Monotheism
Monotheism (in Greek μόνος = single and θεός = God), in contrast with polytheism, is the belief in a single, universal God. Although the Greek roots are similar, this term should not be confused with henotheism (from the Greek heis theos or “one god”) which refers to the worship of one god over and above other gods. For the monotheists, there are no forms of divinity other than the all-encompassing divinity. For centuries in Western thought, only the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) were considered to be monotheistic. However, monotheism existed in various cultures and various spiritual traditions throughout the world. Numerous Indian religions, among others Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism and spiritual traditions within the middle east such as Zoroastrianism assert that there is only one divinity in various ways.
Monotheism as a Category of Religion
"Monotheism" is a term featured prominently in academic debates about the nature and development of religion. The academic study of religion distinguishes several categories of religious belief found throughout the world including polytheism, animism, pantheism, and henotheism, among others. In the early delineation of these various categories, religious scholars abroad viewed religious beliefs as progressing in an evolution from "primitive" levels such as animism through polytheism. Monotheism, which was seen as the most "civilized" view of divinity, was placed at the top of this hierarchy. Scholars such as Max Muller believed that religions believing in one god, such as Islam and to a greater extent Christianity, were reflections of the advanced civilizations and henceforth the advanced thought both religions originated out of. However, this theory has largely been discredited based on its seeming dismissal of religions that were not monotheistic. Further, monotheism, as we will see, has been found in a variety of cultures, ranging from the technologically advanced to hunter-gatherer.
Varieties of Monotheism found in Human Culture
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is considered by some to be the earliest manifestation of monotheistic belief to have evolved among humanity. Zarathushstra, founded of Zoroastrianism sometime between the eighteenth and sixteenth centuries B.C.E. by turning against the polytheistic ritualism which was prevalent among Indo-Iranian religions at that time. In doing so, he unified the various notions of divinity featured in these religions into one deity, Ahura Mazda. Zarathushstra's teachings dictate that this one god wants to implement his will on the world by way of six angels, or Amesha Spentas, which represent indispensible moral principles. Ahura Mazda is inherently good, just and moral, and as such creates only good things. As for the existence of evil, this is explained by two subsidiary spirits who Ahura Mazda is said to have fathered. Spenta Manyu is the good one, while Angra Manyu is evil; because of the polarity of their natures, these two spirits feuded since the beginning of time. Thus, Ahura Mazda himself is not completely omnipotent, as the realm of evil is beyond his control, which lessens the extent to which Zoroastrianism can be considered genuinely monotheistic. However, Ahura Mazda is consistently portrayed as victorious over evil, which marks hims as the supreme entity among others. Hence, Zoroastrian can be considered dualistic monotheism, a subtype of monotheism where a monarchical god of good stands opposed to less powerful evil forces. Such monotheism remained prevalent in Zoroastrian as it was taught by Zarathushstra, however, later teachings brought older Indo-Iranian gods back into the Zoroastrian mythology, marking it as distinctively polytheist.
Zoroastrian monotheism has had major influence on the monotheistic religions of the middle east by way of such concepts as heaven, hell, judgement day and messianic figures. Several professors of archaeology and Biblical criticism connect Zoroastrianism and the religion of the early Israelites. For example, they have posited the controversial claim that many stories in the Old Testament were actually developed by scribes employed by King Josiah (7th century B.C.E.) to rationalize monotheistic belief in YHVH. This theory observes that the neighbouring countries, such as Egypt and Persia, (although keeping written records), have no writings about the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 B.C.E. Thus, it seems that Zoroastrian conception of singular divinity may have found their way into the Abrahamic traditions by way of these shared mythologies.
Greek Monotheism
Greeks were also among the first cultures to propound monotheistic ideals, at least in a philosophical sense. Generally, the idean of a unified, divine principle was seen to express a sense of reasonableness or order in the cosmos. For Pre-Socratic philosophers such as Xenophanes, such an idea seemed to be the highest manifestation of religious thought. Xenophanes, for example, depicted the spiritual union of the All-One as uncreated, unchangeable, and everywhere in the universe. Plato construed the ultimate principle as a unity of the good, and identified god this way. In a world of evil, in constant flux, god represented the single good, which was ultimately unchanging in its embodiment of perfection. Likewise, Aristotle conceived of a First Mover who derives from physical unity: a solitary supreme being who is one, eternal, and immutable.
Pre-Biblical Middle Eastern religions
Ancient Middle East religions could be classified as monotheistic. For example, the Aten cult, which existed during the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten may have worshipped a single god within a pantheon above and beyond all others, a process which often lead to the eventual denial of the gods subordinate to the single most powerful. Iconoclasm during Akhenaten rule is considered a possible origin for the subsequent destruction by some groups of idols, as the Atens came to believe that no other God was tantamount to their preferred deity. Such a theology subtly acknowledges the existence of the other gods, but only as foes to be destroyed due to the fact that they draw attention away from the primary deity. As such, this could be classified as monarchic monotheism, where one god is believed to reign supreme over many gods (see also Henotheism). Although the major source of both Christianity and Islam is Judaism's Hebrew Bible, Judaism and Christianity have each received influences from various pre-Biblical religions of Egypt and Syria. This is evident in the Torah's extensive references to Egypt and Egyptian culture in Genesis and the story of Moses, as well as the mention of Hittite and Hurrian cultures of Syria in the Genesis story of Abraham.
Biblical and Judaic Monotheism
In the west, the Hebrew Bible has been the primary source describing how and when Monotheism was introduced to human religion. Followers of the Abrahamanic religions believe that when Abraham discovered God he thus became the world's first Monotheist. Until then, in ancient history all cultures believed in a multiplicity deities. While Adam and Eve as well as their proximal descendants knew God in His singularity, over the ages humanity disconnected with this idea. Instead, the various cultures of the world took to worshipping idols, animistic natural forces, or celestial bodies by way of astrology. All the while, they forgot the one and only true God. However, it is disputed whether the God in the earlier parts of Genesis was one or many. Genesis 1:26 has been the subject of much contention: "And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (italics added). Such a verse suggests there were multiple entities involved in the creation of the earth. Linguistic factors must be taken into consideration, however. Elohim is morphologically plural in Hebrew, but generally takes singular agreement when it refers to the God of Israel (so the verb meaning "said" in this verse is wayyomer with singular inflection, and not wayyomru with plural inflection), and yet in this case the "our" and "us" seems to create a presumption of plurality. However, whatever possibility of henotheistic or polytheistic intention this verse may suggest is certainly precluded by the contents of the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Throughout the book, in both events and teachings, the aformentioned idolators and polytheists become the anathema of the ideal monotheistic Israelite religion. God is also quite clear as to where he stands in this regard. For example, when Moses returns with the Ten Commandments, the first stated that "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). Monotheism was the central tenet of the Israelite and the Jewish religion.
This foundational focus on monotheism continues today. Judaism claims to have an important advantage over all other religions because its earliest history, beliefs, laws, and practices are preserved and taught in the Torah and Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible). This document provides the clearest textual source for the introduction and further development of what is often called ethical monotheism. This term entails two principles: first, that there is one God from whom emanates one morality for all humanity, and secondly, that God's primary request is that people act decently toward one another.
Christianity
Although Christians believe in one God, the vast majority of Christians are taught to profess that this God is, in fact, manifest in three persons, or personas: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Collectively, these entities are called the Trinity, the classic Christian "three in one, one in three" formula which was first developed by the theologian Tertullien at teh beginning of the third century CE. It is not that there are three separate beings of God; rather, God makes himself known in the human cognitive sphere in three different ways. The father is the historical god who has been present since creation in Genesis, the conservator and governor of the universe. The Son Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh, an affirmation of the Absolute supreme being in real human life who makes possible the redemption of humanity. The Holy Spirit, meanwhile, represents the continuation of this ongoing revelation in the hearts of human beings, even after Christ's bodily death. Despite the idea that these three seemingly different entities manifest themselves seperately, the power one transcendent is never diluted or mitigated. While the human perception of god's revelation may change, the one supreme reality that is god never changes. Most contemporary Christians consider these personas to be "aspects" of the one greater divine personality, but some older Christian theology took the concept more literally. Typically, Christian orthodoxy holds that these three persons are not independent but are homoousios (a Helenistic Greek transliteration), meaning that they share the same essence or substance of divinity. However, critics have suggested that the Trinity in itself refers to three seperate gods and is, as such, a form of Tritheism.
These theological intricacies of the Trinity have sometimes made for complications, and even spurred the development of some minority sects derived from Christianity that deny the idea of Trinity, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unitarians. For the Jehovah's Witnesses, God is the creator and supreme being while Jesus Christ was created by God. Preceding his pre-human existence, Jehovah's Witnesses believe Christ was actually the Archangel Michael. Thus, since Jesus possesses angelic and not inherently divine traits, he has subordinate status to God. Further, the Holy Spirit is God's means of acting rather than the third person of the Trinity. As well, various schools of Unitarian thought hold that God is one being consisting of only one person, the Father. Further, they believe in the moral authority, but not the divinity, of the son Jesus, bolstering the unchallenged oneness of God Himself.
Islamic Monotheism
At the very core of Islamic religion is monotheism. Like the other Abrahamic faiths, Islam asserts that monotheism is as old as humanity, and is the ultimate form of religious faith. And, just as in the case of Judaism, Islamic religion states that such beliefs in the oneness of god have been contaminated over and over again, degrading to various forms of polytheism and idolatry, evident in Mohamed's fervent vituperatives against the polytheism of the Arabs which was highly prevalent before Islam emerged. However, in Islam more so than Judaism or Christianity, monotheism is the linchpin by which the entirety of the belief system is held together. Islam has a simple but pointed philsophy concerning monotheism: there is only one god, period. There is no trinity as in Christianity, and no claims in any scripture such as that in Genesis 1:26 which might suggest numerous creative entities. Rather, Allah is one, and plurality of any type is sternly denied. While Allah is one in His essence and in his action, he is also the sole entity for worship. There is no existence or supernatural powers to be worshipped other than Allah; rather, Allah is all truth and the source of all creation. Allah created the universe by himself, and is also self-created. Even with the creation of the universe, he is still the sole sustainer of the world and his power is not depleted in any way. Rather, his will has complete dominance over this world, as well, determining all events and outcomes.
The utmost determinant of Islamlic faith centers around this belief in one God. For Muslims, people who believe in the oneness of Allah are believers. Non-believers, meanwhile, are either those who do not believe in Allah, or those who associate Allah with some other power. To bestow Allah's indivisible reality upon another god is considered by Muslims to be a lie, and stands as the only sin which Allah will not forgive. Moreover, rewards and punishment in both earthly life and the afterlife are based heavily on monotheistic worship. With such emphasis of monotheism, then, it is of no surprise that the affirmation of Allah's oneness is one of the cornerstones in the daily faith offerings of the Muslim worshipper. The Shahadah (الشهادة), or the Islamic creed, is the declaration of belief in the unity of God (Allah in Arabic) and the prophethood of Muhammad. Its recitation is considered one of the Five Pillars of Islam by Sunni Muslims. When sincerely stated aloud, one is considered to have officially declared oneself a convert to Islam. The (salaat) in Islam, for example, involve explicit monotheistic testimony. Islam declares the "Unity of God" as their primary teaching. Furthermore, Islam considers Christianity's Trinity as a distortion of Jesus's original teaching after the fact.
Bahá'í View
The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. In Bahá'í belief, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfect. Bahá'ís believe that, although people have different concepts of God and his nature, and call him by different names, everyone is speaking of the same one Being. The obligatory prayers in the Bahá'í Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony. The Bahá'í Faith also accepts the authenticity of the founders of faiths with monotheism such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which focuses on worship of Krishna as God or even what are sometimes interpreted as atheistic teachings, such as Buddhism. Bahá'ís believe in the unity of religion and that revelation is progressive, and thus that earlier non-monotheisms are simply less mature understandings of the unity of God. In regards to the Trinity, Bahá'ís believe that the Trinity is symbolic of the light from the one God being reflected on pure mirrors which are Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Hinduism
Since Hinduism is more of an all-encompassing term referring to the totality of religious traditions which have existed over the vast geography and history of India, the amount of religious views subsumed under the title are not surprisingly broad and multifarious. Hindu philosophies range from monism, dualism, pantheism, and panentheism, among others. Also, Hinduism has been alternatively called monistic theism by some scholars, and even strict monotheism, but not strictly polytheism as outsiders may mistakenly perceive the religion to be. Despite the fact that early Hinduism is popularly viewed as polytheistic, monotheistic ideas are very clearly stated in the earliest scriptures of the Hindus, The Vedas. The very first book of the Rig Veda states,एकं सद विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्य transliterated ekam sad vipuraa bahudha vadantya or "Truth is One, but sages call it by many names."'(RV 1:164:46). Even though Vedic Hinduism is replete with stories of many gods such as Indra, Usha, and Varuna, this quote suggests that early Hindu rishis (seers) had already become aware of a deeper, more unified reality underlying the stories of the many gods.
The Upanishads, the Vedantic scriptures that putatively serve as commentaries on the original Vedas developed this concept of a deeper oneness even further. They labelled this deeper reality as Brahman (ब्रह्मन् in devanagari script) which they described as unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is the Divine Ground of all being. This Supreme Reality is regarded as the source and sum of the cosmos; eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, yet utterly beyond description. Constricted by the dimensions of time, space, and causation, it can also can take on seemingly unlimited forms or manifestations such as those of the Hindu gods. Soon, the ancient writers of the Upanishads insisted that Brahman, in addition to being the material, formal and final cause of the cosmos, was also utterly beyond all four senses of origin. Thus, these gods also served as a cognitive heuristic for humans to understanding what is hopelessly impossible for them to understand completely. Thus, the presence of Brahman in the Hindu tradition could allow the religion to be classified under what scholars refer to emanational mystical monotheism, where humans come into communion with one ineffable god or monistic principle through many gods. However, this is a point of contention, since Brahman is also beyond being and non-being alike, and thus does not quite fit with the usual connotations of the word God and even the concept of monism.
Contemporary Hinduism is divided into four major divisions, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. The denominations all believe in one deity but differ in their various conceptions of who and what exactly that deity is. The two primary form of differences are between the two monotheistic denominations of Vaishnavism which conceives God as Vishnu and Shaivism, which conceives God as Shiva. Other aspects of God are in fact aspects of Vishnu or Shiva. Smartas, who follow Advaita philsophy, are monists, and view multiple manifestations of the one God or source of being. Hindu monists see one unity, with the personal Gods, different aspects of only One Supreme Being, like a single beam of light separated into colours by a prism, and are valid to worship. Some of the Smarta aspects of God include Devi, Vishnu, Ganesh, and Siva. It is the Smarta view that dominates the view of Hinduism in the West as Smarta belief includes Advaita belief and the first Hindu saint, who significantly brought Hinduism to the west was Swami Vivekananda, an adherent of Advaita. Not till much later, gurus, such as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and others, brought a Vaishnavite perspective to the West. By contrast with Smarta/Advaita belief, Vaishnavism and Shaivism follows a singular concept of God, or panentheistic monotheism or panentheistic monism.
For certain sects of Hindus, it is believed that God has six attributes. However, the actual number of auspicious qualities of God, are countless, with the following six qualities being the most important.
- The number six is invariably given, but the individual attributes listed vary. One set of attributes (and their common interpretations) are:
- 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), or valour which indicates the power to retain immateriality as the supreme being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations; and
- Tejas (Splendor), which expresses his self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by his spiritual effulgence.; (cited from Bhakti Schools of Vedanta, by Swami Tapasyānanda.)
Additionally, many Hindus, including Smartas, believe in God having three aspects as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Trimurti (also called the Hindu trinity.) and these different aspects are part of the one and the same God.
Conflicts between the denominations are rare though. A Rigvedic verse illustrates this theme of tolerance by stating that "Truth is One, though the sages know it variously." This is in contrast with some beliefs of other religious traditions, where one must believe in God being one aspect in rejection or disdain of other beliefs.
Sikhism
Sikhism is a distinct monotheistic faith that rose in northern India during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sikhs believe in one, timeless, omnipresent, supreme creator. The opening verse of the Guru Granth Sahib, known as the Mool Mantra signifies this:
- Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
- Transliteration: Ik ōaṅkār sat nām karatā purakh nirabha'u niravair akāl mūrat ajūnī saibhaṁ gur prasād.
- English: One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace ~
It is often said that the 1430 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib are all expansions on the Mool Mantra.
Although the Sikhs have many names for God, they all refer to the same supreme being.
Taoism
Tao is The Ultimate that cannot be defined in words, with nothingness as its nature and contains other deities. Unlike the variations of monotheisms which arose in the Middle East, The Tao has no personal attributes such as holiness, love and righteousness. This makes Taoism exempt from the problems of theodicy. Despite these subtle monotheistic features, the Tao and Taoism is better characterized as monistic.
Other Forms
Some argue that ther are various forms of monotheism. Theism a term that refers to the belief in the existence of a god or divine being. Deism is a form of monotheism in which it is believed that one god exists. However, a deist rejects the idea that this god intervenes in the world. Hence any notion of special revelation is impossible, and the nature of god can only be known through reason and observation from nature. A deist thus rejects the miraculous, and the claim to knowledge made for religious groups and texts. Monistic Theism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism. This type of theism is different from the Semitic religions as it encompasses pantheism, monism, and at the same time includes the concept of a personal God as an universal, omnipotent supreme being. The other types of monotheism are qualified monism, the school of Ramanuja or Vishishtadvaita, which admits that the universe is part of God, or Narayana, a type of panentheism, but there is a plurality of souls within this supreme Being and Dvaita, which differs in that it is dualistic, as God is separate and not panentheistic. Pantheism holds that the Universe itself is God. The existence of a transcendent supreme extraneous to nature is denied. Depending on how this is understood, such a view may be presented as tantamount to atheism, deism or theism. Panentheism, or Monistic Monotheism, is a form of theism that holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. The One God is omnipotent and all-pervading, the universe is part of God, and God is both Immanent and Transcendent. This is also the view of Process theology and also Vishistadvaita Vedanta Hinduism. According to this school, from Ramanuja, the universe is part of God but God is not equal to the universe but in fact transcends it as well. However, unlike Process theology, God in Vishistadvaita Vedanta Hinduism is omnipotent. Panentheism is thought of as "God is within the universe as the soul is within the body". Substance monotheism, found e.g. in some indigenous African religions, holds that the many gods are different forms of a single underlying substance, and that this underlying substance is God. This view has vague similarities to the Christian trinitarian view of three persons sharing one nature.
Monotheism can also be divided into different types on the basis of its attitude towards polytheism: inclusive monotheism claims that all polytheistic deities are just different names for the single monotheistic God; Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism, follows this belief and holds that God is one but has different aspects and can be called by different names, a belief dominate the view of Hinduism in the West. Exclusive monotheism, on the other hand, claims that these deities are false and distinct from the one God, either invented, demonic, or simply incorrect. Vaishnavism, a denomination of Hinduism, regards the worship of anyone other than Vishnu in this way. Exclusive monotheism is also a well-known tenet in the beliefs of the Abrahamic religions.
Significance of Monotheism
Refererences
- Dever, William G. (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites?, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI.
- Prager, Dennis. [1]
- Rohi, Rajinder Kaur. Semitic and Sikh Monotheism: A Comparative Study. Patiala, India: Punjabi University Publication Bureau, 1999.
- Silberman, Neil A. and colleagues, Simon and Schuster; (2001) The Bible Unearthed New York.
- Whitelam, Keith (1997). The Invention of Ancient Israel, Routledge, New York.
External links
Zoroastrian
Jewish
- Jewish Monotheism chabad.org
- Biblical Monotheism
Christianity
Islam
Shaivism
See also
- Abrahamic religion
- Henotheism
- Kathenotheism
- Monistic theism
- Semitic monotheism
- Psychology of religion
- Hindu views on monotheism
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