Monotheism
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Monotheism is the belief that one god is the only deity.[1][2][3][4][5] A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, in which the one God is a singular existence, and both inclusive and pluriform monotheism, in which multiple gods or godly forms are recognized, but each are postulated as extensions of the same God.[2]
Monotheism is distinguished from henotheism, a religious system in which the believer worships one god without denying that others may worship different gods with equal validity, and monolatrism, the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity.[6] The term monolatry was perhaps first used by Julius Wellhausen.[7]
The prophets of ancient Israel were among the earliest preachers of monotheism, establishing it as a foundational tenet of the Jewish religious tradition, which endures as one of its most profound and enduring legacies.[8] Monotheism characterizes the traditions of Zoroastrianism,[9] Bábism, the Baháʼí Faith, Christianity,[10] Deism, Druzism,[11] Eckankar, Sikhism, Manichaeism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Mandaeism, Rastafari, Seicho-no-Ie, Tenrikyo, Yazidism, and Atenism. Elements of monotheistic thought are found in early religions such as ancient Chinese religion, Tengrism, and Yahwism.[2][12][13]
Etymology and usage
The word monotheism comes from the Greek μόνος (monos)[14] meaning "single" and θεός (theos)[15] meaning "god".[16] The English term was first used by Henry More (1614–1687).[17]
Monotheism is a complex and nuanced concept. The biblical authors had various ways of understanding God and the divine, shaped by their historical and cultural contexts. The notion of monotheism that is used today was developed much later, influenced by the Enlightenment and Christian views. Many definitions of monotheism are too modern, western, and Christian-centered to account for the diversity and complexity of the ancient sources, which include not only the biblical texts, but also other writings, inscriptions, and material remains that help reconstruct the ancient beliefs and practices of the people of Judah and Israel.[18]
The term "monotheism" is often contrasted with "polytheism," but many scholars prefer other terms such as monolatry, henotheism, or one-god discourse.[18]
History
Quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the
In the Iron-Age South Asian
In China, the orthodox faith system held by most dynasties since at least the
Since the sixth century BCE, Zoroastrians have believed in the supremacy of one God above all: Ahura Mazda as the "Maker of All"[23] and the first being before all others.[24][25][26][27] The prophet Zoroaster is credited with the founding of the first monotheistic religion in history sometime around the middle of the second millennium BCE, antedating the Israelites and leaving a lasting imprint on Second Temple Judaism and, through it, on later monotheistic religions.[28]
Post-exilic[29] Judaism, after the late 6th century BCE, was the first religion to conceive the notion of a personal monotheistic God within a monist context.[21] The concept of ethical monotheism, which holds that morality stems from God alone and that its laws are unchanging,[30] first occurred in Judaism,[31] but is now a core tenet of most modern monotheistic religions, including Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Baháʼí Faith.[32]
Also from the 6th century BCE,
According to Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity; this original religion is sometimes referred to as "the Adamic religion", or, in the terms of
Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt had postulated an Urmonotheismus, "original" or "primitive monotheism" in the 1910s.[33] It was objected[by whom?] that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism.[4] More recently, Karen Armstrong[34] and other authors have returned to the idea of an evolutionary progression beginning with animism, which developed into polytheism, which developed into henotheism, which developed into monolatry, which developed into true monotheism.[35]
Regions
Africa
Indigenous African religion
The Tikar people of Cameroon have a traditional spirituality that emphasizes the worship of a single god, Nyuy.[36]
The Himba people of Namibia practice a form of monotheistic panentheism, and worship the god Mukuru. The deceased ancestors of the Himba and Herero are subservient to him, acting as intermediaries.[37]
The
Waaq is the name of a singular God in the traditional religion of many Cushitic people in the Horn of Africa, denoting an early monotheistic religion. However this religion was mostly replaced with the Abrahamic religions. Some (approximately 3%) of Oromo still follow this traditional monotheistic religion called Waaqeffanna in Oromo.
Ancient Egypt
Atenism
Year 5 is believed to mark the beginning of Amenhotep IV's construction of a new capital,
The move separated the Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and from the traditional centres of worship, but his decree had deeper religious significance too—taken in conjunction with his name change, it is possible that the move to Amarna was also meant as a signal of Akhenaten's symbolic death and rebirth.[citation needed] It may also have coincided with the death of his father and the end of the coregency.[citation needed] In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive temple complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at Karnak and one at Thebes, close to the old temple of Amun.[citation needed]
In Year 9 (1344/1342 BCE), Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion, declaring Aten not merely the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, but the only God of Egypt, with himself as the sole intermediary between the Aten and the Egyptian people.[citation needed] Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten.[citation needed] Akhenaten made it however clear that the image of the Aten only represented the god, but that the god transcended creation and so could not be fully understood or represented.[42] Aten was addressed by Akhenaten in prayers, such as the Great Hymn to the Aten: "O Sole God beside whom there is none".
The details of Atenist theology are still unclear. The exclusion of all but one god and the prohibition of idols was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, but scholars[who?] see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry rather than monotheism, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but Aten.[citation needed] Akhenaten associated Aten with Ra and put forward the eminence of Aten as the renewal of the kingship of Ra.[43]
Under Akhenaten's successors, Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten himself came to be reviled as a heretic.[44]
Other monotheistic traditions
Some Egyptian ethical text authors believed in only a single god ruling over the universe.[45]
Americas
Native American religion
The Great Spirit, called Wakan Tanka among the Sioux,[47] and Gitche Manitou in Algonquian, is a conception of universal spiritual force, or supreme being prevalent among some Native American and First Nation cultures.[48] According to Lakota activist Russell Means a better translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery.[49]
Some researchers have interpreted Aztec philosophy as fundamentally monotheistic or panentheistic. While the populace at large believed in a polytheistic pantheon, Aztec priests and nobles might have come to an interpretation of Teotl as a single universal force with many facets.[50] There has been criticism to this idea, however, most notably that many assertions of this supposed monotheism might actually come from post-Conquistador bias, imposing an Antiquity pagan model onto the Aztec.[51]
Eastern Asia
Chinese religion
The orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of
I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk that so the people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and rivers, ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to man's good or bring him evil. He appointed the dukes and lords to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked, and to gather metal and wood, birds and beasts, and to engage in cultivating the five grains and flax and silk to provide for the people's food and clothing. This has been so from antiquity to the present.
且吾所以知天之愛民之厚者有矣,曰以磨為日月星辰,以昭道之;制為四時春秋冬夏,以紀綱之;雷降雪霜雨露,以長遂五穀麻絲,使民得而財利之;列為山川谿谷,播賦百事,以臨司民之善否;為王公侯伯,使之賞賢而罰暴;賊金木鳥獸,從事乎五穀麻絲,以為民衣食之財。自古及今,未嘗不有此也。
— Will of Heaven, Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. 5th century BCE
Worship of Shangdi and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the
In the 19th century in the Guangdong region, monotheist influences led to the Taiping Rebellion.[53]
Tengrism
Tengrism or Tangrism (sometimes stylized as Tengriism), occasionally referred to as Tengrianism, is a modern term
In
Europe
Ancient proto-Indo-European religion
The head deity of the
In
Ancient Greek religion
Classical Greece
The surviving fragments of the poems of the classical Greek philosopher
Although Plato himself was a polytheist, in his writings, he often presents Socrates as speaking of "the god" in the singular form. He does, however, often speak of the gods in the plural form as well. The Euthyphro dilemma, for example, is formulated as "Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?"[68]
Hellenistic religion
The development of pure (philosophical) monotheism is a product of the
"
A number of oracles of
The
Western Asia
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Judaism is traditionally considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world,
As time progressed, the
God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity, unlike any other possible unity.[81]
Some in Judaism and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism.[82] Modern Judaism uses the term shituf to refer to the worship of God in a manner which Judaism deems to be neither purely monotheistic (though still permissible for non-Jews) nor polytheistic (which would be prohibited).[83]
Christianity
Among
The First Council of Nicaea, held in
One purpose of the council was to resolve
Christian orthodox traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestants) follow this decision, which was reaffirmed in 381 at the
Christians overwhelmingly assert that monotheism is central to the Christian faith, as the Nicene Creed (and others), which gives the orthodox Christian definition of the Trinity, begins: "I believe in one God". From earlier than the times of the
Most modern Christians believe the
Some Christian faiths, such as Mormonism, argue that the Godhead is in fact three separate individuals which include God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost,[88] each individual having a distinct purpose in the grand existence of human kind.[89] Furthermore, Mormons believe that before the Council of Nicaea, the predominant belief among many early Christians was that the Godhead was three separate individuals. In support of this view, they cite early Christian examples of belief in subordinationism.[90]
Unitarianism is a theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism.[91]
Some in Judaism and some in Islam do not consider Trinitarian Christianity to be a pure form of monotheism due to the pluriform monotheistic Christian doctrine of the
Islam
In Islam,
Islam emerged in the 7th century CE in the context of both Christianity and Judaism, with some thematic elements similar to
The Quran asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the creation.
Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession of faith, "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.[118] To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Quran.[116] The entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of tawhid.[119]
Medieval Islamic philosopher Al-Ghazali offered a proof of monotheism from omnipotence, asserting there can only be one omnipotent being. For if there were two omnipotent beings, the first would either have power over the second (meaning the second is not omnipotent) or not (meaning the first is not omnipotent); thus implying that there could only be one omnipotent being.[120]
As they traditionally profess a concept of monotheism with a singular entity as God, Judaism[82] and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism. Judaism uses the term Shituf to refer to non-monotheistic ways of worshiping God. Although Muslims venerate Jesus (Isa in Arabic) as a prophet and messiah, they do not accept the doctrine that he was a begotten son of God.
Mandaeism
Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (
Baháʼí Faith
God in the Baháʼí Faith is taught to be the Imperishable, uncreated Being Who is the source of existence, too great for humans to fully comprehend. Human primitive understanding of God is achieved through his revelations via his divine intermediary Manifestations.[129][130] In the Baháʼí faith, such Christian doctrines as the Trinity are seen as compromising the Baháʼí view that God is single and has no equal,[131] and the very existence of the Baháʼí Faith is a challenge to the Islamic doctrine of the finality of Muhammad's revelation.[132]
God in the Baháʼí Faith communicates to humanity through divine intermediaries, known as Manifestations of God.[133] These Manifestations establish religion in the world.[130] It is through these divine intermediaries that humans can approach God, and through them God brings divine revelation and law.[134]
The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Baháʼí Faith. The obligatory prayers in the Baháʼí Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony.[135][136] God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence.[137] He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty".[138][139] Although transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator.[140] God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through intermediaries, known as Manifestations of God, who are the prophets and messengers that have founded religions from prehistoric times up to the present day.[133]
Rastafari
Rastafari, sometimes termed Rastafarianism, is classified as both a new religious movement and social movement. It developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It lacks any centralised authority and there is much heterogeneity among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas.
Rastafari refer to their beliefs, which are based on a specific interpretation of the
Zoroastrianism
By some scholars, the Zoroastrians ("Parsis" or "Zartoshtis") are sometimes credited with being some of the first monotheists and having had influence on other world religions.[141][142] Zoroastrianism combines cosmogonic dualism and eschatological monotheism which makes it unique among the religions of the world. There are two issues that have long made it problematic to identify Zoroastrianism as true monotheism: the presence of lesser deities and dualism. But before hastening to conclude that the Amesha Spentas and the other yazatas compromise the purity of monotheism, we should consider that the other historical monotheisms too made room for other figures endowed with supernatural powers to bridge the gulf between the exalted, remote Creator God and the human world: the angels in all of them (whose conception in post-exilic Judaism was apparently developed after the pattern of the Amesha Spentas; Boyce and Grenet, 1991, 404–405), the saints and the Virgin Mary in several Christian churches, and the other persons of the Trinity in all of Christianity. Despite the vast differences with Zoroastrian theology, the common thread is that all these beings are subordinate to the Godhead as helpers or (in the case of the persons of the Trinity) co-equals, hence they do not pursue different interests and are worshiped jointly with the Godhead, not separately; therefore the supplicant’s dilemma does not arise.[141][143][144][ε]
Yazidism
God in Yazidism created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven
God is referred to by Yazidis as Xwedê, Xwedawend, Êzdan, and Pedsha ('King'), and, less commonly, Ellah and Heq.[150][151][146][145][152] According to some Yazidi hymns (known as Qewls), God has 1,001 names, or 3,003 names according to other Qewls.[153][154]
Oceania
Aboriginal Australian religion
Aboriginal Australians are typically described as
In Southeastern Australian cultures, the sky father Baiame is perceived as the creator of the universe (though this role is sometimes taken by other gods like Yhi or Bunjil) and at least among the Gamilaraay traditionally revered above other mythical figures.[157] Equation between him and the Christian god is common among both missionaries and modern Christian Aboriginals.[158]
The Yolngu had extensive contact with the Makassans and adopted religious practises inspired by those of Islam. The god Walitha'walitha is based on Allah (specifically, with the wa-Ta'ala suffix), but while this deity had a role in funerary practises it is unclear if it was "Allah-like" in terms of functions.[159]
Andaman Islands
The religion of the Andamanese peoples has at times been described as "animistic monotheism", believing foremost in a single deity, Pūluga, who created the universe.[160] However, Pūluga is not worshipped, and anthropomorphic personifications of natural phenomena are also known.[161]
South Asia
Hinduism
As an old religion,
and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed.Hindu views are broad and range from monism, through pantheism and panentheism (alternatively called monistic theism by some scholars) to monotheism and even atheism. Hinduism cannot be said to be purely polytheistic. Hindu religious leaders have repeatedly stressed that while God's forms are many and the ways to communicate with him are many, God is one. The puja of the murti is a way to communicate with the abstract one god (Brahman) which creates, sustains and dissolves creation.[166]
- Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,
- ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ
- "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garuda.
- To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan." (trans. Griffith)
Traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, the Nimbarka Sampradaya and followers of Swaminarayan and Vallabha consider Krishna to be the source of all avatars,[167] and the source of Vishnu himself, or to be the same as Narayana. As such, he is therefore regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.[168][169][170]
When
The Rig Veda discusses monotheistic thought, as do the
"The One Truth, sages know by many names" (
"When at first the unborn sprung into being, He won His own dominion beyond which nothing higher has been in existence" (
"There is none to compare with Him. There is no parallel to Him, whose glory, verily, is great." (
The number of auspicious qualities of God are countless, with the following six qualities (bhaga) being the most important:
- Jñāna (omniscience), defined as the power to know about all beings simultaneously
- Aishvarya (sovereignty, derived from the word Ishvara), which consists in unchallenged rule over all
- Shakti (energy), or power, which is the capacity to make the impossible possible
- Bala (strength), which is the capacity to support everything by will and without any fatigue
- Vīrya (vigor), which indicates the power to retain immateriality as the supreme being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations
- Tejas (splendor), which expresses His self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by His spiritual effulgence[179]
In the
The
) in the beginning, who wrote the Vedas and created the world. Nyaya says that:[If they assume such] omniscient beings, those endowed with the various superhuman faculties of assuming infinitesimal size, and so on, and capable of creating everything, then we reply that the law of parsimony bids us assume only one such, namely Him, the adorable Lord. There can be no confidence in a non-eternal and non-omniscient being, and hence it follows that according to the system which rejects God, the tradition of the Veda is simultaneously overthrown; there is no other way open.[citation needed]
In other words, Nyaya says that the polytheist would have to give elaborate proofs for the existence and origin of his several celestial spirits, none of which would be logical, and that it is more logical to assume one eternal, omniscient god.[183]
Many other Hindus, however, view polytheism as far preferable to monotheism. The famous Hindu revitalist leader Ram Swarup, for example, points to the Vedas as being specifically polytheistic,[184] and states that, "only some form of polytheism alone can do justice to this variety and richness."[185]
Sita Ram Goel, another 20th-century Hindu historian, wrote:
I had an occasion to read the typescript of a book [Ram Swarup] had finished writing in 1973. It was a profound study of Monotheism, the central dogma of both Islam and Christianity, as well as a powerful presentation of what the monotheists denounce as Hindu Polytheism. I had never read anything like it. It was a revelation to me that Monotheism was not a religious concept but an imperialist idea. I must confess that I myself had been inclined towards Monotheism till this time. I had never thought that a multiplicity of Gods was the natural and spontaneous expression of an evolved consciousness.[186]
Sikhism
Sikhi is a monotheistic
Sikhism is a monotheistic faith
- Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
- Transliteration: ikk ōankār sat(i)-nām(u) karatā purakh(u) nirabha'u niravair(u) akāla mūrat(i) ajūnī saibhan(g) gur(a) prasād(i).
- One Universal creator God, The supreme Unchangeable Truth, The Creator of the Universe, Beyond Fear, Beyond Hatred, Beyond Death, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent, by Guru's Grace.
The word "ੴ" ("Ik ōaṅkār") has two components. The first is ੧, the digit "1" in Gurmukhi signifying the singularity of the creator. Together the word means: "One Universal creator God".
It is often said that the 1430 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib are all expansions on the Mul Mantra. Although the Sikhs have many names for God, some derived from Islam and Hinduism, they all refer to the same Supreme Being.
The Sikh holy scriptures refer to the One God who pervades the whole of space and is the creator of all beings in the universe. The following quotation from the Guru Granth Sahib highlights this point:
Chant, and meditate on the One God, who permeates and pervades the many beings of the whole Universe. God created it, and God spreads through it everywhere. Everywhere I look, I see God. The Perfect Lord is perfectly pervading and permeating the water, the land and the sky; there is no place without Him.
— Guru Granth Sahib, Page 782
However, there is a strong case for arguing that the Guru Granth Sahib teaches monism due to its non-dualistic tendencies:
Punjabi: ਸਹਸ ਪਦ ਬਿਮਲ ਨਨ ਏਕ ਪਦ ਗੰਧ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਹਸ ਤਵ ਗੰਧ ਇਵ ਚਲਤ ਮੋਹੀ ॥੨॥
You have thousands of Lotus Feet, and yet You do not have even one foot. You have no nose, but you have thousands of noses. This Play of Yours entrances me.
— Guru Granth Sahib, Page 13
Sikhs believe that God has been given many names, but they all refer to the One God,
Criticism
Critics have described monotheism as a cause of ignorance, oppression, and violence.
Ancient monotheism is described
See also
References
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- ^ a b c "Monotheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 May 2023.
- ^ Monotheism. Hutchinson Encyclopedia (12th edition). p. 644.
- ^ a b c Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ William Wainwright (2018). "Monotheism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
- ^ Frank E. Eakin, Jr. The Religion and Culture of Israel (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971), 70.
- Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. VIII. p. 810. Retrieved Jan 21, 2016.
- ISBN 0-8133-4048-9.
Monotheism was first preached by the prophets of ancient Israel and is one of the most significant and enduring legacies of the Jewish faith.
- .
- Cultural Literacy, monotheism; New Dictionary of Theology, Paul Archived 2018-07-04 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 496–499; Meconi. "Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity". pp. 111ff.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-5257-1. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- JSTOR j.ctt32bxpm.6.
- ^ References:
- McDaniel, J. (2013-09-20). "A Modern Hindu Monotheism: Indonesian Hindus as 'People of the Book'". The Journal of Hindu Studies. 6 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 333–362. ISSN 1756-4255.
- Zoroastrian Studies: The Iranian Religion and Various Monographs, 1928 – Page 31, A. V. Williams Jackson – 2003
- Global Institutions of Religion: Ancient Movers, Modern Shakers – Page 88, Katherine Marshall – 2013
- Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia – Page 348, James B. Minahan – 2012
- Introduction To Sikhism – Page 15, Gobind Singh Mansukhani – 1993
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- Focus: Arrogance and Greed, America's Cancer – Page 102, Jim Gray – 2012
- McDaniel, J. (2013-09-20). "A Modern Hindu Monotheism: Indonesian Hindus as 'People of the Book'". The Journal of Hindu Studies. 6 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 333–362.
- Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, at Perseus
- ^ Theos Archived 2007-05-26 at the Wayback Machine, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
- ^ The compound μονοθεισμός is current only in Modern Greek. There is a single attestation of μονόθεον in a Byzantine hymn (Canones Junii 20.6.43; A. Acconcia Longo and G. Schirò, Analecta hymnica graeca, vol. 11 e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris. Rome: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici. Università di Roma, 1978)
- ^ More, Henry (1660). An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness. London: Flesher & Morden. p. 62.
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- ^ Sharma, Chandradhar (1962). "Chronological Summary of History of Indian Philosophy". Indian Philosophy: A Critical Survey. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. vi.
- ^ "Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 10: HYMN CXC. Creation". www.sacred-texts.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-20. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
- ^ ISBN 1-85075-657-0.
- ^ Homer H. Dubs, "Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy," Philosophy of East and West, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, 1959
- ^ Yasna, XLIV.7
- ^ "First and last for all Eternity, as the Father of the Good Mind, the true Creator of Truth and Lord over the actions of life." (Yasna 31.8)
- ^ "Vispanam Datarem", Creator of All (Yasna 44.7)
- ^ "Data Angheush", Creator of Life (Yasna 50.11)
- ^ "The Zend Avesta, Part II (SBE23): Nyâyis: I. Khôrshêd Nyâyis". www.sacred-texts.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
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- ^ a b c Wells, Colin (2010). "How Did God Get Started?". Arion. 18.2 (Fall). Archived from the original on 2021-05-08. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
...as any student of ancient philosophy can tell you, we see the first appearance of a unitary God not in Jewish scripture, but in the thought of the Greek philosopher Plato...
- ^ "Ethical monotheism". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
- ^ Fischer, Paul. "Judaism and Ethical Monotheism". platophilosophy. The University of Vermont Blogs. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
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Compare: ISBN 9781451408614. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
Evolutionary interpretations of the history of religion are usually understood to be an explanation of the phenomenon of religion as a result of a continuous development. The model for such development is the growth of living beings which leads to increasingly subtle differentiation and integration. Within such a framework of thought, monotheism would be interpreted as the result of a continuous development from animism, polytheism, henotheism and monolatry to belief in the one and only God. Such a development cannot be proved. Monotheism appeared suddenly, though not without being prepared for.
- OCLC 185031292. pp. 18. 95, 103, 748.
- ISBN 0-8264-1270-X.
- ^ Ikenga International Journal of African Studies. Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria. 1972. p. 103. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
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- ^ a b McLaughlin, Elsie (22 September 2017). "The Art of the Amarna Period". World History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
In Regnal Year 5, the pharaoh dropped all pretense and declared Aten the official state deity of Egypt, directing focus and funding away from the Amun priesthood to the cult of the sun disk. He even changed his name from Amenhotep ('Amun is Satisfied') to Akhenaten ('Effective for the Aten,') and ordered the construction of a new capital city, Akhetaten ('The Horizon of Aten') in the desert. Located at the modern site of Tell el-Amarna, Akhetaten was situated between the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes and Memphis on the east bank of the Nile.
- ^ "Amarna Period of Egypt". World History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
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It does not necessarily imply monotheism, however, since, in addition to the Supreme High-god or Heaven, there were also the ordinary gods (shen) and the ancestral spirits (guei), all of whom were worshipped in the Jou royal cult.
- ISBN 978-0-670-03123-8.
- ^ The spelling Tengrism is found in the 1960s, e.g. Bergounioux (ed.), Primitive and prehistoric religions, Volume 140, Hawthorn Books, 1966, p. 80.
Tengrianism is a reflection of the Russian term, Тенгрианство. It is reported in 1996 ("so-called Tengrianism") in Shnirelʹman (ed.), Who gets the past?: competition for ancestors among non-Russian intellectuals in Russia, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-8018-5221-3, p. 31 in the context of the nationalist rivalry over Bulgar legacy. The spellings Tengriism and Tengrianity are later, reported (deprecatingly, in scare quotes) in 2004 in Central Asiatic journal, vol. 48-49 (2004), p. 238 Archived 2023-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. The Turkish term Tengricilik is also found from the 1990s. Mongolian Тэнгэр шүтлэг is used in a 1999 biography of Genghis Khan (Boldbaatar et al., Чингис хаан, 1162-1227, Хаадын сан, 1999, p. 18 Archived 2023-04-20 at the Wayback Machine).
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- "[...] The 'imperial' religion was more monotheistic, centred around the all-powerful god Tengri, the sky god."
- ^ Michael Fergus, Janar Jandosova, Kazakhstan: Coming of Age, Stacey International, 2003, p.91:
- "[...] a profound combination of monotheism and polytheism that has come to be known as Tengrism."
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- ^ Monotheism Archived 2022-04-12 at the Wayback Machine, My Jewish Learning, "Many critical scholars think that the interval between the Exodus and the proclamation of monotheism was much longer. Outside of Deuteronomy the earliest passages to state that there are no gods but the Lord are in poems and prayers attributed to Hannah and David, one and a half to two and a half centuries after the Exodus at the earliest. Such statements do not become common until the seventh century B.C.E., the period to which Deuteronomy is dated by the critical view."
- ^ 1 Kings 18, Jeremiah 2; Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, Fortress Press (1998); Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts, Oxford University Press (2001)
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- 13 principles of faith, Second Principle
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- Fourth Lateran Council quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church §253 Archived 2020-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
- oikoumenikos, literally meaning worldwide the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are in Eusebius's Life of Constantine 3.6 [1] Archived 2007-07-07 at the Wayback Machine around 338 "σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει" (he convoked an Ecumenical council), Athanasius's Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369 [2] Archived 2018-11-30 at the Wayback Machine, and the Letter in 382 to Pope Damasus I and the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople [3] Archived 2006-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
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Hence all the power of magic became dissolved; and every bond of wickedness was destroyed, men's ignorance was taken away, and the old kingdom abolished God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life.
— St. Ignatius of Antioch in Letter to the Ephesians, ch.4, shorter version, Roberts-Donaldson translationWe have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For 'the Word was made flesh.' Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts
— St. Ignatius of Antioch in Letter to the Ephesians, ch.7, shorter version, Roberts-Donaldson translationThe Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: ...one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father 'to gather all things in one,' and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, 'every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess; to him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all...'
— St. Irenaeus in Against Heresies, ch.X, v.I, Donaldson, Sir James (1950), Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,ISBN 978-0802880871For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water
— Justin Martyr in First Apology, ch. LXI, Donaldson, Sir James (1950), Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,ISBN 978-0802880871 - ISBN 9780802848277.
- ^ "The Articles of Faith: 13 Beliefs | ComeUntoChrist". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-05. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
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Christians were seen as polytheists, due to the doctrine of the Trinity. In the last few hundred years, rabbis have moderated this view slightly, but they still do not regard Christians as being fully monotheistic in the same manner as Jews or Muslims. Muslims were acknowledged as monotheists.
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It is the Islamic belief that Christianity is not monotheistic, as it claims, but rather polytheistic with the trinity-the father, son and the Holy Ghost.
- ^ Lesson 10: Three Persons are Subsistent Relations Archived 2017-07-31 at the Wayback Machine, International Catholic University: "The fatherhood constitutes the Person of the Father, the sonship constitutes the Person of the Son, and the passive aspiration constitutes the Person of the Holy Spirit. But in God "everything is one where there is no distinction by relative opposition." Consequently, even though in God there are three Persons, there is only one consciousness, one thinking and one loving. The three Persons share equally in the internal divine activity because they are all identified with the divine essence. For, if each divine Person possessed his own distinct and different consciousness, there would be three gods, not the one God of Christian revelation. So you will see that in this regard there is an immense difference between a divine Person and a human person."
- ^ Trinity Archived 2021-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica: "The Council of Nicaea in 325 stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the Son is "of the same substance [homoousios] as the Father", even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit. Over the next half century, Athanasius defended and refined the Nicene formula, and, by the end of the 4th century, under the leadership of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus (the Cappadocian Fathers), the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since. It is accepted in all of the historic confessions of Christianity, even though the impact of the Enlightenment decreased its importance."
- Encyclopedia of the Quran
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gavin flood.
"Early Vaishnava worship focuses on three deities who become fused together, namely Vasudeva-Krishna, Krishna-Gopala, and Narayana, who in turn all become identified with Vishnu. Put simply, Vasudeva-Krishna and Krishna-Gopala were worshiped by groups generally referred to as Bhagavatas, while Narayana was worshipped by the Pancaratra sect." - ISBN 978-0-415-40548-5.
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Matchett, Freda (2000). Krsna, Lord or Avatara? the relationship between Krsna and Visnu: in the context of the Avatara myth as presented by the Harivamsa, the Visnupurana and the Bhagavatapurana. Surrey: Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 0-7007-1281-X.
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- ^ For an overview of the Śatarudriya see: Kramrisch, pp. 71-74.
- ^ For a full translation of the complete hymn see: Sivaramamurti (1976)
- ^ For the Śatarudrīya as an early example of enumeration of divine names, see: Flood (1996), p. 152.
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"In the Vedic approach, there is no single God. This is bad enough. But the Hindus do not have even a supreme God, a fuhrer-God who presides over a multiplicity of Gods." – Ram Swarup
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- ^ David Hume said that unlike monotheism, polytheism is pluralistic in nature, unbound by doctrine, and therefore far more tolerant than monotheism, which tends to force people to believe in one faith.(David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and the Natural History of Religion, ed. J. C. A. Gaskin, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 26-32.
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Berchman, Robert M. (May 2008). "The Political Foundations of Tolerance in the Greco-Roman Period". In ISBN 9781599471365. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
Jacob Neusner [...] claims that 'the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions.'
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Further reading
- ISSN 0966-7393.
- Betz, Arnold Gottfried (2000). "Monotheism". In Freedman, David Noel; Myer, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. ISBN 9053565035.
- William G. Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites?, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2003.
- William G. Dever, Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, Eerdmans, 2005, ISBN 978-0802828521.
- Jonthan Kirsch, God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism. Penguin Books. 2005.
- ).
- Niehr, Herbert (1995). "The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion: Methodological and Religio-Historical Aspects". In Edelman, Diana Vikander (ed.). The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms. OCLC 33819403.
- OCLC 20692501.
- S2CID 169456327.
- S2CID 226129509.
- S2CID 170740919.
- Silberman, Neil A. et al.; The Bible Unearthed, New York: Simon & Schuster 2001.
- ISBN 9780195134803.
- Smith, Mark S. (2017). "YHWH's Original Character: Questions about an Unknown God". In Van Oorschot, Jürgen; Witten, Markus (eds.). The Origins of Yahwism. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. Vol. 484. S2CID 187378834.
- Smith, Mark S. (2002). The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (2nd ed.). Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802839725.
- Smith, Peter (2008). An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86251-6.
- ISBN 90-04-11119-0.
- ISBN 90-04-11119-0.
- Keith Whitelam, The Invention of Ancient Israel, Routledge, New York 1997.
External links
- The dictionary definition of monotheism at Wiktionary
- Media related to Monotheism at Wikimedia Commons
- About.com "What is Monolatry?" (Contains useful comparisons with henoteism etc.)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Christian Monotheism (biblical unitarians)
- World Union of Deists