Rather than producing contradictions within the biblical text, these passages that are often set aside demonstrate how godly israelites thought about yahweh and provide a more accurate picture of israelite monotheism. Ijhrhistorya brief historical survey of the monotheistic. Ancestral religions and the origins of monotheism individual paper readings to use for this assignment. However, the word monotheism is a relatively modern one that was coined in the mid17th century ce by the british philosopher henry more 16141687 ce. This cambridge elements series publishes original concise volumes on monotheism and its significance. Jun 28, 2011 usually people believe that the western monotheism would stem from the jews. Zoroastrianism is thought to be the oldest living monotheistic religions. While initially, akhenaten allowed the worship of many gods, as egyptian kings had always done so, by the 5th year of his. The term monotheism is a very popular and well known concept in the study of religious belief and practice to identify god as only one supreme. In their eyes, yahweh had power over all peoples, everywhere. For the academic study of religion in general, see religious studies.
Psalm 82 is considered late in composition on several grounds. Monotheism is the belief in only one god, rather than two or more, which would be polytheism such as ancient greece, ancient rome, ancient egypt and partly hinduism. This monotheism of the jews has chiefly the result of a religious intolerance never before equaled and never since surpassed, except in the history of christianity and mohammedanism, the daughters of judaism. Hoffmeier, akhenaten and the origins of monotheism, oxford. The exposure in the basket is clearly a symbolical representa tion of birth. Monotheism is the view that there is only one such god. The first evidence of monotheism emerges from egypt in the 14th century bce 5336 bc during the reign of akhenaten. Use this interactive quiz and printable worksheet to determine how well you understand the history of monotheism. Gods essence and character are believed to be unique and fundamentally different from all other beings that can be considered more or less comparablee. Full text of moses and monotheism internet archive.
The noun monotheism can be countable or uncountable in more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be monotheism however, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be monotheisms e. A narrower definition of monotheism is the belief in the. Another would be that maybe a culture had started out as monotheistic. Monotheism in the ancient world ancient history encyclopedia.
The king was known to have worshiped aten, the sun disk god figure 1. Akhenaten and the origins of monotheism james karl. The ethics of radical monotheism a realistic critique of futile multiplicity and fanatic unity people typically think of monotheism as an idea or belief almost never as a mode of action or ethics. Akhenaten and the origins of monotheism oxford university press, 2015. Akhenaten and the origins of monotheism entangled religions. But as the commandment you shall not have other gods next to me. Why does every culture in the world worship some divine being.
The monotheistic religions include the worlds largest religions. In judaism, one of the most important ways for a person to please god is to study. A narrower definitio n of monotheism is the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is allpowerful and intervenes in the world a distinction may be made between exclus ive monotheism, and both incl usive monotheism and pluriform panenth eistic monotheis m which, while recognising various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. All the while, their god, whose name was yahweh, watched over them. Monotheism and polytheism are often thought of in rather simple termse. Religion is a topic of much controversy today, while some religions believe in the worship of a number of gods, while others believe in the worship of a single deity. Summarizing what does hebrew law require of believers. As a descriptive study in the history of religion, this article makes no judgment about whether monotheism is better than polytheism. Judaism judaism is the religion of the jewish people. Evolutionists and atheists have long struggled to solve the problem of the origin of religion, specifically of monotheismthe belief that god is one. The origin of hebrew monotheism is an article from the biblical world, volume 22 view more articles from the biblical world. Monotheist definition, the doctrine or belief that there is only one god.
Anthropologists and historians have studied this question, and presently there are three primary theories. A narrower definition of monotheism is the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is allpowerful and intervenes in the world. Most mainstream old testament scholars believe that the religion of the early israelites was neither monotheistic nor. Monotheism is simply defined as the belief in one god and is usually positioned as the polar opposite of polytheism, the belief in many gods. The god of monotheism is the one real god that is believed to exist or, in any case, that is acknowledged as such. Islamic monotheism and the trinity university of waterloo. After a brief discussion of monotheisms historical origins, this entry looks at the five most influential attempts to establish gods uniqueness. Introduction a stylized tree with obvious religious significance already occurs as an art motif in fourthmillennium mesopotamia, and, by the second millennium b. Moses and the origin of monotheism from philo to freud, the richly varied afterlife of the biblical moses figure and story of monotheism s egyptian origins, considered as an abiding preoccupation of western religions, theology, literary and visual art, and secular thought. View origins of monotheism research papers on academia. Israels polytheistic background and the ugaritic texts. Presents original research on the controversial figure pharaoh akhenaten.
He created the world and everything in it, and all of mans history traces back to that singular event. In akhenaten and the origins of monotheism, james k. Apologetics press monotheism and the origin of religion. Mark smith seeks in this book to discover more precisely what was meant by divinity in the ancient near east and how these concepts apply to. The religions subsumed under the term polytheism cannot, how ever, be reduced to a single motto of opposite meaning, such as many gods. I note, as a wellknown aspect of the history of ideas, that the nonhistorical reading of the origins of monotheism meaning the idea of a pure revelationdoes. Origins of monotheism alien interview official website. Origin of religion polytheism the origin of religion and polytheistic systems.
This is evident in the fact that most preliterate religions have a latent monotheism in their view of the sky god or high god see mbiti. Tragovima svetih pjesama nase pretkrscanske starine pdf. Monotheism and greek philosophy simo parpola, university of helsinki i. Usually people believe that the western monotheism would stem from the jews. This is the opposite of polytheism, however, does not have to be. Archaeologists believe they have uncovered origins of monotheism in northern jordan. Hindu beliefs were recorded in the bhagavad gita, which revealed that many gods were subject to a supreme brahman god. Akhenatens new program involved the worship of one god the sundisc, aten. Understanding israelite monotheism old testament affirmations such as deut 6. Christians assert this as an absolute truth, though not everyone agrees. However, muslims and christians also find themselves differing. Mar 05, 2002 the newest finds at the migdol temple suggest that the region had its own distinct form of monotheism, and that monotheism arose in several areas of the middle east at once in order to unify small nationstates.
Monotheism appears not through amalgamation and syncretism but rather through the annihilation of other gods. It was a fresh look at the work that wilhelm schmidt published in 1930 on the origin and growth of religion. What is most interesting about the dismissal of schmidt is that most theorists offer no alternative account of the origin of religion. From a christian perspective, the best source of information on origin of monotheism is the hebrew culture. It introduces students to a fivestep set of practices designed to simulate the experience of a historian and make explicit all key phases of the historians craft. Akhenaten and the origins of monotheism oxford scholarship. Monotheism by jonathan burack each unit in the historians apprentice series deals with an important historical topic. The origin of hebrew monotheism is an article from the biblical world, volume 22.
Monotheism and the redefinition of divinity in ancient. The god of abrahamthe bible tells how abraham and his family roamed for many years from mesopotamia to canaan to egypt and back to canaan. Tracing the origins of jewish monotheism and greek philosophy authors. The origins of polytheism can be explained as well, if not better, as a degeneration from original monotheism just as rom. Monotheism has occupied inquirers since the time of the biblical patriarchs, and it continues to attract interdisciplinary academic work today. Probably the earliest formal monotheistic religion was zoroastrianism, in which the god is known as ahura mazda wise lord. They both explain that since darwins work on evolution. However, the word monotheism is a relatively modern one that was coined in the mid17th century ce by. Argues that akhenaten was the first monotheist in history. As the bible tells us, ancient israels neighbors worshipped a wide variety of gods. That having been said, there is a problem with monotheism. This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it. Atr in key theses god in atr bumuntu memory tolerant gods origin of monotheism by jan assmann egypt and israel egyptology and theology continued. Monotheism, belief in the existence of one god, or in the oneness of god.
Winifred corduan wrote a wonderful book called, in the beginning god, on the topic of original monotheism. We will consider arguments from gods simplicity, from his perfection, from his sovereignty, from his omnipotence. This can be illustrated by the case of the pharaoh akhenaten 5236 b. Monotheism simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It is distinguished from polytheism, the belief in the existence of many gods, from atheism, the belief that there is no god, and from agnosticism, the belief that the existence or nonexistence of a god or of gods is unknown or unknowable. For the history of religions school, see history of religions school. The myth in question traces this struggle back to the very dawn of the heros life, by having him born against his fathers will and saved in spite of his fathers evil intentions. Moses and the origin of monotheism from philo to freud, the richly varied afterlife of the biblical moses figure and story of monotheisms egyptian origins, considered as an abiding preoccupation of western religions, theology, literary and visual art, and secular thought. The history of religions, however, indicates many phenomena and concepts that should warn against oversimplification in this matter.
In the case of a minority of fanatics, the sin of selfrighteousness. Akhenaten is one of the most intriguing rulers of ancient egypt, and one of the most fascinating individuals from the ancient world. After a brief discussion of monotheism s historical origins, this entry looks at the five most influential attempts to establish gods uniqueness. Akhenaton and egyptian origin of hebrew monotheism citeseerx. Monotheism definition, the doctrine or belief that there is only one god. For the journal of that name, see history of religions journal. I note, as a wellknown aspect of the history of ideas, that the nonhistorical reading of the origins of monotheism meaning the idea of a pure revelation does. Many religions are monotheistic, such as judaism, christianity, islam, bahai faith, sikhism, eckankar, zoroastrianism, deism, cao dai and tenrikyo. Jehovistic priests and kings tolerated no rivals of their god and made death the penalty for disloyalty to him.
Stephanie saldana daily star, lebanon 5 march 2002. We who profess monotheism and know that we shouldnt sin, sometimes give in to sin and do things to our fellow man that our faith teaches us are wrong. Evolutionists and atheists have long struggled to solve the problem of the origin of religion, specifically of. Monotheism is the worship of a single divine being. Such was the reaction against akhenatens monotheistic reform of traditional egyptian polytheism that these temples had been destroyed and. Some have concluded that we can no longer trace the origins. Hoffmeier argues that akhenaten was not, as is often said, a radical advocating a new religion, but rather a primitivist. The hebrews proclaimed yahweh as the one and only god.
While initially, akhenaten allowed the worship of many gods, as egyptian kings had always done so. His odd appearance in representations that he commissioned and his preoccupation with worshiping the sundisc, or aten, have stimulated a vast amount of academic discussion and controversy for more than a century. Ancient origins articles related to monotheism in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends. Some scholars have said that monotheism is a late development in religion and the jews were not originally monotheistic but henotheists. It is now widely accepted that the israelites god, yahweh, must have originated as among these many, before assuming the role of the one true god of monotheism. Influenza is a disease associated with the close proximity of water fowl, pigs and humans, and its origin as a pandemic disease may be due to the development of agricultural systems that allow the mixing of these animals and their wastes. The history of monotheism is the history of individual cultures adapting their beliefs in a changing world, often from polytheism to henotheism. Polytheism a belief in many gods is thought to have originated with hinduism in about 2500 bc. Monotheism mahnuhtheeihzuhm, a belief in a single god, comes from the greek words mono, meaning one, and theism, meaning godworship. That is, paganism is a falling away from the primitive monotheism. Monotheists believe that this omnipotent, omniscient, ultimately good being is the creative ground for everything else.
1306 1183 131 1001 697 1128 147 464 151 4 259 1378 517 1358 995 1008 682 1487 276 74 252 1436 1295 1139 850 124 1193 362 128 1130 302 1077 1432