monotheism

Monotheism (from Greek μόνος, monos, "single", and θεός, theos, "god") is the belief in the existence of one god or in the oneness of God.^[1]. Strict monotheism is characteristic of Judaism and Islam. Weaker forms of monotheism are expressed in mainstream Christianity and Sabianism, and are also recognizable in numerous other religions such as Zoroastrianism, Bahá'í Faith, Sikhism and Hinduism.^[2]

Definitions

Monotheism is the belief in a singular God, in contrast to polytheism, the belief in several deities. Polytheism can, however, be reconcilable with inclusive monotheism (monolatrism) or other forms of monism.

Strict Monotheism

To only two of the three Abrahamic religions can pure and strict monotheism be approved.

As they traditionally profess a concept of pure monotheism, Judaism^[3] and Islam strictly reject the Christian claim to be a clear monotheistic religion. Judaism refers to the paganistic elements of Christian theology with the term Shituf to distinguish Christianity from full-blown polytheism. Muslims deny the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism.^[4]

Other Forms of Monotheism

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

According to western scholarship, it is difficult to delineate monotheism from beliefs such as pantheism and monism as in the Advaita traditions of Hinduism. Some Christian scholars, such as Wilhelm Schmidt, argued for primeval monotheism: a monotheistic Urreligion, from which polytheistic religions developed. Weaker forms of monotheism include deism, trinitarian monotheism and monolatrism.^[5]

Weaker forms of monotheism can involve a variety of Conceptions of God:

• Deism posits the existence of a single god, the Designer of the designs in Nature. Some Deists believe in an impersonal god that does not intervene in the world, while other Deists believe in intervention through Providence.
• Monotheism is often contrasted with theistic dualism (ditheism). However, in dualistic theologies such as that of Gnosticism, the two deities are not of equal rank, and the role of the Gnostic demiurge is closer to that of the Devil^[6] in Christian trinitarian theology than a diarch on equal terms with God (who is represented in pantheistic fashion, as Pleroma).
• Henotheism involves devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. Though similar, it contrasts drastically with monotheism, the worship of a single deity independent of the ontological claims regarding that deity. Hinduism is sometimes overgeneralized to as henotheistic.^[7]
• Monism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, encompassing pantheism and panentheism, and at the same time the concept of a personal god.
• Pantheism holds that the universe itself is God. The existence of a transcendent being extraneous to nature is denied.
• Panentheism is a form of monistic monotheism which holds that God is all of existence, containing, but 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.
• Substance monotheism, found in some indigenous African religions, holds that the many gods are different forms of a single underlying substance.
• Trinitarian monotheism is the Christian doctrine of belief in one God who is three distinct persons; God the Father (Jahweh), God the Son (Christ Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost).

Origin and development

The word monotheism is derived from the Greek μόνος (monos)^[8] meaning "single" and θεός (theos)^[9] meaning "god".^[10] The English term was first used by Henry More (1614–1687).^[11]

Some writers such as Karen Armstrong believe that the concept of monotheism sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism (worshiping a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities) and monolatrism (the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity).^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]} However, the historical incidences of monotheism are so rare, that it's difficult to support any theory of the natural progression of religions from polytheism to henotheism to monotheism.^{[citation needed]}

Two examples of monolatrism developing from polytheism are the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, as well as the rise of Marduk from the tutelary of Babylon to the claim of universal supremacy.

In Iran, Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda appears as a supreme and transcendental deity. Depending on the date of Zoroaster (usually placed in the early Iron Age), this may be one of the earliest documented instances of the emergence of monism in an Indo-European religion.

In the ancient Near East, each city had a local patron deity, such as Shamash at Larsa or Sin at Ur. The first claims of global supremacy of a specific god date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten (speculatively connected to Judaism by Sigmund Freud in his Moses and Monotheism). However the date of the Exodus is disputed, and it is not definitive whether the setting of the biblical Exodus event is prior to or following Akhenaten's reign. Furthermore it is not clear to what extent Akhenaten's Atenism was monotheistic rather than henotheistic with Akhenaten himself identified with the god Aten.

Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India earlier, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. In the Indo-Iranian tradition, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism, in particular in the comparatively late tenth book, also dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in the Nasadiya sukta.

Ethical monotheism and the associated concept of absolute good and evil emerge in Zoroastrianism and Judaism, later culminating in the doctrines of Christology in early Christianity and later (by the 7th century) in the tawhid in Islam. In Islamic theology, a person who spontaneously "discovers" monotheism is called a ḥanīf, the original ḥanīf being Abraham.

Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt in the 1910s postulated an Urmonotheismus, "original" or "primitive monotheism."

Indo-European religions

Proto-Indo-European religion

In the Proto-Indo-European religion, the supreme god is Dyeus, as the word "Dyeus" is literally used in many Indo-European language cognates to denote a supreme god.

In western Eurasia, the ancient traditions of the Slavic religion had elements of monotheism, of a supreme deity known by many names worshiped by some tribes. The most common name of the supreme deity is Perun and was identified with the Christian God after Christianization.

In speaking of Henotheism, Indo-European religions have had shifting tendencies regarding their supreme god. Consider the ruler of lightning: the supreme god Zeus, Perun, Jupiter controlled lightning himself; while in Norse mythology Odin delegated the power of lighting to his son Thor. In this vein, phenomena controlled by any single henotheistic god differ widely among various Indo-European religions.

Indo-Iranian religions

Indian religions

Hinduism

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

As an old religion, Hinduism inherits religious concepts spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism, and atheism among others;^{[12][13][14][15]} and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed.

Hinduism cannot be said to be purely polytheistic, as all great^{[weasel words]} Hindu religious leaders have repeatedly stressed that God is one and his forms are many, the ways to communicate with him are many and focusing or concentrating on the icon is one of those ways.

The puja of the murti is a way to communicate with the abstract one God (Brahman in Hinduism) which creates, sustains and dissolves creation.^[16]

Rig Veda 1.164.46,

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,^[17] and the source of Vishnu himself, or to be the same as Narayana. As such, he is therefore regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.^[18][19][20]

When Krishna is recognized to be Svayam Bhagavan, it can be understood that this is the belief of Gaudiya Vaishnavism,^[21] the Vallabha Sampradaya,^[22] and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, where Krishna is accepted to be the source of all other avatars, and the source of Vishnu himself. This belief is drawn primarily "from the famous statement of the Bhagavatam"^[23](1.3.28).^[24] A different viewpoint differing from this theological concept is the concept of Krishna as an avatar of Narayana or Vishnu. It should be however noted that although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avataras, this is only one of the names of the God of Vaishnavism, who is also known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Krishna and behind each of those names there is a divine figure with attributed supremacy in Vaishnavism.^[25]

The Rig Veda discusses monotheistic thought, as do the Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda:

"Devas are always looking to the supreme abode of Vishnu" (tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sṻrayaḥ Rig Veda 1.22.20)

"The One Truth, sages know by many names" (Rig Veda 1.164.46)^[26]

"When at first the unborn sprung into being, He won His own dominion beyond which nothing higher has been in existence" (Atharva Veda 10.7.31)^[27]

"There is none to compare with Him. There is no parallel to Him, whose glory, verily, is great." (Yajur Veda 32.3)^[28]

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^[29]

In the Shaivite tradition, the Shri Rudram (Sanskrit श्रि रुद्रम्), to which the Chamakam (चमकम्) is added by scriptural tradition, is a Hindu stotra dedicated to Rudra (an epithet of Shiva), taken from the Yajurveda (TS 4.5, 4.7).^[30][31] Shri Rudram is also known as Sri Rudraprasna, Śatarudrīya, and Rudradhyaya. The text is important in Vedanta where Shiva is equated to the Universal supreme God. The hymn is an early example of enumerating the names of a deity,^[32] a tradition developed extensively in the sahasranama literature of Hinduism.

The Nyaya school of Hinduism has made several arguments regarding a monotheistic view. The Naiyanikas have given an argument that such a god can only be one. In the Nyaya Kusumanjali, this is discussed against the proposition of the Mimamsa school that let us assume there were many demigods (devas) and sages (rishis) 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.^{[citation needed]}

Sikhism

A Sikh temple, known as Nanaksar Gurudwara, in Alberta, Canada.

Sikhi is a monotheistic^[33][34] and a revealed religion.^[35] God in Sikhi is called Vāhigurū, and is shapeless, timeless, and sightless: niraṅkār, akaal, and alakh. God is present (sarav viāpak) in all of creation. God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart". Sikhi devotees must meditate to progress towards enlightenment, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.^[36]

Sikhism is a monotheistic faith^[37][38] that arose 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 Mul Mantra, signifies this:

Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

Transliteration: Ik ōaṅkār (or ikoo) sat nām karatā purakh nirabha'u niravair akāl mūrat ajūnī saibhaṁ gur prasād.

English: There is only One God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Timeless One, 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: "There is only one 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॥"

English: "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."

Sikhs believe that God has been given many names, but they all refer to the One God, VāhiGurū. Sikhs believe that members of other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity all worship the same God, and the names Allah, Rahim, Karim, Hari, Raam and Paarbrahm are frequently mentioned in the Sikh holy scriptures. Although there is no set reference to God in Sikhism, the most commonly used Sikh reference to God is Akal Purakh (which means "the true immortal") or Waheguru, the Primal Being.

Iranian religions

Zoroastrianism

Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)

Zoroastrianism idiosyncratically combines cosmogonic dualism and escathological monotheism which makes it unique among the religions of the world. Zoroastrianism proclaims an evolution through time from dualism to monotheism.^[39]

Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion^[40] (although early Zoroastrianism is often regarded^[who?] as dualist) which was once one of the largest religions on Earth. Zoroastrianism is generally believed to have been founded around the 1st millennium BCE.^[41] By some scholars,^[who?] the Zoroastrians ("Parsis" or "Zartoshtis") are credited with being the first monotheists and having had significant influence in the formation of currently larger world religions. Figures put the number of adherents at up to 3.5 million,^[42] ranging from regions in South Asia and spread across the globe.

Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í House of Worship, Langenhain, Germany

God in the Bahá'í Faith is too great for humans to fully comprehend and human primitive understanding of God is achieved through his revelations via his divine intermediary Manifestations.^[43][44] In the Bahá'í faith, such Christian doctrines as the Trinity are seen as compromising the Bahá'í view that God is single and has no equal.^[45] And the very existence of the Bahá'í Faith is a challenge to the Islamic doctrine of the finality of Muhammad's revelation.^[46] God in the Bahá'í Faith communicates to humanity through divine intermediaries, known as Manifestations of God.^[47] These Manifestations establish religion in the world.^[44] It is through these divine intermediaries that humans can approach God, and through them God brings divine revelation and law.^[48]

The Bahá'í view of God is monotheistic. God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence.^[49] He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty".^[50][51] 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.^[52] 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.^[47]

The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'ís believe that there is one supernatural being, God, who has created all existence. God is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty."^[53]

God is taught to be a personal god, too great for humans to fully understand him. The obligatory prayers in the Bahá'í Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony.^[54][55]

European religions

Hellenistic religion

Remains of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece.

"The One" (Τὸ Ἕν) is a concept that arises in Platonism, although the writings of Plato himself are still cast in polytheistic terminology. The Euthyphro dilemma, for example, is formulated as "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" But Plato prefigures monotheism by looking for the absolute Truth, as in the allegory of the cave, and the absolute Good, as in the Form of the Good. Later, Hellenistic religion, including Hellenistic Judaism, and especially Neoplatonism, formulate monotheism explicitly.

The development of pure (philosophical) monotheism is a product of the Late Antiquity. During the 2nd to 3rd centuries, early Christianity was just one of several competing religious movements advocating monotheism.

A number of oracles of Apollo from Didyma and Clarus, the so-called "theological oracles", dated to the 2nd and 3rd century AD, proclaim that there is only one highest god, of whom the gods of polytheistic religions are mere manifestations or servants.^[56] Similarly, the cult of Dionysus as practiced in Cyprus seems to have developed into strict monotheism by the 4th century; together with Mithraism and other sects the cult formed an instance of "pagan monotheism" in direct competition with Early Christianity during Late Antiquity.^[57]

Aristotle's concept of the "Uncaused Cause" - never incorporated into the polytheistic ancient Greek religion - has been used by many exponents of Abrahamic religions to justify their arguments for the existence of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God of the Abrahamic religions.

The Hypsistarians were a religious group who believed in a most high god, according to Greek documents. Later revisions of this Hellenic religion were adjusted towards Monotheism as it gained consideration among a wider populace. The worship of Zeus as the head-god signaled a trend in the direction of monotheism, with less honour paid to the fragmented powers of the lesser gods.

Abrahamic religions

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The major source of monotheism in the modern Western World is the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, the scripture of Judaism. The text of the Bible states that Judaism began with divine revelations from "God most high" to Abraham [Gen. 14-15] and to the people of Israel through Moses [Exodus 20]. The understanding of the transmitters of the biblical text was that the Bible uniformly presents one God as creator of the world and the only power controlling history. In their understanding, references to other "gods" are to non-existent entities or angelic servants of God, to whom humans mistakenly ascribe reality and power. e.g. Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 7b-17a.

The documentary hypothesis asserts that the actual origins of Judaism lie in the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, c.1,000-586 BCE. Both kingdoms had Yahweh as their state god (i.e., the god of the royal court and of the kingdom), while worshiping many other gods.^{[citation needed]} In the 8th century the Assyrian royal propaganda claimed universal dominion (meaning dominion over all other gods) for the Assyrian state god Ashur. In reaction to this, certain circles in Israel stressed the unique power of Yahweh as a sign of national independence. When Israel was destroyed by Assyria (c.721 BCE) refugees brought this form of theism to Judah, where it was upheld during the reigns of at least two kings.^[who?] At this stage (late 7th century), Judaism was not strictly monotheistic, but Yahweh was recognised as without peer and supreme over all other gods.^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}

The hypothesis posits a next stage, beginning with the fall of Judah to Babylon, when a small circle of priests and scribes gathered around the exiled royal court developed the first idea of Yahweh as the sole God of the world. The tendency to monotheism was accelerated by the fall of Babylon to the Persians in 538, which allowed the exiles to seize control of the new Persian province of Judah.^{[citation needed]} Christianity, originally a sect within Judaism, emerged as a distinctive religious tradition during the first centuries of the modern era. Its version of monotheism was distinctive from that of Judaism in that it developed the concept that God had three "persons" - the doctrine of Trinity. Islam emerged in the 7th century CE as a reaction to both Christianity and Judaism, drawing on both, but with a version of monotheism based on that of Judaism.^{[citation needed]}

Judaism

Tzedakah motive on a Jewish gravestone. Jewish cemetery in Otwock (Karczew-Anielin)

For nearly four millennia, Judaism has been steadfast for monotheism and against paganism, polytheism, Christian persecution and anti-semitism. The jewish Midrash tells, that as a young boy, the patriarch Abraham destroyed the idols in his fathers studio. To Judaism the difference between Creator and Creation is adamant, the belief, that God can be human is the utmost heresy.^[3] God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic.^[58] The God of Israel is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is the ultimate cause of all existence. He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, and gave the Shabbat and the 613 Mitzvot only to the Jews and the Seven Laws of Noah to all human-kind. YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה‎) is the proper Name of God in Judaism. Another name of God is Elohim, designating his justice. Elohim relates to the interaction between God and the creation, and it means "the One who is the totality of powers, forces and causes in the universe". God is an indivisible one God, as the Shema Yisrael states, it's first, pivotal, words are:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד - Sh'ma Yisra'el YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Eḥad - "Attention Israel, Adonay God, Adonay One".

One of the best-known statements of Rabbinical Judaism on monotheism occurs in Maimonides' 13 Principles of faith, Second Principle:

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. This is referred to in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

There has historically been disagreement between the Hasidic Jews and the Mitnagdim Jews on various Jewish philosophical issues surrounding certain concepts of monotheism. A similar situation of differing views is seen in modern times among Dor Daim, students of the Rambam, segments of Lithuanian Jewry, and portions of the Modern Orthodox world toward Jewish communities that are more thoroughly influenced by Lurianic Kabbalistic teachings such as Hasidism and large segments of the Sepharadi and Mizrahi communities. This dispute is likely rooted in the differences between what are popularly referred to as the "philosophically inclined" sources and the "kabbalistic sources;" the "philosophic sources" include such Rabbis as Saadia Gaon, Rabenu Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Maimonides. The "kabbalistic sources" include Rabbis such as Nahmanides, Bahya ben Asher, Isaac the Blind, and Azriel. The Vilna Gaon is usually granted great respect in modern times by those who side with both views; by the more kabbalistic segments of Judaism he is regarded as a great kabbalist; those who take the other side of the issue regard him as a strict advocate of the people of Israel's historical monotheism.

The Shema

The first paragraph of the Shema seen in a Torah scroll

Judaism's earliest history, beliefs, commandments, and practices are preserved and taught in the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. It provides clear sources for the rise and development of what is named Judaism's ethical monotheism which means that:

(1) There is one God from whom emanates one morality for all humanity. (2) God's primary demand of people is that they act decently toward one another...The God of ethical monotheism is the God first revealed to the world according to the Jewish Bible. Through it, we can establish God's four primary characteristics:

1. God is supernatural.
2. God is personal.
3. God is good.
4. God is holy.

...in the study of Hebrew history: Israel's monotheism was an ethical monotheism. Dennis Prager

When Moses returned with the Ten Commandments, the second of those stated that "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3), right after the first, which affirmed the existence of God. Furthermore, Israelites recite the Shema Yisrael ("Hear, O Israel") which partly says, "Hear, O Israel: YHWH is our God, YHWH is one," meaning that Israel was to worship none of the gods of other peoples. Monotheism was and is the central tenet of the Israelite and the Jewish religion.

The literal word meanings are roughly as follows:

• Shema — 'listen' or 'hear.' The word also implies comprehension.
• Yisrael — 'Israel', in the sense of the people or congregation of Israel
• Adonai — often translated as 'Lord', it is used in place of the Tetragrammaton
• Eloheinu — 'our God', a plural noun (said to imply majesty rather than plural number) with a pronominal suffix ('our')
• Echad — 'one'

In this case, Elohim is used in the plural as a form of respect and not polytheism.

Gen.1:26 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.

Elohim is morphologically plural in form in Hebrew, but generally takes singular agreement when it refers to the God of Israel (so the verb meaning "said" in this verse is vayyomer ויאמר with singular inflection, and not vayyomru ויאמרו with plural inflection), and yet in this case the "our" and "us" seems to create a presumption of plurality, though it may just be God talking to angels and not another god.

Judaism, however, insists that the "Lord is One," as in the Shema, and at least two interpretations exist to explain the Torah's use of the plural form. The first is that the plural form "Elohim" is analogous to the royal plural as used in English. The second is that, in order to set an example for human kings, Elohim consulted with his court (the angels, just created) before making a major decision (creating man).

Christianity

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Part of a series on the
Attributes of God
Aseity Eternity Graciousness Holiness Immanence Immutability Impassibility Impeccability Incorporeality Love Mission Omnibenevolence Omnipotence Omnipresence Omniscience Oneness Providence Righteousness Simplicity Transcendence Trinity Veracity Wrath
v t e

At least since the times of the Nicene Creed, 325 A.D., modern mainstream Christianity advocates that the triune mystery-nature of God is a normative profession of faith. Since then, modern mainstream Christians still believe that in scriptural places 'God the Father' (Philippians 1:2, 1_Peter 1:2) 'God the Son' (John1:1, 1:14, Hebrews 1:8, Colossians Col 2:9) and 'God the Holy Spirit' (Acts 5:3-4) are referred to or described as different divine persons. But they also still believe that passages of the New Testament, such as 1 Corinthians 8:4 "There is no God but one,", and the Old Testament, such as Isaiah 45:5 "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me.", revealing the Christian God as being 'one'.

The Christian notion of a triune Godhead and the doctrine of a man-god Christ Jesus as God incarnate is repudiated by adherents of Judaism and Islam. Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus were Jews in every respect and did not express the faith in the centuries later evolved concept of a Christian mythical triune Godhead. Jesus even did not consider himself divine.^[3] Modern Christians, though, believe their God is triune meaning that the three persons of the Trinity are in one union in which each person is also wholly God. Christians also do not believe that one of the three devine figures is God alone and the other two are not but that all three are mysteriously God and one. Thus all three are in union as one God of one essence, and different from many gods just as God may materialized himself in water, 'one in element' but may be ice, water, or gas without changing its element. This analogy itself however is not descriptive of the Holy Trinity but of Sabellianism which is one God with different appearances or "masks."^{[citation needed]} Other Christian denominations, like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism for example, do not hold the mainstream modern Christian believes, e.g. that Jesus of Nazareth was God, and abstain from the triune mystery.

Historically, most Christian churches have taught that the nature of God is a mystery, in the original, technical meaning; something that must be revealed by special revelation rather than deduced through general revelation. Among early Christians there was considerable debate over the nature of Godhead, with some factions arguing for the deity of Jesus and others calling for an Arian conception of God. These issues of Christology were to form one of the main subjects of contention at the First Council of Nicaea.

The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (in present-day Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first (or second, if one counts the apostolic Council of Jerusalem) ecumenical^[59] council of bishops of the Roman Empire, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent 'general (ecumenical) councils of bishops' (synods) to create statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy— the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the State church of the Roman Empire and eradicate heretical ideas.

The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in relationship to the Father; in particular, whether Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father or merely of similar substance. St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arian controversy comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly. (Of the estimated 250-318 attendees, all but 2 voted against Arius).

Christian orthodox traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical) follow this decision, which was codified in 381 and reached its full development through the work of the Cappadocian Fathers. They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising the three "Persons" God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three of this unity are described as being "of the same substance" (ὁμοούσιος). The true nature of an infinite God, however, is asserted to be beyond definition, and "the word 'person' is but an imperfect expression of the idea, and is not biblical. In common parlance it denotes a separate rational and moral individual, possessed of self-consciousness, and conscious of his identity amid all changes. Experience teaches that where you have a person, you also have a distinct individual essence. Every person is a distinct and separate individual, in whom human nature is individualized. But in God there are no three individuals alongside of, and separate from, one another, but only personal self distinctions within the divine essence, which is not only generically, but also numerically, one."^[60]

Some critics, especially among Jews and Muslims,^{[citation needed]} contend that because of the adoption of a Triune conception of deity, Christianity is actually a form of Tritheism or Polytheism, for example see Shituf. This concept dates from the teachings of the Alexandrian Church, which claimed that Jesus, having appeared later in the Bible than his "Father," had to be a secondary, lesser, and therefore "distinct" God. This controversy led to the convention of the Nicaean council in 325 CE. 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".

Some Christians reject mainstream trinitarian theology; such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, the Unitarians, Christadelphians, Church of God General Conference, Socinian; and some elements of Anabaptism do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity at all. In addition Oneness Pentecostals reject the creedal formulation of the Trinity, that there are three distinct and eternal persons in one being, instead believing that there is one God, a singular spirit who manifests himself in many different ways, including as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.^{[citation needed]}

Deism is a philosophy of religion which arises in the Christian tradition during the Early Modern period. It postulates that there is a God who however does not intervene in human affairs.

Unitarianism is a Christological doctrine in contrast with Trinitarian Christianity, postulating that Jesus was a completely human messiah.^[61]

Islam

Quran manuscript from the 7th century CE, written on vellum in the Hijazi script.

God in Islam, Allāh, is a all-powerful and all-knowing God, creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe.^[62][63] Islam advocates that the God in Islam is strictly singular (tawhid)^[64] unique (wahid) and inherently One (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent.^[65] Allāh exists without place^[66] and the Qur'an states that "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. God is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things" (Qur'an 6:103)^[63] Allāh is the only God and the same God worshiped by members of Christianity and Judaism. (29:46).^[67]

The holy book of Islam, the Qur'an, asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the creation.^[68] The indivisibility of Allah (God) implies the indivisibility of God's sovereignty which in turn leads to the conception of the universe as just, coherent and moral rather than as an existential and moral chaos (as in polytheism). Similarly the Qur'an rejects the binary modes of thinking such as the idea of a duality of God by arguing that both good and evil generate from God's creative act and that evil forces have no power to create anything. God in Islam is a universal god rather than a local, tribal or parochial one; an absolute who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.^[69]

Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.^[70] To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an.^[69] Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid (Oneness of God).^[71]

Sabianism

According to the Qur'an, the Sabians were an Abrahamic religious group.^[72] The Hadith accounts them as converts to Islam,^[73] while their identity in later Islamic literature became a matter of discussion and investigation.

Chinese view

Shang Dynasty bronze script character for tian (天), which translates to Heaven and sky.

The orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC) until the modern period centered on the worship of Shangdi (literally "Above Sovereign", generally translated as "God") or Heaven as an omnipotent force.^[74] This faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism and Christianity. It has features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, endowed with personality but no corporeal form. From the writings of Confucius in the Analects, we find that Confucius himself believed that Heaven cannot be deceived, Heaven guides people's lives and maintains a personal relationship with them, and that Heaven gives tasks for people to fulfill in order to teach them of virtues and morality.^[74] However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshiped along with Shangdi. Still, variants such as Mohism approached high monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to carry out the will of Shangdi, akin to angels in Western civilization. In Mozi's Will of Heaven (天志), he writes:

Worship of Shangdi and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to Shangdi, usually by slaughtering a completely healthy bull as sacrifice. Although its popularity gradually diminished after the advent of Taoism and Buddhism, among other religions, its concepts remained in use throughout the pre-modern period and have been incorporated in later religions in China, including terminology used by early Christians in China. Despite the rising of non-theistic and pantheistic spirituality contributed by Taoism and Buddhism, Shangdi was still praised up until the end of the Qing Dynasty, surprisingly as the last ruler of Qing declared himself son of heaven, literally son of God.

Islam and Christianity became the forerunners of Monotheism in China there on. The 100-word eulogy written by the founder of the Ming dynasty states his comment on Islam.

See also

Notes

Further reading

• Dever, William G.; (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites?, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI.
• 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.
• Hans Köchler, The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and Christianity. Vienna: Braumüller, 1982. ISBN 3-7003-0339-4 (Google Print)
• Ilya Leibowitz,Monotheism in Judaism as a Harbinger of Science,Eretz Acheret Magazine

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Monotheism

Look up monotheism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Christian Monotheism (biblical unitarians)
• Deism

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