Monotheism

==History==
{{Primary sources section|find=Monotheism|find2=history|date=July 2017}}
Quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the [[Late Bronze Age]], with [[Akhenaten]]'s ''[[Great Hymn to the Aten]]'' from the 14th century BCE.

In the Iron-Age South Asian [[Vedic period]],<ref>{{cite book | last= Sharma | first= Chandradhar|author-link= Chandradhar Sharma Guleri| title= Indian Philosophy: A Critical Survey| publisher= Barnes & Noble| location= New York | year= 1962 | page= vi | chapter= Chronological Summary of History of Indian Philosophy}}</ref> a possible inclination towards monotheism emerged. The [[Rigveda]] exhibits notions of [[monism]] of the [[Brahman]], particularly in the comparatively late [[Mandala 10|tenth book]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10190.htm|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 10: HYMN CXC. Creation.|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2022-08-05|archive-date=2022-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720072656/https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10190.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> which is dated to the early [[Iron Age]], e.g. in the [[Nasadiya Sukta]]. Later, ancient Hindu theology was [[monist]], but was not strictly monotheistic in worship because it still maintained the existence of many gods, who were envisioned as aspects of one supreme God, Brahman.<ref name="auto" />

In China, the orthodox faith system held by most dynasties since at least the [[Shang Dynasty]] (1766&nbsp;BCE) until the modern period centered on the worship of ''[[Shangdi]]'' (literally "Above Sovereign", generally translated as "God") or [[Tian|Heaven]] as an omnipotent force.<ref name="ReferenceA">Homer H. Dubs, "Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy," ''Philosophy of East and West'', Vol. 9, No. 3/4, 1959</ref> However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshipped along with ''Shangdi''. Still, later variants such as [[Mohism]] (470 BCE–c.391 BCE) approached true monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to carry out the will of ''Shangdi'', akin to the angels in Abrahamic religions which in turn counts as only one god.

Since the sixth century BCE, [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]] have believed in the supremacy of one God above all: [[Ahura Mazda]] as the "Maker of All"<ref>Yasna, XLIV.7</ref> and the first being before all others.<ref>"First and last for all Eternity, as the Father of the Good Mind, the true Creator of Truth and Lord over the actions of life." (Yasna 31.8)</ref><ref>"Vispanam Datarem", ''Creator of All'' (Yasna 44.7)</ref><ref>"Data Angheush", ''Creator of Life'' (Yasna 50.11)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/zor/sbe23/sbe2330.htm|title=The Zend Avesta, Part II (SBE23): Nyâyis: I. Khôrshêd Nyâyis|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2022-08-05|archive-date=2023-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203140005/https://www.sacred-texts.com/zor/sbe23/sbe2330.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The prophet Zoroaster is credited with the founding of the first monotheistic religion in history sometime around the middle of the second millennium BCE, antedating the Israelites and leaving a lasting imprint on Second Temple Judaism and, through it, on later monotheistic religions.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 | doi=10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 | title=From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory | date=2021 | last1=Ferrero | first1=Mario | journal=Homo Oeconomicus | volume=38 | issue=1–4 | pages=77–108 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Post-exilic<ref name="Wells2010"/> Judaism, after the late 6th century BCE, was the first religion to conceive the notion of a personal monotheistic God within a monist context.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBSJNDndGjwC&pg=PA225|title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel|first=Robert Karl|last=Gnuse|date=1 May 1997|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|isbn=1-85075-657-0|page=225}}</ref> The concept of [[ethical monotheism]], which holds that morality stems from God alone and that its laws are unchanging,<ref name=EncyclopediaBritannica>{{cite web|title=Ethical monotheism|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1770434/ethical-monotheism|website=britannica.com|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|access-date=25 December 2014|archive-date=26 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226042648/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1770434/ethical-monotheism|url-status=live}}</ref> first occurred in [[Judaism]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fischer|first1=Paul|title=Judaism and Ethical Monotheism|url=https://blog.uvm.edu/pfischer/2013/10/27/judaism-and-ethical-monotheism/|website=platophilosophy|publisher=The University of Vermont Blogs|access-date=16 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730233906/https://blog.uvm.edu/pfischer/2013/10/27/judaism-and-ethical-monotheism/|archive-date=30 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> but is now a core tenet of most modern monotheistic religions, including Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Baháʼí Faith.<ref>Nikiprowetzky, V. (1975). Ethical monotheism. (2 ed., Vol. 104, pp. 69-89). New York: The MIT Press Article Stable. {{JSTOR|20024331}}</ref>

Also from the 6th century BCE, [[Thales]] (followed by other Monists, such as [[Anaximander]], [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Parmenides]]) proposed that nature can be explained by reference to a single unitary principle that pervades everything.<ref name="Wells2010">{{cite journal |last1=Wells |first1=Colin |title=How Did God Get Started? |journal=Arion |date=2010 |volume=18.2 |issue=Fall |url=https://www.bu.edu/arion/archive/volume-18/colin_wells_how_did_god_get-started/ |quote=...as any student of ancient philosophy can tell you, we see the first appearance of a unitary God not in Jewish scripture, but in the thought of the Greek philosopher Plato... |access-date=2020-12-26 |archive-date=2021-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508121449/https://www.bu.edu/arion/archive/volume-18/colin_wells_how_did_god_get-started/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Numerous ancient Greek philosophers, including [[Xenophanes of Colophon]] and [[Antisthenes]], believed in a similar polytheistic monism that bore some similarities to monotheism.<ref name="auto" /> The first known reference to a unitary God is [[Plato]]'s [[Demiurge]] (divine Craftsman), followed by [[Aristotle]]'s [[unmoved mover]], both of which would profoundly influence Jewish and Christian theology.<ref name="Wells2010"/>

According to Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity; this original religion is sometimes referred to as "the Adamic religion", or, in the terms of [[Andrew Lang]], the "[[Urreligion]]". Scholars of religion largely abandoned that view in the 19th century in favour of an [[development of religion|evolutionary progression]] from [[animism]] via [[polytheism]] to monotheism, but by 1974, this theory was less widely held, and a modified view similar to Lang's became more prominent.<ref name="odccmono"/>{{request quotation|date=January 2017}}

Austrian anthropologist [[Wilhelm Schmidt (linguist)|Wilhelm Schmidt]] had postulated an ''[[Urmonotheismus]]'', "original" or "primitive monotheism" in the 1910s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Armstrong|first1=Karen|author-link=Karen Armstrong|title=A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam|date=1994|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0345384560|page=3}}</ref> It was objected{{by whom|date=January 2017}} that [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]] had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism.<ref name="odccmono"/> More recently, [[Karen Armstrong]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Armstrong|first1=Karen|title=A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam|date=1994|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0345384560}}</ref> and other authors have returned to the idea of an evolutionary progression beginning with [[animism]], which developed into [[polytheism]], which developed into [[henotheism]], which developed into [[monolatry]], which developed into true monotheism.<ref>
Compare: {{cite book
| last1                 = Theissen
| first1                = Gerd
| author-link1          = Gerd Theissen
| translator1-last      = Bowden
| translator1-first     = John
| translator-link       = John Bowden (theologian)
| year              = 1985
| chapter               = III: Biblical Monotheism in an Evolutionary Perspective
| title                 = Biblical Faith: An Evolutionary Approach
| chapter-url                   = https://archive.org/details/biblicalfaithevo0000thei
| chapter-url-access            = registration
| location              = Minneapolis
| publisher             = Fortress Press
| publication-date      = 2007
| page                  = [https://archive.org/details/biblicalfaithevo0000thei/page/64 64]
| isbn                  = 9781451408614
| access-date            = 2017-01-13
| quote                 = Evolutionary interpretations of the history of religion are usually understood to be an explanation of the phenomenon of religion as a result of a continuous development. The model for such development is the growth of living beings which leads to increasingly subtle differentiation and integration. Within such a framework of thought, monotheism would be interpreted as the result of a continuous development from animism, polytheism, henotheism and monolatry to belief in the one and only God. Such a development cannot be proved. Monotheism appeared suddenly, though not without being prepared for.
}}
</ref>