The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic

Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Oxford/New York:

Oxford University Press, 2001)
As a result of comparing biblical and inscriptional evidence with the Ugaritic texts, we can see
how the worship of other deities lasted for quite a long time in Israel's pantheon.
By Mark S. Smith
Skirball Professor of Bible and Near Eastern Studies
New York University
For decades, scholars have tried to penetrate the Bible's story about Israelite monotheism.
According to traditional interpretations of the Bible, monotheism was part of Israel's original
covenant with Yahweh on Mount Sinai, and the idolatry subsequently criticized by the prophets
was due to Israel's backsliding from its own heritage and history with Yahweh. However,
scholars have long noted that beneath this presentation lies a number of questions. Why do the
Ten Commandments command that there should be no other gods "before Me" (the Lord), if
there are no other gods as claimed by other biblical texts? Why should the Israelites sing at the
crossing of the Red Sea that "there is no god like You, O Lord?" (Exodus 15:11). Such passages
suggest that Israelites knew about other gods and did not simply reject them. It seems that
Israelites may have known of other deities and perhaps various passages suggest that behind the
Bible's broader picture of monotheism was a spectrum of polytheisms that centered on the
worship of Yahweh as the pantheon's greatest figure.

In the past, the question of Israelite polytheism has been approached by looking for evidence
of specific deities worshipped by Israelites in addition to Yahweh. These would include biblical
criticisms of the worship of other deities, such as the goddess Asherah in 2 Kings 21 and 23, as
well as apparent references to this goddess or at least her symbol in the inscriptions from
Kuntillet 'Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom in the eighth century. In the Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscriptions,
the symbol is treated respectfully as part of the worship of Yahweh. The gods Resheph and
Deber appear in Habakkuk 3:5 as part of the military retinue of Yahweh. Other deities who gain
some mention in the Bible include the "hosts of heaven" criticized in 2 Kings 21:5, but
mentioned without such criticism in 1 Kings 22:19 and Zephaniah 1:5. Scholars have also noted
that the god El is identified with Yahweh in the Bible, again with no criticism. The criticisms of
Yahweh's archenemy, the storm god, Baal, also seem to reflect Israelite worship of this god.
While many of these deities are not well known from the Bible, they are described sometimes at
considerable length in the Ugaritic texts, discovered first in 1928 at the site of Ras Shamra
(located on the coast of Syria about 100 miles north of Beirut). As a result of comparing biblical
and inscriptional evidence with the Ugaritic texts, we can see how the worship of other deities
lasted for quite a long time in Israel down to the Exile in ca. 586.

This approach to the study of specific deities in ancient Israel was summarized in Smith's
earlier book, The Early History of God (which is due to be published in 2002 in a revised version
by Eerdmans), and it reached its apex in the valuable collection, Dictionary of Deities and
Demons in the Bible (edited by Karel van der Toorn et al.; second edition; Leiden: Brill; Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999). On the whole, Smith's book -- following a number of other
scholars-- shows how Israelite polytheism was a feature of Israelite religion down through the
end of the Iron Age and how monotheism emerged in the seventh and sixth centuries. It is in this
period when the clearest monotheistic statements can be seen in the Bible, for example, in the
apparently seventh-century works of Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, 1 Samuel 2:2 (earlier?), 2 Samuel
7:22, 2 Kings 19:15, 19 (= Isaiah 37:16, 20), and Jeremiah 16:19, 20 and the sixth-century
portion of Isaiah 43:10-11, 44:6, 8, 45:5-7, 14, 18, 21, and 46:9. Because many of the passages
involved appear in biblical works associated with either Deuteronomy, the Deuteronomistic
History (Joshua through Kings) or in Jeremiah (with its similar language and ideas as these other
works), most scholarly treatments until recently have suggested that a deuteronomistic
movement of this period developed the idea of monotheism as a response to the religious issues
of the time. The question has remained: why in the seventh and sixth centuries?

In his newest book, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism, Smith tries to address this question,
but from a different angle in regards to monotheism and polytheism. Beginning with the Ugaritic
texts, Smith asks what is monistic about polytheism and how the answer to this question might
help make the emergence of Israelite monotheism more intelligible. Ugaritic polytheism is
expressed as a monism through the concepts of the divine council or assembly and in the divine
family. The two structures are essentially understood as a single entity with four levels: the chief
god and his wife (El and Asherah); the seventy divine children (including Baal, Astarte, Anat,
probably Resheph as well as the sun-goddess Shapshu and the moon-god Yerak) evidently
characterized as the stars of El; the head helper of the divine household, Kothar wa-Hasis; and
the servants of the divine household, who include what the Bible understands to be "angels" (in
other words, messenger-gods).

This four-tiered model of the divine family and council apparently went through a number of
changes in early Israel. In the earliest stage, it would appear that Yahweh was one of these
seventy children, each of whom was the patron deity of the seventy nations. This idea appears
behind the Dead Sea Scrolls reading and the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9. In
this passage, El is the head of the divine family, and each member of the divine family receives a
nation of hi s own: Israel is the portion of Yahweh. The Masoretic Text, evidently uncomfortable
with the polytheism expressed in the phrase "according to the number of the divine sons," altered
the reading to "according to the number of the children of Israel" (also thought to be seventy).
Psalm 82 also presents the god El presiding in a divine assembly at which Yahweh stands up and
makes his accusation against the other gods. Here the text shows the older religious worldview
which the passage is denouncing.

By some point in the late monarchy, it is evident that the god El was identified with Yahweh,
and as a result, Yahweh-El is the husband of the goddess, Asherah. This is the situation
represented by biblical condemnations of her cult symbol in the Jerusalem temple (evidently)
and in the inscriptions mentioned above. In this form, the religious devotion to Yahweh casts
him in the role of the Divine King ruling over all the other deities. This religious outlook
appears, for example, in Psalm 29:2, where the "sons of God" or really divine sons or children
are called upon to worship Yahweh, the Divine King. The Temple, with its various expressions
of polytheism, also assumed that this place was Yahweh's palace which was populated by those
under his power. The tour given by Ezekiel 8-10 suggests such a picture. This picture of royal
power was further developed with the monotheism of the eighth to the sixth centuries. The other
gods became mere expressions of Yahweh's power, and the divine messengers became
understood as little more than minor divine beings expressive of Yahweh's power. In other
words, the head god became the godhead. Why at this time?

Two major sets of conditions can be suggested. The first involves the changes in Israel's social
structure of the family. At Ugarit, social identity was strongest at the level of the family. Legal
documents were often made between the sons of one family and the sons of another. The divine
situation followed suit. The divine family was expressive of Ugarit's social structure. The same
was true in ancient Israel through most of the monarchy. Hence, the story of Achan in Joshua 8
suggests a picture of the extended family as the major social unit. However, the family lineages
went through traumatic changes beginning already in the eighth century with major social
stratification, followed by Assyrian incursions. In the seventh and sixth centuries, we begin to
see expressions of individual identity (Deuteronomy 26:16; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18). A
culture with a diminished lineage system (deteriorating over a long period from the ninth or
eighth century onward), one less embedded in traditional family patrimonies, might be more
predisposed both to hold to individual human accountability for behavior (as suggested by the
passages just cited) and to see an individual deity accountable for the cosmos (as suggested by
monotheistic statements in this period). In short, the rise of the individual as a social unit next to
the traditional family unit provided intelligibility to the rise of a single god rather than a divine
family.

The second major set of conditions apparent in forming this change involved the rise of the
neo-Assyrian and neo-Babylonian empires. As long as Israel was, from its own perspective, on
par with the other nations, it made sense to have a religious outlook that saw Israel on par with
the other nations, each one with its own patron god. (This is the basic picture described above
with Deuteronomy 32:8-9.) The assumption behind this worldview was that each nation was as
powerful as its patron god. However, the neo-Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom in ca.
722 altered this religious way of looking at the world, for, if the neo-Assyrian empire were so
powerful, so must be its god; and conversely, if Israel could be conquered (and later Judah ca.
586), it would imply that its god in turn is hardly as powerful as Israel had traditionally taught.
As a result, new thinking separated the correlation of heavenly power and earthly kingdoms.
Even though Assyria and later Babylon were so powerful, the new monotheistic thinking in
Israel reasoned that despite its own weakness, its god was not weak. Moreover, just as Israel's
fortunes fell, those of Assyria and then Babylon rose; inversely, Israel's monotheists now
reasoned that Yahweh stood at the top of divine power, and correspondingly, the gods of
Mesopotamia were reckoned to be nothing. As a result, Assyria had not succeeded because of the
power of its god; instead, it was Yahweh now directing all the nations. In short, the conditions of
human empires provided the model for divine empire; the Assyrian and Babylonian empires
pointed now not to their own power and the power of their divine patrons but to Yahwehs
guiding all the events of Israel's life. Their exile was not their shame from the power of other
nations and their deities, but rather was seen now as Yahweh's plan to punish and purify the one
nation which Yahweh had chosen. Accordingly, the notion arose that the new king who might
help redeem Israel might not be a Judean as traditionally thought in older biblical literature (see
Psalm 2). Now, even a foreigner such as Cyrus the Persian could serve as the Lord's anointed
(Isaiah 44:28, 45:1). One god stood behind all these world-shaking
events.
See Mark S.Smith's Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the Twentieth Century
(Peabody,MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001).
Book of Isaiah
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This article is about the Book of Isaiah. For the Jewish prophet, see Isaiah.
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The Book of Isaiah (Hebrew: ) is one of the Prophetic books of the Bible. In the first
39 chapters Isaiah prophesies doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that
oppose God. The last 27 chapters prophesy the restoration of the nation of Israel and prophecies
of a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom.
[1]
This section includes the Songs of the
Suffering Servant, four separate passages understood by Jews and modern scholars to refer to the
nation of Israel, but interpreted by Christians as prefiguring the coming of Jesus Christ.
[2]

Tradition ascribes the book to Isaiah himself, but for over a hundred years scholars have divided
it into three parts: Proto-Isaiah (chapters 1-39), the work of the 8th century prophet; Deutero-
Isaiah (chapters 40-55), a 6th century work by an author who wrote under the Babylonian
captivity; and Trito-Isaiah (chapters 56-66), composed in the Persian period shortly after the
exile had ended.
[3][4][1][5]:pp.558-562

Contents
[hide]
1 Texts and manuscripts
2 Composition
3 Proto-Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39)
o 3.1 Authorship and historical background
o 3.2 Content and structure
4 Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55)
o 4.1 Authorship and historical background
o 4.2 Content and structure
5 Trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66)
o 5.1 Authorship and historical background
o 5.2 Content and structure
6 Themes
o 6.1 "The Servant of Yahweh" in Second Isaiah
o 6.2 The Monotheism in Second Isaiah
o 6.3 Ethical behaviour
o 6.4 Idolatry
o 6.5 The nature of God
o 6.6 "Holy One of Israel"
o 6.7 Kingdom of Yahweh
7 Influence on Christianity
8 References
9 External links
o 9.1 Translations
o 9.2 Works on Isaiah
o 9.3 General works
o 9.4 Websites
[edit] Texts and manuscripts
The oldest surviving manuscript of Isaiah was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: dating from
about a century before the time of Christ, it is substantially identical with the Masoretic version
which forms the basis of most modern English-language versions of the book.
[6]:pp.22-23
(Isaiah
was the most popular prophet among the Dead Sea collection: 21 copies of the scroll were found
in Qumran.)
[2]

[edit] Composition


A fragment of the Book of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Jewish and Christian tradition held that the entire book is by the 8th century prophet Isaiah, but
scholars have been aware since the late 19th century that it cannot be by a single author.
[7]:p.1
The
observations which have led to this conclusion are as follows:
[8]

Prophecies Passages of Isaiah 40-66 refer to events that did not occur in Isaiah's own lifetime,
such as the rise of Babylon as the world power, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the rise of
Cyrus the Great. (R. N. Whybray notes that Deutero-Isaiah's prediction that Cyrus would destroy
Babylon - in fact he made it more splendid than ever - further pinpoints the time in which the
author wrote.)
[9]

Anonymity Isaiahs name suddenly stops being used after chapters 1-39.
Style There is a sudden change in style and theology after chapter 40;
[10]
numerous key words
and phrases found in one section are not found in the other.
[11]

Historical Situation The historical situation goes through three stages: in chapters 1-39 the
prophet speaks of a judgment which will befall the wicked Israelites; in chapters 40-55 the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (587 BCE) is treated as an accomplished fact and the
fall of Babylon as an imminent threat; and in chapters 56-66 the fall of Babylon is already in the
past.
[11]

Many scholars therefore divide the book into three parts:
[12]

Chapters 1 to 39 (First Isaiah, Proto-Isaiah or Original Isaiah): the work of the original prophet
Isaiah, who worked in Jerusalem between 740 and 687 BCE.
[13]

Chapters 40 to 55 (Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah): by an anonymous author who lived in
Babylon near the end of the Babylonian captivity.
[12]:418

Chapters 56 to 66 (Third Isaiah or Trito-Isaiah): the work of anonymous disciples committed to
continuing Isaiah's work in the years immediately after the return from Babylon.
[12]:444
This
section includes visions of new heavens and new earth.
[13]
(Other scholars suggest that chapters
55-66 were written by Deutero-Isaiah after the fall of Babylon.)
[5]:p. 561

This implied sequence of pre-exilic, exilic and post-exilic material is somewhat misleading, as
significant editing has clearly taken place in all three parts.
[14]:p.183
There is some uncertainty as
to how Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah came to be attached to the original Isaiah: the two
competing theories are either that Deutero-Isaiah was written as a continuation of Proto-Isaiah,
or that it was written separately and became attached to the famous Isaiah later.
[15]

[edit] Proto-Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39)


Scroll of Book of Isaiah
Isaiah 1 at Bible Gateway
[edit] Authorship and historical background
Isaiah's career is framed by the beginning of Judah's vassalage to Assyria and its subsequent
rebellion. The dominant regional power in the late 8th century was the Assyrian empire. Isaiah's
first significant acts as a prophet occurred when Judah, under king Ahaz, faced invasion from
Israel and Aram Damascus (Syria) after refusing to join them in a revolt against Assyria. Ahaz,
against Isaiah's advice, invited the Assyrians to protect him, turning Judah into an Assyrian
vassal. Isaiah records the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians. Ahaz died c.715 BCE and was
followed by his son Hezekiah. The new king followed a policy which Isaiah saw as dangerous,
waging war on the Philistine cities and on Edom even though territory now under direct Assyrian
control (i.e., the former kingdom of Israel) now come to within a few miles of Jerusalem. Isaiah
warned that the consequence would be the same fate that Israel had met, but was ignored.
Eventually Hezekiah revolted against Assyria, and the result was as Isaiah had predicted: the
country was ravaged by Assyrian armies. Hezekiah then took Isaiah's advice, and Jerusalem was
saved.
[14]:pp.100-107

[edit] Content and structure
Proto-Isaiah is divided between verse and prose passages: a currently popular theory is that the
verse passages represent the prophecies of the original Isaiah, while the prose sections are
"sermons" on his texts composed at the court of Josiah, at the end of the 7th century.
[6]:p.4

Chapters 7, 21, and 36-39 appear also in 2nd Kings: it is not known whether the author of Isaiah
borrowed them from Kings, or vice-versa.
[6]:p.3
Chapters 24-27, known as the "Isaiah
Apocalypse",
[16][17]
are usually thought to be the work of an author who lived long after
Isaiah.
[6]:p.4

Chapters 1-5 and 28-29 prophesy judgment against Judah. Judah thinks itself safe because of its
covenant relationship with God. However, God tells Judah (through Isaiah) that the covenant
cannot protect them when they have broken it by the worship of other gods and by acts of
injustice and cruelty, which oppose God's law. Chapter 6 describes Isaiah's call to be a prophet of
God, and chapters 7-23 contain prophecies against Judah's enemies. Chapters 24-34, while too
complex to characterize easily, are primarily concerned with prophecies of a "Messiah", a person
anointed or given power by God, and of the Messiah's kingdom, where justice and righteousness
will reign. Chapters 36-39 concern Hezekiah's triumph over the Assyrians and his faith in God. It
ends with a visit to Hezekiah by envoys from a rebel prince of Babylon, and Isaiah's words
prophesying the Babylonian exile.
[edit] Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55)
Isaiah 40 at Bible Gateway
[edit] Authorship and historical background
Two crises occurred between Proto-Isaiah and Deutero-Isaiah. The first was the reform of
official Judean religion under king Josiah, who banned many elements of the the old polytheistic
cult from the Temple; the second was the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians, who
conquered Jerusalem in 586 and carried the royal court, the priests and other members of the
ruling elite into captivity. It is widely believed that Deutero-Isaiah delivered his prophesies to
this group, which was actually quite small - the majority of the population stayed in Judah.
By the middle of the century the king of Babylon was Nabonidus. He alienated the powerful
priests of Marduk, the official god of Babylon, by taking up the worship of Sin, the god of
Harran (a city in northern Mesopotamia) and absenting himself for long periods from the city
and neglecting crucial ceremonies. He also neglected the rise of powerful new enemies, first the
Medes, then the Persians under the king Cyrus the Great. In 550 BCE Cyrus defeated the Medes,
and in 539 he conquered Babylon, helped by the priests of Marduk. These events date Deutero-
Isaiah's earlier prophecies. Chapters 49-55 probably come from a slightly later period, when the
return to Jerusalem became a real possibility.
[18]:p.524

[edit] Content and structure
Deutero-Isaiah prophesies the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Babylonians and their
restoration in the land promised to them by God. It affirms that the Jews are indeed the chosen
people of God and Yahweh is both their God and the God of the universe (chapter 46). Cyrus is
named as the Messiah who will overthrow Babylon and allow the return of Israel (chapter 45:1).
The remaining chapters are a vision of the future glory of Zion. A "suffering servant" is referred
to (esp. ch. 53) - probably a metaphor for Israel, Christians have traditionally interpreted it as a
prophecy of Jesus as the Christ (i.e., messiah).
[19]

Chapters 40-55 fall into two parts, with 40-48 dealing with the rise of Cyrus, while 49-55 are
focused on Zion as the wife whom God has renounced and then taken back. The Cyrus chapters
are similar in style and theme to the Cyrus cylinder, and it is possible that Deutero-Isaiah was
influenced by the propaganda of Cyrus and his supporters, who claimed that the god Marduk had
chosen Cyrus to liberate Babylon.
[18]:p.524

[edit] Trito-Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66)
Isaiah 56 at Bible Gateway
[edit] Authorship and historical background
Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, conquered Babylon in 539 BCE. One of his first acts was to
allow peoples exiled by the Babylonians (the policy had affected more people than just the Jews)
to return to their homes. The Jews, or at least some of them, returned to Jerusalem, and by 515
BCE had rebuilt the Temple. The return, however, was not without problems of its own: the
returnees found themselves in conflict with those Jews who had remained in the country and who
now owned the land, and there was further conflicts over the form of government that should be
set up. This was the background to Trito-Isaiah, who was probably not a single author but a
group under the influence of Deutero-Isaiah and his followers.
[edit] Content and structure
Trito-Isaiah is not a unity: the majority of scholars regard it as an anthology of about twelve
passages, differing in date and/or purpose,
[20]:p.394
and it may include material from the First
Temple period.
[14]:p.183

The contents are correspondingly varied: a confession of sin and a plea to God not to maintain
his anger forever (ch.63:7-64:11); a poem on the theme that God has no need of a temple because
Heaven is his throne and Earth his footstool(Isaiah 66:1-2); verses setting out conditions for
admission to the community; complaints of sin, incompetence and paganism; and distinctions
between the "righteous" and the "sinners", foreshadowing the categories used in much later
Judaism and early Christianity.
[20]:pp.394-5

[edit] Themes


Isaiah 2:4 is taken as an unofficial mission statement by the United Nations. (Isaiah Wall in Ralph Bunche
Park, a New York City park near UN headquarters)
[edit] "The Servant of Yahweh" in Second Isaiah
See also: Isaiah 53
The 2nd Isaiah contains four passages of song of the servant of Yahweh.
1) 1st / Isa 42:1-4 The servant is the chosen one, given the Spirit to establish justice through the
world
2) 2nd / Isa 49:1-6 The servant speaks to the entire world and identifies himself as one called by
God before birth
3) 3rd / Isa 50:4-11 The servant declares his confidence in divine help even in the face of
physical persecution
4) 4th / Isa 52:13-53:12 The suffering of the servant; how despite his innocent the servant was
oppressed like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, but his suffering is surrogate like a scapegoat.
The servant is identified into three plausible characters: the first is an individual, chosen by God
like Moses, Hezekiah, Josiah, Cyrus, etc. who is identified as a messianic figure of the future.
The second is Israel itself as a personified nation, as shown in Isaiah 49:3 and the third is the
remnant of the First Isaiah, the restored Israel from the exile.
[21]

[edit] The Monotheism in Second Isaiah
A clear statement of monotheism is written for the first time in Second Isaiah. The concept of
monotheism is expressed in Isaiah 44:06, "Isaiah 44:6 I am the first and I am the last; besides me
there is no god" and it's developed in Isaiah 44:09-20, a satire on the making and worship of
idols. In it, the foolishness of idolaters is elaborated such as the carpenter who carves an idol and
worships it.
In Genesis Ch. 01, P alludes to Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story by the god Marduk
after his defeat of Tiamat. offering a monotheistic alternative to the Mesopotamian myth.
Furthermore, Second Isaiah makes this explicit. It was Yahweh, not Marduk, who defeated
primeval chaos, the "great deep" (Isa 51:10), Second Isaiah repeatedly says, it was Yahweh, not
Marduk, who created the world (40:12) "Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the
hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? " It was Yahweh, not
Marduk, who formed light and created darkness (45:07) "Isaiah 45:7 I form light and create
darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things. " Moreover, unlike
Marduk, God did all alone without any assistance(44:24) and had no offspring(43:10). "Isaiah
44:24 I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself
spread out the earth" "Isaiah 43:10 Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after
me."
While Yahweh had shown his superiority to other gods before, in Second Isaiah Yahweh
becomes shown as the God but other gods didn't exist as Second Isaiah repeatedly proclaims.
What's more, this monotheism became the defining characteristic of Judaism, followed by
Christianity and Islam.
[22]

[edit] Ethical behaviour
Isaiah is concerned with the connection between worship and ethical behavior. One of his major
themes is Yahweh's refusal to accept the ritual worship of those who are treating others with
cruelty and injustice.
[edit] Idolatry
Isaiah speaks also of idolatry, which was common at the time. The Canaanite worship, which
involved fertility rites, including sexual practices forbidden by Jewish law, had become popular
among the Jewish people. Isaiah picks up on a theme used by other prophets and tells Judah that
the nation of Israel is like a wife who is committing adultery, having run away from her true
husband, YHWH.
[edit] The nature of God
An important theme is that YHWH is the God of the whole earth. Many gods of the time were
believed to be local gods or national gods who could participate in warfare and be defeated by
each other. The concern of these gods was the protection of their own particular nations.
No one can defeat YHWH; if YHWH's people suffer defeat in battle, it is only because he
permits it to happen. Furthermore, Yahweh is concerned with more than the Jewish people. He
has called Judah and Israel his covenant people for the specific purpose of teaching the world
about him.
[edit] "Holy One of Israel"
A unifying theme found throughout the Book of Isaiah is the use of the expression of "the Holy
One of Israel". It is found 12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66. This
expression appears only 6 times within the Old Testament outside the book of Isaiah
[23]
.
[edit] Kingdom of Yahweh
A final thematic goal that Isaiah constantly leans toward throughout the writing is the
establishment of Yahweh's kingdom on earth, with rulers and subjects who strive to live by his
will.
[edit] Influence on Christianity


Peace, 1896 etching by William Strutt, based upon Isaiah 11:6,7
Virgin birth of Jesus
The authors of the New Testament delved into the Hebrew scripture for passages which they
reinterpreted to be about Jesus.
[24]
One of the best-known of these is Isaiah 7:14. The prophet is
assuring king Ahaz that God will save Judah from the invading armies of Israel and Syria: the
sign that will prove this is the forthcoming birth of a child called Emmanuel ("God With Us");
the oracle is widely thought to refer to the birth of Hezekiah, Ahaz's son and eventual
heir,
[14]:p.101
and it is clear from the grammar of the Hebrew that the "young woman" is already
pregnant and hence not a virgin.
[25]
The Greek translation of Isaiah used by early Christian
communities, however, translated the Hebrew word almah with a word meaning "virgin" and
changed the tense to the future, and the Greek-speaking 1st century CE author of Matthew 1:23
used it in this form as foretelling the virgin birth of Jesus.
"A way in the wilderness"
Isaiah 40:3-5 imagines the exiled Israel proceeding home to Jerusalem on a newly-constructed
road, led by the victorious Yahweh who has conquered the gods of Babylon. The vision was was
taken up by all four Gospels and applied to John the Baptist and Jesus, leading God's people out
of exile.
[26]

Jesus the Suffering Servant
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is the fourth of the "Suffering Servant Songs". The original "servant" of
Proto-Isaiah was probably Hezekiah in his ritual role as royal High Priest on the Day of
Atonement, offering his own blood to heal the land, bringing judgment on his enemies and
rescuing his people from the Assyrians. Deutero-Isaiah interpreted the servant as the people of
Israel, and Trito-Isaiah saw himself in the role. The earliest Christians saw the Servant a
prophecy of the death and exaltation of Jesus, a role which Jesus himself seems to have accepted
(Luke 4:17-21).
[18]:pp.534-5

[edit] References
1. ^
a

b
May, Herbert G. and Bruce M. Metzger. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the
Apocrypha. 1977.
2. ^
a

b
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982919.html
3. ^ Williamson, Hugh Godfrey Maturin, "The Book Called Isaiah" (Oxford University Press, 1994:
ISBN 978-0-19-826360-9)pp.1-3
4. ^ Lemche, Niels Peter, The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey,
Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p.96 [1]
5. ^
a

b
Kugel, James L. (2008). "chapter 30: The Book of Isaiah(s)". How To Read the Bible: A Guide
to Scripture, Then and Now. New York, NY: Free Press. pp. 538568. ISBN 978-0-7432-3587-7.
6. ^
a

b

c

d
Goldingay, John, Isaiah. New International Biblical Commentary Old Testament Series.
Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001 ISBN 0-85364-734-8.
7. ^ Sweeney, Marvin A., Isaiah 1-4 and the post-exilic understanding of the Isaianic tradition,
Beiheft zur Zeitscrift fr die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 171. Berlin & New York: de Gruyter,
1988 ISBN 0899254047.
8. ^ Creelman, Harlan (1917). An Introduction to the Old Testament. The Macmillan company.
pp. 172.
9. ^ Second Isaiah, R. N. Whybray
10. ^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1982). The international standard Bible encyclopedia. pp. 895895.
ISBN 9780802837820.
11. ^
a

b
Mercer dictionary of the Bible
12. ^
a

b

c
Boadt, Lawrence (1984). Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction.
ISBN 9780809126316.
13. ^
a

b
"Introduction to the Book of Isaiah". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/isaiah/intro.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
14. ^
a

b

c

d
Blenkinsopp, Joseph, A history of prophecy in Israel, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster
John Knox, revised edition,1996 ISBN 0664256392
15. ^ Petersen, David L., "The prophetic literature: an introduction" (Westminster John Knox, 2002)
p.48
16. ^ pages 432-433, Michael D. Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction
to the Hebrew Scriptures, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 2011.
ISBN 978-0-19-537840-5. Chapter 26.
17. ^ But to the contrary, "a growing consensus that this designation is misleading and should be
abandoned", page 346 in Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1-39: A New Translation with Introduction
and Commentary, volume 19, The Anchor Bible, New York: Doubleday, 2000, ISBN 0-385-49716-
4.
18. ^
a

b

c
Barker, Margaret, "Isaiah", pages 489-542 in Dunn, James D. G., and Rogerson, John
William (eds) Eerdmans commentary on the Bible, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2003
ISBN 0-8028-3711-5.
19. ^ "Servant Songs." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York:
Oxford University Press. 2005
20. ^
a

b
Soggin, J. Alberto, Introduction to the Old Testament: from its origins to the closing of the
Alexandrian canon. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 3rd edition,
1989 ISBN 0664213316. Translation of the 4th edition of Introduzione all'Antico Testamento
21. ^ Michael D. Coogan, "A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament" page 334-335, Oxfrod
University Press, 2009.
22. ^ Michael D. Coogan, "A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament" pages 335-336, Oxfrod
University Press, 2009.
23. ^ "Introduction to the book of Isaiah". Zondervan.
http://www.ibsstl.org/niv/studybible/isaiah.php. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
24. ^ A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Bruce Metzger
25. ^ The Second Jewish Book Of Why by Alfred Kolatch 1985
26. ^ Brueggemann p.174
Childs, Brevard S. (2000-11). Isaiah (1st ed ed.). Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 555.
ISBN 0664221432.
[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Book of Isaiah
[edit] Translations
Book of Isaiah (Hebrew) side-by-side with English)
Book of Isaiah (English translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org)
Bible Gateway
[edit] Works on Isaiah
Childs, Brevard S., "Isaiah" (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001)
Williamson, Hugh Godfrey Maturin, "The Book Called Isaiah" (Oxford University Press, 1994:
ISBN 978-0-19-826360-9)
Smith, Paul Allan, "Rhetoric and redaction in Trito-Isaiah" (Brill, 1995)
Broyles, Craig C., Evans, Craig A., (eds) "Writing and reading the scroll of Isaiah" (Brill, 1997)
[edit] General works
Brueggemann, Walter , "An introduction to the Old Testament: the canon and Christian
imagination" (Westminster John Knox, 2003)

Brettler, Marc Zvi, "How to read the Bible" (Jewish Publication Society, 2005)
Lemche, Niels Peter, "The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey"
(Westminster John Knox Press, 2008).
Levin, Christoph, "The Old testament: a brief introduction" (Princeton University Press, 2005)
Graham, M.P, and McKenzie, Steven L., "The Hebrew Bible today: an introduction to critical
issues" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)
La Sor, William Sanford et. al., (eds) "Old Testament survey: the message, form, and background
of the Old Testament" (Eerdmans, 1996)
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan, "The Hebrew Bible" (Cassell, 1996)
[edit] Websites
Introduction to the book of Isaiah from the NIV Study Bible
Was She, or Was She not "A Virgin"?, Messiah Truth

Preceded by
Kings in the Tanakh
Song of Songs in the
Protestant OT
Sirach in the R. Catholic &
Eastern OT
Books of the Bible
Succeeded by
Jeremiah










Monotheism
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Part of a series on
God

General conceptions
Agnosticism Apatheism Atheism Deism Henotheism
Monolatrism Monotheism Panentheism
Pantheism Transtheism

Specific conceptions
Creator Architect Demiurge Devil
Sustainer Lord Father Monad
Oneness Supreme Being The All
Personal Unitarianism Ditheism Trinity
in Abrahamic religions
(Bah' Faith, Christianity, Islam, Judaism)
in Ayyavazhi in Buddhism in Hinduism
in Jainism in Sikhism in Zoroastrianism

Attributes
Eternalness Existence Gender
Names (God) Omnibenevolence
Omnipotence Omnipresence Omniscience

Experience and practices
Faith Prayer Belief Revelation
Fideism Gnosis Metaphysics
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Related topics
Philosophy Religion Ontology
God complex Neurotheology
Euthyphro dilemma Problem of evil
Portrayal in popular media
List of religious texts

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Monotheism (from Greek & ) is the belief in theology that only one deity exists.
[1]

The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic
religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc., by the Platonic concept of God as put
forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita
philosophies of Hinduism, although the latter philosophies admit the existence of a plethora of
divine beings including less-powerful deities such as devas.
[2]
Sikhism on the other hand, is a
monotheistic Indian religion, 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 and pantheistic religions, and monotheism tends to overlap with other unitary
concepts, such as monism.
Ostensibly monotheistic religions may still include concepts of a plurality of the divine. For
example, the Trinity 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), 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
(miaphysite) churches.
Catholics honour the saints, (among them Mary), as human beings who had remarkable qualities,
lived their faith in God to the extreme and are believed to be capable of interceding in the
process of salvation for others; however, Catholics do not worship (latria) 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.
Contents
[hide]
1 Origin and development
2 Varieties
3 Abrahamic religions
o 3.1 Monotheism in the Hebrew Bible
o 3.2 The Development of Monotheism in the Bible
o 3.3 Rabbinical Judaism
3.3.1 The Shema
o 3.4 Christian view
o 3.5 Islamic view
o 3.6 Bah' view
4 Chinese view
5 Indian religions
o 5.1 Hinduism
o 5.2 Sikhism
6 Zoroastrianism
7 See also
8 Notes
9 Further reading
10 External links
[edit] Origin and development
The word monotheism is derived from the Greek (monos)
[4]
meaning "single" and
(theos)
[5]
meaning "god".
[6]
The English term was first used by Henry More (16141687).
The concept 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). 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). Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India in the
same period, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. Philosophical monotheism and the associated concept
of absolute good and evil 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.
[edit] Varieties
Further information: Comparative religion, Conceptions of God, and Theism
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.
Monism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, encompassing pantheistic and
panetheistic , 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).
[edit] Abrahamic religions
Further information: Abrahamic religion
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".
[edit] Monotheism in the Hebrew Bible
Further information: God of Israel, Yahweh, and Elohim
The Hebrew Bible probably remains the world's best-known monotheistic religious work,
although certain modern scholars propose that the concept of monotheism develops gradually
throughout the various books of the Hebrew Bible. This argument is generally based on the
documentary hypothesis, which uses the existence of different names for God in the Torah (or
Pentateuch) and their surrounding vocabulary to suggest that it is really an amalgamation of
various sources, each one with its own deity.
R. G. Vincent, for example, theorizes that some of the oldest sections represent Yahweh as a
member of a larger divine council of which El is the head; by the time of the Torah, written most
probably around 700-450 BC, Yahweh reveals himself as the national deity to be worshipped
alone, but without excluding the existence of other gods.
[7]

However, no classical Jewish source predating the emergence of Reform Judaism supports this
theory about the Pentateuch.
Furthermore, there is strong evidence in the Hebrew Bible itself of a purely monotheistic
viewpoint as evidenced by the following examples when contrasted with the documentary
hypothesis:
"I am the Lord (Yahweh), your God(Elohim), who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. You shall not have another god (Elohim) in My presence."
[8]
See Ten
Commandments.
"I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Almighty God (El Shaddai), but [with] My
name Lord(Yahweh), I did not become known to them."
[9]

The Shema prayer (see below), is another possible example of a complication for the
documentary hypothesis, as well as a core belief of classical Judaism.
[edit] The Development of Monotheism in the Bible
The Bible describes God as the superior to other gods, asking the Israelites not to worship other
gods but God only who brought them out of Egypt (Ex. 20:1-4; Deut. 5:6-7). Yet, through the
experience of the exile to Babylon, the Deuteronomists developed the Monotheism and it is
revealed in Second Isaiah. The concept of monotheism is expressed in Isaiah 44:06, "Isaiah 44:6
I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" and it's developed in Isaiah 44:09-20,
a satire on the making and worship of idols. In it, the foolishness of idolaters is elaborated such
as the carpenter who carves an idol and worships it.
While the creation story in Genesis Ch. 01, which alludes to Enuma Elish, the Babylonian
creation story by the god Marduk after his defeat of Tiamat, offering a monotheistic alternative
to the Mesopotamian myth, Second Isaiah makes this explicit. It was Yahweh, not Marduk, who
defeated primeval chaos, the "great deep" (Isa 51:10), Second Isaiah repeatedly says, it was
Yahweh, not Marduk, who created the world (40:12) "Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth
in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? " It was Yahweh,
not Marduk, who formed light and created darkness (45:07) "Isaiah 45:7 I form light and create
darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things. " Moreover, unlike
Marduk, God did all alone without any assistance(44:24) and had no offspring(43:10). "Isaiah
44:24 I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself
spread out the earth" "Isaiah 43:10 Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after
me."
The concept of Yahweh enlarged through the exile of Babylon and Yahweh responsible for what
happened to Israel with that situation. All the events around Israel and even enemies were
instruments in the divine hand because Yahweh is the only God and no gods did exist.
[10]




[edit] Rabbinical Judaism
Further information: Judaism
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, Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor, 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.
[edit] The Shema
Main article: Shema
Judaism's earliest history, beliefs, laws, and practices are preserved and taught in the Torah (the
Hebrew Bible) which provides a clear textual source 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 in the Hebrew 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: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Monotheism was and is the central tenet of
the Israelite and the Jewish religion.
The Shema
Hebrew
Common transliteration Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad
English Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God! The LORD is One!
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
with singular inflection, and not vayyomru elfni larulp htiw ction), 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).
[edit] Christian view
Most Christian churches teach the Trinity, an idea which does not conform to unitarian
monotheistic beliefs. 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 a unitarian 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 ecumenical
[11]
conference of bishops of
the Christian Church, 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 whole of
Christendom.
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" (). 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."
[12]

Some critics
[who?]
contend that because of the adoption of a tripartite conception of deity,
Christianity is actually a form of Tritheism or Polytheism. 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. For Jews and Muslims, the idea of God as a trinity
is heretical it is considered akin to polytheism. 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]

[edit] Islamic view
Main articles: Tawhid and Hanif
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.
[13]
The
indivisibility of Allah (God) implies the indivisibility of Allah'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. Allah 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.
[14]

Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.
[15]
To attribute divinity to a
created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an.
[14]
Muslims believe that the
entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid (Oneness of God).
[16]

[edit] Bah' view
Main article: God in the Bah' Faith
The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Bah' Faith. Bah's 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."
[17]

Bah's believe that although people have different concepts of God and his nature, and call him
by different names, everyone is speaking of the same entity. God is taught to be a personal god in
that God is conscious of his creation and has a mind, will and purpose. At the same time the
Bah' teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully understand him or to create a
complete and accurate image of him. Bah'u'llh teaches that human knowledge of God is
limited to those attributes and qualities which are understandable to us, and thus direct
knowledge about the essence of God is not possible. Bah's believe, thus, that through daily
prayer, meditation, and study of revealed text they can grow closer to God. The obligatory
prayers in the Bah' Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony.
[18][19]

[edit] Chinese view


Shang Dynasty bronze script character for tian (), which translates to Heaven and sky.
Main articles: Shangdi, Tian, and Mohism
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.
[20]
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.
[20]

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 (), he writes:
"I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to
enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to
regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk that so the
people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and rivers, ravines and valleys, and arranged
many things to minister to man's good or bring him evil. He appointed the dukes and lords to reward the
virtuous and punish the wicked, and to gather metal and wood, birds and beasts, and to engage in cultivating
the five grains and flax and silk to provide for the people's food and clothing. This has been so from antiquity
to the present."

Will of Heaven, Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. 5th Century BC
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.
[edit] Indian religions
[edit] Hinduism
Main article: Hindu views on monotheism
In Hinduism, views are broad and range from monism, pantheism to panentheism alternatively
called monistic theism by some scholars to monotheism (also see Hindu denominations).
Hinduism is often misrepresented as polytheistic.
Rig Veda 1.164.46,
Indramitravaruamaghnimhurathodivyasasuparogharutmn,
ekasadviprbahudhvadantyaghniyamamtarivnamhu
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varua, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmn.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mtarivan."(trans. Griffith)
Vaishnavism is one of the earliest implicit manifestations of monotheism in the traditions of
Vedas. Svayam Bhagavan is a Sanskrit term for the original deity of the Supreme God worshiped
across many traditions of the Vaishnavism, the monotheistic absolute deity. This term is often
applied to Krishna in some branches of Vaishnavism.
[21][22][23]
Traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavas,
the Nimbarka Sampradaya and followers of Swaminarayan and Vallabha considers him to be the
source of all avataras,
[24]
and the source of Vishnu himself, or to be the same as Narayana. As
such, he is therefore regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.
[21][22][25]

When Krishna is recognized to be Svayam Bhagavan, it can be understood that this is the belief
of Gaudiya Vaishnavism,
[26]
the Vallabha Sampradaya,
[27]
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"
[28]
(1.3.28).
[29]
A
different viewpoint differing from this theological concept is the concept of Krishna as an
avatara 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.
[30]

The Rig Veda, the very first book, discusses monotheistic thought. So does Atharva Veda and
Yajur Veda.
[citation needed]

"The One Truth, sages know by many names" (Rig Veda 1.164.46)
[31]

"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)
[32]

"There is none to compare with Him. There is no parallel to Him, whose glory, verily, is great."
(Yajur Veda 32.3)
[33]

The number of auspicious qualities of God are countless, with the following six qualities being
the most important:
Jna (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
Vrya (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
[34]

In the Shaivite tradition, the Shri Rudram (Sanskrit ), to which the Chamakam ( )
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).
[35][36]
. Shri Rudram is also known as Sri Rudraprasna,
atarudrya, 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,
[37]
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]

[edit] Sikhism
Further information: Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic faith
[38][39]
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 Mool Mantra signifies this:
Punjabi:
Transliteration: Ik akr (or ikoo) sat nm karat purakh nirabha'u niravair akl mrat ajn
saibha gur prasd.
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 "" is pronounced "Ik akr" and is comprised to two parts. The first part is simply:
"" - This is simply the digit "1" in Gurmukhi signifying the singularity of the creator. Together
the word means: "There is only one creator god"
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 some of which have derived from
Hinduism and Islam, they all refer to the same supreme being. The Islamic holy saints and Hindu
saints are revered in high esteem and there teachings are mostly followed and recited during the
Sikh prayers.
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: " "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 VhiGur.
The word Guru means teacher in Sanskrit. 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. The Sikh
reference to God is Akal Purakh (which means "the true immortal") or Waheguru, the primal
being.
[edit] Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism, is a monotheistic religion which was once one of the largest religions on Earth.
Zoroastrianism was founded in either the early part of the 12-10th century BCE or possibly as
early as the 18th Century BCE. The religion is based on the teachings and philosophies of
Zoroaster. The Zoroastrians (or "Parsis") are sometimes credited with being the first monotheists
and having had significant influence in the formation of current, larger world religions. Today,
some figures put the number of adherents to Zoroastrianism at up to 3.5 million,
[40]
ranging from
regions in South Asia and spread across the globe.
[edit] See also
Abrahamic religion
Atenism
Atheism
Deconstruction-and-religion
Demiurge
Dharma
Bitheism
Heliocentrism
Henotheism
Hindu views on monotheism
Zoroastrianism
Kashmir Shaivism
Monistic theism
Pantheism
The People of Monotheism
Polytheism
Post-monotheism
Psychology of religion
Religion
Spiritism
Unitheism
[edit] Notes
1. ^ "Monotheism", Britannica, 15th ed. (1986), 8:266.
2. ^ Edward Washburn Hopkins (1896). Morris Jastrow,. ed. THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. Jr. Ginn &
Co. pp. 204. ISBN 9781603031431. http://books.google.com/?id=Dj33XvXqJO8C.
3. ^ The Orthodox Church. Ware, Timothy. Penguin Books, 1997. ISBN 0-14-014656-3
4. ^ Monos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
5. ^ Theos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
6. ^ The compound is current only in Modern Greek. There is a single attestation of
in a Byzantine hymn (Canones Junii 20.6.43; A. Acconcia Longo and G. Schir, Analecta
hymnica graeca, vol. 11 e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris. Rome: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e
Neoellenici. Universit di Roma, 1978)
7. ^ R. G. Vincent, "Monotheism (in the Bible)" in New Catholic Encyclopedia, (1967), 9:1066.
8. ^ Exodus, 20:2-3
9. ^ Exodus, 6:3
10. ^ Michael D. Coogan, "A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament" page 335-336, Oxfrod
University Press, 2009.
11. ^ Ecumenical, from Koine Greek oikoumenikos, literally meaning worldwide but generally
assumed to be limited to the Roman Empire as in Augustus's claim to be ruler of the oikoumene
(world); the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are in Eusebius's Life of Constantine 3.6
[1] around 338 " " (he convoked an Ecumenical council),
Athanasius's Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369 [2], and the Letter in 382 to Pope Damasus I and
the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople[3]
12. ^ Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, page 87
13. ^ Vincent J. Cornell, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 5, pp.3561-3562
14. ^
a

b
Asma Barlas, Believing Women in Islam, p.96
15. ^ D. Gimaret, Tawhid, Encyclopedia of Islam
16. ^ Ramadan (2005), p.230
17. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bah' Publishing Trust. p. 139.
ISBN 0877430209. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/GPB/gpb-9.html#gr26.
18. ^ Smith, P. (1999). A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bah' Faith. Oxford, UK: Oneworld
Publications. ISBN 1851681841.
19. ^ Momen, M. (1997). A Short Introduction to the Bah' Faith. Oxford, UK: One World
Publications. ISBN 1851682090. http://bahai-library.com/momen_short_introduction_bahais.
20. ^
a

b
Homer H. Dubs, "Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy," Philosophy of East
and West, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, 1959
21. ^
a

b
Delmonico, N. (2004). "The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya
Vaishnavism". The Hare Krishna Movement: the Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant.
ISBN 9780231122566.
http://books.google.com/?id=mBMxPdgrBhoC&pg=PA31&dq=Vaisnava+monotheism. Retrieved
2008-04-12.
22. ^
a

b
Elkman, S.M.; Gosvami, J. (1986). Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the
Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Movement. Motilal
Banarsidass Pub.
23. ^ Klostermaier, K. (1974). "The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin". Journal
of the American Oriental Society 94 (1): 96107. doi:10.2307/599733.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-
0279(197401%2F03)94%3A1%3C96%3ATBOVC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
24. ^ Bhagawan Swaminarayan bicentenary commemoration volume, 1781-1981. p. 154: ...Shri
Vallabhacharya [and] Shri Swaminarayan... Both of them designate the highest reality as
Krishna, who is both the highest avatara and also the source of other avataras. To quote R.
Kaladhar Bhatt in this context. "In this transcendental devotieon (Nirguna Bhakti), the sole Deity
and only" is Krishna. New Dimensions in Vedanta Philosophy - Page 154, Sahajnanda, Vedanta.
1981
25. ^ Dimock Jr, E.C.; Dimock, E.C. (1989). The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the
Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal. University Of Chicago Press. page 132
26. ^ Kennedy, M.T. (1925). The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal. H.
Milford, Oxford university press.
27. ^ Flood, Gavin D. (1996). An introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press. pp. 341. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
http://books.google.com/?id=KpIWhKnYmF0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=gavin+flood. Retrieved
2008-04-21."Early Vaishnava worship focuses on three deities who become fused together,
namely Vasudeva-Krishna, Krishna-Gopala, and Narayana, who in turn all become identified with
Vishnu. Put simply, Vasudeva-Krishna and Krishna-Gopala were worshiped by groups generally
referred to as Bhagavatas, while Narayana was worshipped by the Pancaratra sect."
28. ^ Gupta, Ravi M. (2007). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami. Routledge.
ISBN 0415405483.
29. ^ Essential Hinduism S. Rosen, 2006, Greenwood Publishing Group p.124 ISBN 0275990060
30. ^ Matchett, Freda (2000). Krsna, Lord or Avatara? the relationship between Krsna and Visnu: in
the context of the Avatara myth as presented by the Harivamsa, the Visnupurana and the
Bhagavatapurana. Surrey: Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 0-7007-1281-X.
31. ^ Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text with an Introduction and Notes, HOS, 1994
32. ^ Atharva Veda: Spiritual & Philosophical Hymns
33. ^ Shukla Yajur Veda: The transcendental "That"
34. ^ Tapasyananda (1991). Bhakti Schools of Vednta. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math.
ISBN 8171202268. http://books.google.com/?id=Q_VtAAAACAAJ.
35. ^ For an overview of the atarudriya see: Kramrisch, pp. 71-74.
36. ^ For a full translation of the complete hymn see: Sivaramamurti (1976)
37. ^ For the atarudrya as an early example of enumeration of divine names, see: Flood (1996), p.
152.
38. ^ http://www.religionfacts.com/sikhism/beliefs.htm
39. ^ http://www.multifaithcentre.org/sikhism/71-a-short-introduction-to-sikhism-
40. ^ http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Zoroastrianism
[edit] 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 Kchler, The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and Christianity. Vienna: Braumller, 1982.
ISBN 3-7003-0339-4 (Google Print)
Ilya Leibowitz,Monotheism in Judaism as a Harbinger of Science,Eretz Acheret Magazine
[edit] 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