Monotheism (from Greek Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning the Archaic , Classical (c. 5th–4th centuries BC), and Hellenistic (c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD) periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek. Its Hellenistic phase is known as Koine (& μόνος) is the belief in theology Theology is the study of a god or, more generally, the study of religious faith, practice, and experience, or of spirituality that only one deity A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers, often religiously referred to as a god exists.^[1] The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism in the Abrahamic religions The Abrahamic religions are historically the world's three primary monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common origin and values. The origins of Abrahamic religion are found in Judaism, which began in the first and second millenium BCE in ancient Israel and Judah during which time the Hebrew Bible was composed, such as Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed, Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (the two split from one another in 1054 A.D.), and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16 and Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is a strictly monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله‎, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's teachings and normative example (which is called the Sunnah in, the Platonic Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists. Neoplatonists would have considered themselves simply "Platonists", and the modern distinction is due to the perception that their concept of God God is the English name given to the singular omnipotent being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, is the anonymous theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century whose Corpus Areopagiticum was pseudonymously ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian convert of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 17:34. The author was historically believed to be the Areopagite because, as well as the Advaita Advaita Vedanta is considered as the most influential sub-school of the Vedānta (literally, end or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy. Other sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and Viśishṭādvaita. Advaita (literally, non-duality) is a monistic system of thought. "Advaita" refers to the identity of the Self (, Dvaita Dvaita (originally called Tattvavada), a school of Vedanta founded by Shri Madhvacharya, stresses a strict distinction between God (Brahman) (Vishnu is considered as Brahman here) and the individual souls (jivas). According to Madhva, souls are not 'created' by God but do, nonetheless, depend on Him for their existence and Vishishtadvaita Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta (literally, end or the goal of Knowledge, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita and Dvaita. VishishtAdvaita (literally "Advaita with uniqueness/qualifications") is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy. It is non-dualism philosophies of Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic, although the latter philosophies admit the existence of a plethora of divine beings including less-powerful deities such as devas Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, angel, demigod, or any supernatural being of high excellence, and is thus comparable to the Hebrew Elohim. The devas in Hindu mythology are often juxtaposed to the usually demonic Asuras.^[2] Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in fifteenth century Punjab on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world. This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharma on the other hand, is a monotheistic Indian religion Indian religions are the related religious traditions that originated in the Indian subcontinent, namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, inclusive of their sub-schools and various related traditions. They form a subgroup of the larger classes of "Eastern religions" and also Indo-European religions . Indian religions have, in contrast to many schools of Hinduism and the other Indian religions.

Due to its Abrahamic association, the concept of monotheism has often been defined in contrast to polytheistic Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities, called gods or goddesses, or both. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism, and pantheistic Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Ancient Greek: πᾶν (pan) meaning ‘all’ and θεός (theos) meaning ‘God’. As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that “God” is best seen as a way of relating to the religions, and monotheism tends to overlap with other unitary concepts, such as monism Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry, where this is not to be expected. Thus, some philosophers may hold that the universe is really just one thing, despite its many appearances and diversities; or theology may support the view that there is one God, with many manifestations in different.

Ostensibly monotheistic religions may still include concepts of a plurality of the divine. For example, the Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Since the beginning of the third century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God in which God is one being in three eternal persons (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). Additionally, most Christian churches teach Jesus to be two natures (divine and human) Hypostatic union is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of two natures, humanity and divinity, in Jesus Christ. A brief definition of the doctrine of two natures can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who is identical with the Son, is one person and one hypostas in two natures: a human and, each possessing the full attributes of that nature, without mixture or intermingling of those attributes. This view is not shared by all Christians, notably the Oriental Orthodox Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon . Hence, these Oriental Orthodox Churches are also called Old (miaphysite Miaphysitism is a Christological formula of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the various churches adhering to the "Seven Ecumenical Councils" (as found in Capitula 8 of the Second Council of Constantinople). Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of Jesus Christ, Divinity and Humanity are united in one "nature" (") churches.

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. The Church's leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic churches (called honour Veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic Churches, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran Church. Veneration is often shown outwardly by respectfully the saints Saints are individuals of exceptional holiness who are important in many religions, particularly Christianity. In some usages, the word "saint" is used more generally to refer to anyone who is a Christian, or anyone who is in Heaven, (among them Mary Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and some Protestants use the title), as human beings who had remarkable qualities, lived their faith in God to the extreme and are believed to be capable of interceding Intercession of the saints is a Christian doctrine common to the vast majority of the world's Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic,and a number of Anglicans. Intercessory prayer is a petition made to God on behalf of others. If a believer prays for their children or friends, their enemies or leaders, then the believer is interceding in the process of salvation for others; however, Catholics do not worship (latria Latrīa is a Latin term used in Orthodox and Catholic theology to mean adoration, a reverence directed only to the Holy Trinity) them as gods.^[3] The concept of monotheism in Islam and Judaism however, is far more direct, God's oneness being understood as absolutely unquestionable.

Origin and development

The word monotheism is derived from the Greek Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning the Archaic , Classical (c. 5th–4th centuries BC), and Hellenistic (c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD) periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek. Its Hellenistic phase is known as Koine (& μόνος (monos)^[4] meaning "single" and θεός (theos)^[5] meaning "god God, as a male deity, contrasts with female deities, or "goddesses". While the term 'goddess' specifically refers to a female deity, the plural 'gods' can be applied to all gods collectively, regardless of gender".^[6] The English term was first used by Henry More Henry More was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school (1614–1687).

The concept sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism Henotheism is a term coined by Max Müller, to mean worshipping a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities. Müller made the term central to his criticism of Western theological and religious exceptionalism (relative to Eastern religions), focusing on a cultural dogma which held "monotheism" to be (worshiping a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities) and monolatrism Monolatrism or monolatry (Greek: μόνος = single, and λατρεία (latreia) = worship) is the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity. Monolatry is not the same thing as henotheism, which is the belief in and worship of one god without at the same time denying that other persons (of (the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity). In the ancient Near East The Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Iran (Elam, Media, Parthia and Persia), Armenia, Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Crete). As such, it is a, each city Uru was the Sumerian term for a city or city state, written with the cuneiform ideogram URU 𒌷 . According to some recent Sumerological studies, the actual pronunciation of this word in Sumerian may originally have been "Iri."[citation needed] had a local patron deity, such as Shamash Shamash or Šamaš was the common Akkadian name of the sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu at Larsa Larsa , was an important city of ancient Sumer. It lies some 25 km southeast of the ruin mounds of Uruk (biblical Erech), near the east bank of the Shatt-en-Nil canal (modern day southern Iraq) or Sin Sin or Nanna (Sumerian: DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNA) was the god of the moon in Mesopotamian mythology. Nanna is a Sumerian deity, the son of Enlil and Ninlil, and became identified with Semitic Sin. The two chief seats of Nanna's/Sin's worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north at Ur Ur was a city in ancient Sumer, located at the site of modern Tell el-Mukayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the then Euphrates river on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah, Iraq. It is close to the site of ancient Eridu. Ur. The first claims of global supremacy of a specific god date to the Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Many, though not all, bronze age cultures flourished in prehistory, with Akhenaten Akhenaten was known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given its Greek form, Amenophis IV, and meaning Amun is Satisfied), a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered's Great Hymn to the Aten The Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb of Ay, in the rock tombs at Amarna. It is attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten himself, and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna period (speculatively connected to Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed by Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic method of psychiatry. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression, and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for treating psychopathology in his Moses and Monotheism). Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India The Vedic Period is the period during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of the Indo-Aryans, were being composed. Scholars place the Vedic period in the second and first millennia BCE continuing up to the 6th century BCE based on literary evidence in the same period, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta The Nasadiya Sukta is the 129th hymn of the 10th Mandala of the Rigveda. It is concerned with cosmology and talks about the origin of the universe. Philosophical monotheism and the associated concept of absolute good and evil Theories of moral goodness inquire into what sorts of things are good, and what the word "good" really means in the abstract. As a philosophical concept, goodness might represent a hope that natural love be continuous, expansive, and all-inclusive. In a monotheistic religious context, it is by this hope that an important concept of God emerges in Judaism, later culminating in the doctrines of Christology in early Christianity and finally (by the 7th century) in the tawhid in Islam.

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

Historically, some ancient Near Eastern religions from the Late Bronze Age begin to exhibit aspects of monotheism or monolatrism.

This is notably the case with the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, but also with the rise of Marduk from the tutelary of Babylon to the claim of universal supremacy.

In 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. Also in 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.

Varieties

Some argue^[who?] that there are various forms of monotheism, including:

• Henotheism involves devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. Similarly, monolatrism is the worship of a single deity independent of the ontological claims regarding that deity.
• Deism posits the existence of a single god, or 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.
• Monistic Theism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, encompassing pantheistic and panentheistic monism, and at the same time the concept of a personal god.
• Pantheism holds that the universe itself is God. The existence of a transcendent supreme 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, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit.

On the surface, monotheism is in contrast with polytheism, which is the belief in several deities. Polytheism is however reconcilable with Inclusive monotheism, which claims that all deities are just different names or forms of a single god. This approach is common in Hinduism, e.g., in Smartism. Exclusive monotheism, on the other hand, actively opposes polytheism. Monotheism is often contrasted with theistic dualism (ditheism). However, in dualistic theologies as that of Gnosticism, the two deities are not of equal rank, and the role of the Gnostic demiurge is closer to that of Satan in Christian theology than that of a diarch on equal terms with God (who is represented in pantheistic fashion, as Pleroma).

Abrahamic religions

The major source of monotheism in the modern Western World is the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, the source of Judaism. Judaism may have received influences from various non-biblical religions present in Egypt and Syria. This can be seen by the Torah's reference to 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. Although, orthodox Jews would dispute this based on the Jewish fundamental that the Torah was received from God on Mount Sinai in 1313 BCE (Hebrew year 2448). References to other cultures are included to understand the specific references of the topic discussed or to give context to the narrative.

In traditional Jewish thought, which provided the basis of the Christian and Islamic religions, monotheism was regarded as its most basic belief. Judaism and Islam have traditionally attempted to interpret scripture as exclusively monotheistic whilst Christianity adopts Trinitarianism, a more complex form of monotheism, as a result of considering the Holy Spirit to be God, and attributing divinity to Jesus, a Judean Jew, in the first century CE, defining him as the Son of God. Thus, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".

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