough to stir them from their slumber.
There's lots of stories from varying creation myths that attempt to explain what has become of the Eight (+1) Divines, but what I believe roughly happened to them was that the Aedra involved in creating the Mundus had to sacrifice their power and sentience to provide the fledgling mortal realm with the energy and stability it required to flourish. They became the Earthbones, the foundation upon which the material plane was formed. Not only were they bound to the Mundus, but they became a part of it and it is very difficult for them to break away from that binding slumber. They are only able to achieve it when mortals offer exceptional prayers or sacrifices (like Martin Septim giving up his life to allow an avatar of Akatosh to materialise on Nirn).