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Do not fill this in! {{Short description|Belief that there is only one god}} {{distinguish|Classical theism}} {{redirect|Monotheist|the death metal band|Monotheist (band)|the album by Celtic Frost|Monotheist (album)}} {{pp-pc}} {{God|isms}} '''Monotheism''' is the [[belief]] that one [[god]] is the only [[deity]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Courses/Solano_Community_College/SOC_002%3A_Social_Issues_and_Problems/14%3A_Religion/14.02%3A_Types_of_Religions#:~:text=The%20most%20prominent%20modern%20day,original%20plan%20for%20the%20universe | title=14.2: Types of Religions | date=4 June 2020 }}</ref><ref name="EncyclopædiaBritannica">{{cite encyclopedia | title= Monotheism | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/monotheism | encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]| date=24 May 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |publisher=[[Hutchinson Encyclopedia]] (12th edition) |title= Monotheism |page=644}}</ref><ref name="odccmono">[[F. L. Cross|Cross, F.L.]]; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]].</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|year=2018|title=Monotheism|encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monotheism/|author=William Wainwright}}</ref> A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, in which the one God is a singular existence, and both inclusive and pluriform monotheism, in which multiple gods or godly forms are recognized, but each are postulated as extensions of the same God.<ref name="EncyclopædiaBritannica" /> Monotheism is distinguished from [[henotheism]], a religious system in which the believer worships one god without denying that others may worship different gods with equal validity, and [[monolatry|monolatrism]], the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity.<ref>Frank E. Eakin, Jr. ''The Religion and Culture of Israel'' (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971), 70.</ref> The term ''[[monolatry]]'' was perhaps first used by [[Julius Wellhausen]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Mackintosh|first=Robert|year=1916|title=Monolatry and Henotheism|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics]]|volume=VIII|page=810 |url=https://archive.org/details/EncyclopaediaOfReligionAndEthics.Hastings-selbie-gray.13Vols|access-date=Jan 21, 2016}}</ref> The prophets of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]] were among the earliest preachers of monotheism, establishing it as a foundational tenet of the [[Judaism|Jewish religious tradition]], which endures as one of its most profound and enduring legacies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cleveland |first=William L. |title=A History of the Modern Middle East |publisher=WestView Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8133-4048-9 |edition=3rd |pages=2–3 |quote=Monotheism was first preached by the prophets of ancient Israel and is one of the most significant and enduring legacies of the Jewish faith.}}</ref> Monotheism characterizes the traditions of [[Zoroastrianism]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferrero |first1=Mario |date=2021 |title=From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 |journal=Homo Oeconomicus |volume=38 |issue=1–4 |pages=77–108 |doi=10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Bábism]], the [[Baháʼí Faith]], [[Christianity]],<ref name="Monotheism">Christianity's status as monotheistic is affirmed in, among other sources, the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' (article "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10499a.htm Monotheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704060440/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10499a.htm|date=2018-07-04}}"); [[William F. Albright]], ''From the Stone Age to Christianity''; [[H. Richard Niebuhr]]; About.com, [http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/monotheisticreligions/ ''Monotheistic Religion resources''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521180942/http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/monotheisticreligions/|date=2006-05-21}}; Kirsch, ''God Against the Gods''; Woodhead, ''An Introduction to Christianity''; [[Columbia Encyclopedia|The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia]] [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0833762.html ''Monotheism''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012225321/http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0833762.html|date=2007-10-12}}; The New Dictionary of [[Cultural Literacy]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212011435/http://www.bartleby.com/59/5/monotheism.html ''monotheism'']; New Dictionary of Theology, [http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_NDCT_Paul.htm ''Paul''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704060440/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10499a.htm|date=2018-07-04}}, pp. 496–499; Meconi. "Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity". pp. 111ff.</ref> [[Deism]], [[Druze|Druzism]],<ref name="Druze">{{cite book |last=Obeid |first=Anis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FejqBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT1 |title=The Druze & Their Faith in Tawhid |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8156-5257-1 |page=1 |access-date=27 May 2017}}</ref> [[Eckankar]], [[Sikhism]], [[Manichaeism]], [[Islam]], [[Judaism]], [[Samaritanism]], [[Mandaeism]], [[Rastafari]], [[Seicho-no-Ie]], [[Tenrikyo]], [[Yazidism]], and [[Atenism]]. Elements of monotheistic thought are found in early religions such as [[Chinese folk religion|ancient Chinese religion]], [[Tengrism]], and [[Yahwism]].<ref name="EncyclopædiaBritannica" /><ref name="Hayes 2012">{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Christine |author-link=Christine Hayes |title=Introduction to the Bible |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=9780300181791 |series=The Open Yale Courses Series |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |pages=15–28 |chapter=Understanding Biblical Monotheism |jstor=j.ctt32bxpm.6}}</ref><ref>References: * {{cite journal |last=McDaniel |first=J. |date=2013-09-20 |title=A Modern Hindu Monotheism: Indonesian Hindus as 'People of the Book' |journal=The Journal of Hindu Studies |publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=333–362 |doi=10.1093/jhs/hit030 |issn=1756-4255}} * Zoroastrian Studies: The Iranian Religion and Various Monographs, 1928 – Page 31, [[A. V. Williams Jackson]] – 2003 * Global Institutions of Religion: Ancient Movers, Modern Shakers – Page 88, Katherine Marshall – 2013 * Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia – Page 348, James B. Minahan – 2012 * Introduction To Sikhism – Page 15, Gobind Singh Mansukhani – 1993 * The Popular Encyclopedia of World Religions – Page 95, Richard Wolff – 2007 * Focus: Arrogance and Greed, America's Cancer – Page 102, Jim Gray – 2012 </ref> {{TOC limit|4}} ==Etymology and usage== The word ''[[:wikt:monotheism|monotheism]]'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:μόνος|μόνος]]}} (''monos'')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2368642 Monos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526171732/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2368642 |date=2007-05-26 }}, [[Henry George Liddell]], [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Robert Scott]], ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'', at Perseus</ref> meaning "single" and {{lang|grc|[[:wikt:θεός|θεός]]}} (''theos'')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2348292 Theos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526153128/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2348292 |date=2007-05-26 }}, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus</ref> meaning "[[Deity|god]]".<ref>The compound {{lang|el|μονοθεισμός}} is current only in [[Modern Greek]]. There is a single attestation of {{lang|grc|μονόθεον}} in a Byzantine hymn (''Canones Junii'' 20.6.43; A. Acconcia Longo and G. Schirò, ''Analecta hymnica graeca, vol. 11 e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris''. Rome: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici. [[Sapienza University of Rome|Università di Roma]], 1978)</ref> The English term was first used by [[Henry More]] (1614–1687).<ref>{{cite book |title=An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness |last=More |first=Henry |year=1660 |publisher=Flesher & Morden |location=London |page=62}}</ref> Monotheism is a complex and nuanced concept. The biblical authors had various ways of understanding God and the divine, shaped by their historical and cultural contexts. The notion of monotheism that is used today was developed much later, influenced by the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and Christian views. Many definitions of monotheism are too modern, western, and Christian-centered to account for the diversity and complexity of the ancient sources, which include not only the biblical texts, but also other writings, inscriptions, and material remains that help reconstruct the ancient beliefs and practices of the people of Judah and Israel.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ballentine |first=Debra Scoggins |date=2021-11-15 |title="Monotheism" and the Hebrew Bible |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec3.12425 |journal=Religion Compass |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |doi=10.1111/rec3.12425 |s2cid=244280953 |issn=1749-8171}}</ref> The term "monotheism" is often contrasted with "polytheism," but many scholars prefer other terms such as monolatry, henotheism, or one-god discourse.<ref name=":2"/> ==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 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> ==Regions== ===Africa=== ====Indigenous African religion==== The [[Tikar people]] of [[Cameroon]] have a traditional spirituality that emphasizes the worship of a single god, Nyuy.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Asante | first1=Molefi Kete | last2=Mazama | first2=Ama | title=Encyclopedia of African religion | publisher=SAGE | publication-place=Thousand Oaks, Calif. | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-4129-3636-1 | oclc=185031292}} pp. 18. 95, 103, 748.</ref> The [[Himba people]] of Namibia practice a form of monotheistic [[panentheism]], and worship the god [[Mukuru (deity)|Mukuru]]. The deceased ancestors of the Himba and Herero are subservient to him, acting as intermediaries.<ref>*{{cite book |last=Crandall |first=David P. |year=2000 |title=The Place of Stunted Ironwood Trees: A Year in the Lives of the Cattle-Herding Himba of Namibia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-aow7Sb0JgC |location=New York |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. |isbn=0-8264-1270-X |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=z-aow7Sb0JgC&pg=PA47 47] }}</ref> The [[Igbo people]] practice a form of monotheism called [[Odinani]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Ikenga International Journal of African Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAcOAQAAMAAJ|access-date=26 July 2013|year=1972|publisher=Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria.|page=103}}</ref> Odinani has monotheistic and panentheistic attributes, having a single God as the source of all things. Although a pantheon of spirits exists, these are lesser spirits prevalent in Odinani expressly serving as elements of Chineke (or [[Chukwu]]), the supreme being or high god. [[Waaq]] is the name of a singular [[God]] in the traditional religion of many [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] people in the [[Horn of Africa]], denoting an early monotheistic religion. However this religion was mostly replaced with the [[Abrahamic religions]]. Some (approximately 3%) of [[Oromo people|Oromo]] still follow this traditional monotheistic religion called [[Waaqeffanna]] in [[Oromo language|Oromo]]. ====Ancient Egypt==== =====Atenism===== {{Main|Atenism}} [[File:La_salle_dAkhenaton_(1356-1340_av_J.C.)_(Musée_du_Caire)_(2076972086).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] and his family adoring the Aten]] [[Amenhotep IV]] initially introduced [[Atenism]] in Year 5 of his reign (1348/1346 BCE) during the [[18th dynasty]] of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]]. He raised [[Aten]], once a relatively obscure Egyptian [[solar deity]] representing the disk of the sun, to the status of Supreme God in the Egyptian pantheon.<ref>{{cite book |first= Rosalie |last= David |year= 1998 |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt |publisher= Facts on File |isbn= 9780816033126 |page= 125 |via= [[Archive.org]] |url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktolifein00aros |url-access= registration }}</ref> To emphasise the change, Aten's name was written in the [[cartouche]] form normally reserved for Pharaohs, an innovation of Atenism. This religious reformation appears to coincide with the proclamation of a [[Sed festival]], a sort of royal jubilee intended to reinforce the Pharaoh's divine powers of kingship. Traditionally held in the thirtieth year of the Pharaoh's reign, this possibly was a festival in honour of [[Amenhotep III]], who some Egyptologists{{Who|date=January 2020}} think had a [[coregency]] with his son Amenhotep IV of two to twelve years. Year 5 is believed to mark the beginning of Amenhotep IV's construction of a new capital, [[Akhetaten]] (''Horizon of the Aten''), at the site known today as [[Amarna]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Elsie |date=22 September 2017 |title=The Art of the Amarna Period |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1110/the-art-of-the-amarna-period/ |access-date=4 July 2020 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |quote=In Regnal Year 5, the pharaoh dropped all pretense and declared Aten the official state deity of Egypt, directing focus and funding away from the Amun priesthood to the cult of the sun disk. He even changed his name from Amenhotep ('Amun is Satisfied') to Akhenaten ('Effective for the Aten,') and ordered the construction of a new capital city, Akhetaten ('The Horizon of Aten') in the desert. Located at the modern site of Tell el-Amarna, Akhetaten was situated between the ancient Egyptian cities of Thebes and Memphis on the east bank of the Nile. |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502235323/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1110/the-art-of-the-amarna-period/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Evidence of this appears on three of the boundary [[Stele|stelae]] used to mark the boundaries of this new capital.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} At this time, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten (''Agreeable to Aten'') as evidence of his new worship.<ref name=":0" /> The date given for the event has been estimated to fall around January 2 of that year.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In Year 7 of his reign (1346/1344 BCE), the capital was moved from [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] to Akhetaten (near modern Amarna), though construction of the city seems to have continued for two more years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amarna Period of Egypt |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Period_of_Egypt/ |access-date=2022-02-10 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=2022-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217140606/https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Period_of_Egypt/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In shifting his court from the traditional ceremonial centres Akhenaten was signalling a dramatic transformation in the focus of religious and political power.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} The move separated the Pharaoh and his court from the influence of the priesthood and from the traditional centres of worship, but his decree had deeper religious significance too—taken in conjunction with his name change, it is possible that the move to Amarna was also meant as a signal of Akhenaten's symbolic death and rebirth.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} It may also have coincided with the death of his father and the end of the coregency.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massive [[Egyptian temple|temple]] complexes in ancient Egypt, including one at [[Karnak]] and one at Thebes, close to the old temple of [[Amun]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In Year 9 (1344/1342 BCE), Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion, declaring Aten not merely the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, but the only God of Egypt, with himself as the sole intermediary between the Aten and the Egyptian people.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} Key features of Atenism included a ban on [[Cult image|idols]] and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc, in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} Akhenaten made it however clear that the image of the Aten only represented the god, but that the god transcended creation and so could not be fully understood or represented.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Aten | Ancient Egypt Online |url=https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/amarnareligion/ |access-date=2022-08-05 |archive-date=2022-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821132419/https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/amarnareligion/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Aten was addressed by Akhenaten in prayers, such as the ''[[Great Hymn to the Aten]]'': "O Sole God beside whom there is none". The details of Atenist theology are still unclear. The exclusion of all but one god and the prohibition of idols was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, but scholars{{who|date=June 2019}} see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry rather than monotheism, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but Aten.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Akhenaten associated Aten with Ra and put forward the eminence of Aten as the renewal of the kingship of Ra.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hart |first=George |title=The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-34495-1 |edition=2nd |page=39}}</ref> Under Akhenaten's successors, Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten himself came to be reviled as a heretic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Akhenaten: The Mysteries of Religious Revolution |url=https://arce.org/resource/akhenaten-mysteries-religious-revolution/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=ARCE |language=en}}</ref> ===== Other monotheistic traditions ===== Some Egyptian ethical text authors believed in only a single god ruling over the universe.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Pinch |first=Geraldine |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/134979181 |title=Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-280346-7 |edition= |location=New York |language= |chapter=The gods themselves, deities and myth<!-- pageno unknown -- info is from the e-book--> |oclc= |author-link=Geraldine Pinch}}</ref> ===Americas=== ====Native American religion==== [[Native American religion]]s may be monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, animistic, or some combination thereof. [[Cherokee spiritual beliefs|Cherokee religion]], for example, is monotheist as well as pantheist.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buskirk |first=Kathy Van |date=2007-04-04 |title=The Cherokee religion |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2007/04/cherokee-language-dances-songs |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref> The [[Great Spirit]], called ''[[Wakan Tanka]]'' among the [[Sioux]],<ref name=Ostler>Ostler, Jeffry. The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee. Cambridge University Press, Jul 5, 2004. {{ISBN|0521605903}}, pg 26.</ref> and ''[[Gitche Manitou]]'' in [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]], is a conception of universal spiritual force, or [[God|supreme being]] prevalent among some [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nation]] cultures.<ref name=Thomas>Thomas, Robert Murray. Manitou and God: North-American Indian Religions and Christian Culture. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. {{ISBN|0313347794}} pg 35.</ref> According to [[Lakota people|Lakota]] activist [[Russell Means]] a better translation of ''Wakan Tanka'' is the Great Mystery.<ref name=Means>Means, Robert. Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means. Macmillan, 1995. {{ISBN|0312147619}} pg 241.</ref> Some researchers have interpreted [[Aztec philosophy]] as fundamentally monotheistic or panentheistic. While the populace at large believed in a polytheistic pantheon, Aztec priests and nobles might have come to an interpretation of [[Teotl]] as a single universal force with many facets.<ref name="iepMaffie">{{cite encyclopedia|author=James Maffie|title=Aztec Philosophy|encyclopedia= [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|date= 2005|url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aztec.htm }}</ref> There has been criticism to this idea, however, most notably that many assertions of this supposed monotheism might actually come from post-Conquistador bias, imposing an Antiquity pagan model onto the Aztec.<ref>James Maffie, Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion, University Press of Colorado, 15/03/2014</ref> ===Eastern Asia=== ====Chinese religion==== {{Main|Shangdi|Tian|Mohism}} [[File:天-bronze-shang.svg|thumb|upright|[[Shang Dynasty]] [[bronze script]] character for ''tian'' (天), which translates to Heaven and sky]] The orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of [[China]] since at least the [[Shang Dynasty]] (1766 BCE) until the modern period centered on the worship of ''[[Shangdi]]'' (literally "Above Sovereign", generally translated as "High-god") or [[Tian|Heaven]] as a supreme being, standing above other gods.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Dubs|first=Homer H.|date=1959|title=Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1397096|journal=Philosophy East and West|volume=9|issue=3/4|pages=163–172|doi=10.2307/1397096|jstor=1397096|issn=0031-8221|quote="It does not necessarily imply monotheism, however, since, in addition to the Supreme High-god or Heaven, there were also the ordinary gods (shen) and the ancestral spirits (guei), all of whom were worshipped in the Jou royal cult."|access-date=2022-02-20|archive-date=2022-02-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220041158/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1397096|url-status=live}}</ref> This faith system pre-dated the development of [[Confucianism]] and [[Taoism]] and the introduction of [[Buddhism]] and [[Christianity]]. It has some features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, a [[Incorporeality|noncorporeal]] force with a [[personal god|personality]] [[transcendent reality|transcending]] the world. However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshiped along with ''Shangdi''.<ref name=":1" /> 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.'' In [[Mozi]]'s ''Will of Heaven'' (天志), he writes: {{blockquote|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. 且吾所以知天之愛民之厚者有矣，曰以磨為日月星辰，以昭道之；制為四時春秋冬夏，以紀綱之；雷降雪霜雨露，以長遂五穀麻絲，使民得而財利之；列為山川谿谷，播賦百事，以臨司民之善否；為王公侯伯，使之賞賢而罰暴；賊金木鳥獸，從事乎五穀麻絲，以為民衣食之財。自古及今，未嘗不有此也。 |''Will of Heaven'', Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. 5th century BCE}} Worship of ''Shangdi'' and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the [[Temple of Heaven]] in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to ''Shangdi'', usually by slaughtering a completely healthy bull as sacrifice. Although its popularity gradually diminished after the advent of Taoism and Buddhism, among other religions, its concepts remained in use throughout the pre-modern period and have been incorporated in later religions in China, including terminology used by early Christians in China. Despite the rising of non-theistic and pantheistic spirituality contributed by Taoism and Buddhism, Shangdi was still praised up until the end of the [[Qing Dynasty]] as the last ruler of the Qing declared himself [[son of heaven]]. In the 19th century in the [[Guangdong]] region, monotheist influences led to the [[Taiping Rebellion]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Iris |title=The Chinese in America: A Narrative History |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-670-03123-8 |location=New York |pages=30–31 |author-link=Iris Chang}}</ref> ====Tengrism==== {{See also|Tengrism}} Tengrism or Tangrism (sometimes stylized as Tengriism), occasionally referred to as Tengrianism<!-- Do not put non-English translations on the English Wikipedia page -->, is a modern term<ref>The spelling ''Tengrism'' is found in the 1960s, e.g. Bergounioux (ed.), ''Primitive and prehistoric religions'', Volume 140, Hawthorn Books, 1966, p. 80. ''Tengrianism'' is a reflection of the Russian term, {{lang|ru|Тенгрианство}}. It is reported in 1996 ("so-called Tengrianism") in Shnirelʹman (ed.), ''Who gets the past?: competition for ancestors among non-Russian intellectuals in Russia'', Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5221-3}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4iwHp8asmsdEC&pg=PA31 p. 31] in the context of the nationalist rivalry over [[Bulgars#Legacy|Bulgar legacy]]. The spellings ''Tengriism'' and ''Tengrianity'' are later, reported (deprecatingly, in scare quotes) in 2004 in ''Central Asiatic journal'', vol. 48-49 (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=GeRVAAAAYAAJ&q=Tengriism p. 238] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164813/https://books.google.com/books?id=GeRVAAAAYAAJ&q=Tengriism |date=2023-03-26 }}. The Turkish term {{lang|tr|Tengricilik}} is also found from the 1990s. Mongolian {{lang|mn|Тэнгэр шүтлэг}} is used in a 1999 biography of [[Genghis Khan]] (Boldbaatar et al., {{lang|mn|Чингис хаан, 1162-1227}}, {{lang|mn| Хаадын сан}}, 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OMIMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%A2%D1%8D%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%8D%D1%80+%D1%88%D2%AF%D1%82%D0%BB%D1%8D%D0%B3%22 p. 18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420034412/https://books.google.com/books?id=OMIMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%A2%D1%8D%D0%BD%D0%B3%D1%8D%D1%80+%D1%88%D2%AF%D1%82%D0%BB%D1%8D%D0%B3%22 |date=2023-04-20 }}).</ref> for a [[Central Asia]]n [[Central Asia#Religions|religion]] characterized by features of [[shamanism]], [[animism]], [[totemism]], both [[polytheism]] and monotheism,<ref>R. Meserve, Religions in the central Asian environment. In: [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001204/120455e.pdf History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221846/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001204/120455e.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}, The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century, Part Two: The achievements, p. 68: * "''[...] The 'imperial' religion was more monotheistic, centred around the all-powerful god Tengri, the sky god.''"</ref><ref name="PolyMono">Michael Fergus, Janar Jandosova, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jAu9ttUqiJoC Kazakhstan: Coming of Age], Stacey International, 2003, p.91: * "''[...] a profound combination of monotheism and polytheism that has come to be known as Tengrism.''"</ref><ref>H. B. Paksoy, [http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=783 Tengri in Eurasia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911134633/http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=783 |date=2017-09-11 }}, 2008</ref><ref>Napil Bazylkhan, Kenje Torlanbaeva in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=FcQuAQAAIAAJ Central Eurasian Studies Society], Central Eurasian Studies Society, 2004, p.40</ref> and [[ancestor worship]]. Historically, it was the prevailing religion of the [[Bulgars]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Mongols]], and [[Hungarians]], as well as the [[Xiongnu]] and the [[Huns]].<ref>"There is no doubt that between the 6th and 9th centuries Tengrism was the religion among the nomads of the steppes" Yazar András Róna-Tas, ''Hungarians and Europe in the early Middle Ages: an introduction to early Hungarian history'', Yayıncı Central European University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|978-963-9116-48-1}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=I-RTt0Q6AcYC&dq=hungarians+tengrism&pg=PA151 p. 151] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406145756/https://books.google.com/books?id=I-RTt0Q6AcYC&dq=hungarians+tengrism&pg=PA151 |date=2023-04-06 }}.</ref><ref name="Books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-RTt0Q6AcYC&q=huns+tengrism&pg=PA151 |title=Hungarians & Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early ... - András Róna-Tas - Google Kitaplar |access-date=2013-02-19|isbn=9789639116481 |last1=Rona-Tas |first1=Andras |last2=András |first2=Róna-Tas |date=March 1999 |publisher=Central European University Press }}</ref> It was the state religion of the six ancient Turkic states: [[Avar Khaganate]], [[Great Bulgaria|Old Great Bulgaria]], [[First Bulgarian Empire]], [[Göktürks|Göktürks Khaganate]], [[Khazaria|Eastern Tourkia]] and [[Western Turkic Khaganate]]. In ''[[Irk Bitig]]'', Tengri is mentioned as ''Türük Tängrisi'' (God of Turks).<ref>Jean-Paul Roux, Die alttürkische Mythologie, p. 255</ref> The term is perceived among [[Turkic peoples]] as a ''national'' religion. In [[Chinese folk religion|Chinese]] and [[Tengriism|Turco-Mongol]] traditions, the Supreme God is commonly referred to as the ruler of Heaven, or the Sky Lord granted with omnipotent powers, but it has largely diminished in those regions due to [[ancestor worship]], [[Taoism]]'s [[pantheistic]] views and Buddhism's [[Creator in Buddhism|rejection of a creator God]]. On some occasions in the mythology, the Sky Lord as identified as a male has been associated to mate with an Earth Mother, while some traditions kept the omnipotence of the Sky Lord unshared.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} ===Europe=== ====Ancient proto-Indo-European religion==== {{main|Proto-Indo-European religion}} The head deity of the [[Proto-Indo-European religion]] was the god [[Dyeus|*''Dyḗus Pḥ<sub>a</sub>tḗr '']]. A number of words derived from the name of this prominent deity are used in various [[Indo-European languages]] to denote a monotheistic God. Nonetheless, in spite of this, Proto-Indo-European religion itself was not monotheistic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mallory|first1=J. P.|last2=Adams|first2=D.Q.|title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|isbn=978-0-19-929668-2|pages=408–411 and 423–434}}</ref> In [[Eastern Europe]], the ancient traditions of the Slavic religion contained elements of monotheism. In the sixth century AD, the Byzantine chronicler [[Procopius]] recorded that the Slavs "acknowledge that one god, creator of lightning, is the only lord of all: to him do they sacrifice an ox and all sacrificial animals."<ref name=katicic2008>{{cite book |last=Katičić |first=Radoslav |title=Božanski boj: Tragovima svetih pjesama naše pretkršćanske starine |year=2008 |publisher=IBIS GRAFIKA |location=Zagreb |isbn=978-953-6927-41-8 |url=http://ir.nmu.org.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/120570/96db5654f2d3025b46454ace91716506.pdf |ref=Katičić 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018000746/http://ir.nmu.org.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/120570/96db5654f2d3025b46454ace91716506.pdf |archive-date=2015-10-18 }}</ref> The deity to whom Procopius is referring is the storm god [[Perún]], whose name is derived from [[Perkwunos|*''Perk<sup>w</sup>unos'']], the Proto-Indo-European god of lightning. The ancient Slavs syncretized him with the Germanic god [[Thor]] and the Biblical prophet [[Elijah]].<ref>{{citation|last1=Puhvel|first1=Jaan|author-link=Jaan Puhvel|title=Comparative Mythology|date=1987|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, Maryland|isbn=0-8018-3938-6|pages=234–235}}</ref> ====Ancient Greek religion==== {{main|Ancient Greek religion}} =====Classical Greece===== [[File:Xenophanes in Thomas Stanley History of Philosophy.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Fictionalized portrait of [[Xenophanes]] from a 17th-century engraving]] The surviving fragments of the poems of the classical Greek philosopher [[Xenophanes of Colophon]] suggest that he held views very similar to those of modern monotheists.<ref>McKirahan, Richard D. "Xenophanes of Colophon. ''Philosophy Before Socrates''. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1994. 61. Print.</ref> His poems harshly criticize the traditional notion of anthropomorphic gods, commenting that "...if cattle and horses and lions had hands or could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,... [they] also would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodies of such a sort as the form they themselves have."<ref>Diels-Kranz, ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker'', Xenophanes frr. 15-16.</ref> Instead, Xenophanes declares that there is "...one god, greatest among gods and humans, like mortals neither in form nor in thought."<ref name="osborne62">Osborne, Catherine. "Chapter 4." ''Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford UP. 62. Print.</ref> Xenophanes's theology appears to have been monist, but not truly monotheistic in the strictest sense.<ref name="auto" /> Although some later philosophers, such as [[Antisthenes]], believed in doctrines similar to those expounded by Xenophanes, his ideas do not appear to have become widely popular.<ref name="auto" /> Although [[Plato]] himself was a polytheist, in his writings, he often presents [[Socrates]] as speaking of "the god" in the singular form. He does, however, often speak of the gods in the plural form as well. The [[Euthyphro dilemma]], for example, is formulated as "Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?"<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lamb|first1=W. R. M.|title=Euthyphro|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170%3Atext%3DEuthyph.%3Asection%3D10a|website=Perseus|publisher=Tufts University|access-date=25 March 2017|archive-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823015053/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170%3Atext%3DEuthyph.%3Asection%3D10a|url-status=live}}</ref> =====Hellenistic religion===== {{main|Hellenistic religion}} The development of pure (philosophical) monotheism is a product of the [[Late Antiquity]]. During the 2nd to 3rd centuries, [[origins of Christianity|early Christianity]] was just one of several competing religious movements advocating monotheism. "[[Henology|The One]]" ({{lang|el|Τὸ Ἕν}}) is a concept that is prominent in the writings of the [[Neoplatonists]], especially those of the philosopher [[Plotinus]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wyller|first1=Egil A.|title=Henologische Perspektiven II: zu Ehren Egil A. Wyller, Internales Henologie-Symposium|date=1997|publisher=Rodopi|location=Amsterdam, Netherlands|isbn=90-420-0357-X|pages=5–6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QbMAMtaJWIIC&q=Henology&pg=PA5|access-date=25 March 2017}}</ref> In the writings of Plotinus, "The One" is described as an inconceivable, transcendent, all-embodying, permanent, eternal, causative entity that permeates throughout all of existence.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schürmann|first1=Reiner|last2=Lily|first2=Reginald|title=Broken Hegemonies|date=2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=0-253-34144-2|pages=143–144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eRv1DTW_KoC&q=Henology&pg=PA109|access-date=25 March 2017}}</ref> [[File:Columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece.jpeg|thumb|Remains of the [[Temple of Apollo (Delphi)|Temple of Apollo]] at Delphi, Greece]] A number of oracles of [[Apollo]] from [[Didyma]] and [[Clarus]], the so-called "theological oracles", dated to the 2nd and 3rd century CE, proclaim that there is only one highest god, of whom the gods of polytheistic religions are mere manifestations or servants.<ref>[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]], s.v. "Apollo".</ref> 4th century CE Cyprus had, besides Christianity, an apparently monotheistic cult of [[Dionysus]].<ref>E. Kessler, ''Dionysian Monotheism in Nea Paphos, Cyprus'': "two monotheistic religions, Dionysian and Christian, existed contemporaneously in Nea Paphos during the 4th century C.E. [...] the particular iconography of Hermes and Dionysos in the panel of the Epiphany of Dionysos [...] represents the culmination of a pagan iconographic tradition in which an infant divinity is seated on the lap of another divine figure; this pagan motif was appropriated by early Christian artists and developed into the standardized icon of the Virgin and Child. Thus the mosaic helps to substantiate the existence of pagan monotheism." [([http://www.huss.ex.ac.uk/classics/conferences/pagan_monotheism/abstracts.html Abstract] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421032154/http://www.huss.ex.ac.uk/classics/conferences/pagan_monotheism/abstracts.html |date=2008-04-21 }})</ref> The [[Hypsistarian]]s were a religious group who believed in a most high god, according to Greek documents. Later revisions of this Hellenic religion were adjusted towards monotheism as it gained consideration among a wider populace. The worship of Zeus as the head-god signaled a trend in the direction of monotheism, with less honour paid to the fragmented powers of the lesser gods. ===Western Asia=== ====Abrahamic religions==== {{Main|Abrahamic religions}} {{Further|God in Abrahamic religions}} =====Judaism===== {{Main|God in Judaism|Yahwism|Elohim|Baal}} [[File:Tetragrammaton scripts.svg|frame|The tetragrammaton in [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]] (10th century BCE to 135 CE), old [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] (10th century BCE to 4th century CE), and square [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] (3rd century BCE to present) scripts]] Judaism is traditionally considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/|title= Religion: Judaism|website=BBC |access-date=2022-08-05|archive-date=2022-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805174338/https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/|url-status=live}}</ref> although in the 8th century BCE the Israelites were [[polytheistic]], with their worship including the gods [[El (deity)|El]], [[Baal]], [[Asherah]], and [[Astarte]].<ref name=Albertz>{{cite book|last = Albertz|first = Rainer|title = A History of Israelite Religion, Volume I: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy|publisher = Westminster John Knox|year = 1994|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yvZUWbTftSgC&q=%22the+real+centre+of+the+main+cult%22%22three+great+annual+festivals%22&pg=PA89|isbn = 9780664227197|page=61}}</ref><ref name="Israel Drazin">{{cite web |title=Ancient Jews believed in the existence of many gods |author=Israel Drazin |url=http://booksnthoughts.com/ancient-jews-believed-in-the-existence-of-many-gods |access-date=2014-09-18 |archive-date=2014-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021045233/http://booksnthoughts.com/ancient-jews-believed-in-the-existence-of-many-gods/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Yahweh was originally the [[national god]] of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and the [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref>[https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/monotheism/ Monotheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412164007/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/monotheism/ |date=2022-04-12 }}, ''My Jewish Learning'', "Many critical scholars think that the interval between the Exodus and the proclamation of monotheism was much longer. Outside of Deuteronomy the earliest passages to state that there are no gods but the Lord are in poems and prayers attributed to Hannah and David, one and a half to two and a half centuries after the Exodus at the earliest. Such statements do not become common until the seventh century B.C.E., the period to which Deuteronomy is dated by the critical view."</ref> During the 8th century BCE, the worship of [[Yahweh]] in Israel was in competition with many other cults, described by the Yahwist faction collectively as [[Baal]]s. The oldest books of the [[Hebrew Bible]] reflect this competition, as in the books of [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]] and [[Book of Nahum|Nahum]], whose authors lament the "[[apostasy]]" of the people of Israel, threatening them with the wrath of God if they do not give up their polytheistic cults.<ref>1 Kings 18, Jeremiah 2; Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, Fortress Press (1998); Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts, Oxford University Press (2001)</ref><ref>Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, Fortress Press (1998); Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts, Oxford University Press (2001)</ref> As time progressed, the [[henotheistic]] cult of Yahweh grew increasingly militant in its opposition to the worship of other gods.<ref name=Albertz/> Later, the reforms of [[King Josiah]] imposed a form of strict [[Monolatrism#In ancient Israel|monolatrism]]. After the fall of Judah and the beginning of the [[Babylonian captivity]], a small circle of priests and scribes gathered around the exiled royal court, where they first developed the concept of Yahweh as the sole God of the world.<ref name="auto"/> [[Second Temple Judaism]] and later [[Rabbinic Judaism]] became strictly monotheistic.<ref>[[Maimonides]], [[13 Principles of Faith|13 principles of faith]], Second Principle</ref> The [[Babylonian Talmud]] references other, "foreign gods" as non-existent entities to whom humans mistakenly ascribe reality and power.<ref>e. g., Babylonian Talmud, Megilla 7b-17a.</ref> One of the best-known statements of Rabbinic Judaism on monotheism is the Second of [[Maimonides]]' [[13 principles of faith|13 Principles of faith]]: {{blockquote|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.<ref>''Yesode Ha-Torah'' 1:7</ref>}} Some in Judaism and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism.<ref name=RebShmuleyKosherJoshkel>{{cite book|last=Boteach|first=Shmuley|title=[[Kosher Jesus]]|year=2012|orig-year=5772|publisher=Gefen Books|location=Springfield, NJ|isbn=9789652295781|pages=47ff, 111ff, 152ff}}</ref> Modern Judaism uses the term ''[[shituf]]'' to refer to the worship of God in a manner which Judaism deems to be neither purely monotheistic (though still permissible for non-Jews) nor polytheistic (which would be prohibited).<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-views-on-christianity/|title=The Jewish Religion: A Companion 1st Edition|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0198264637|editor1-last=Jacobs|editor1-first=Louis|pages=79–80|access-date=2018-04-13|archive-date=2020-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521064902/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-views-on-christianity/|url-status=live}}</ref> =====Christianity===== {{Main|God in Christianity|Trinity}} [[File:Shield-Trinity-Scutum-Fidei-English.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|The [[Trinity]] is the Christian belief that God is one God in essence but three persons: [[God the Father]], [[God the Son]] ([[Jesus]]), and [[God the Holy Spirit]].<ref name="def-lateran">Definition of the [[Fourth Lateran Council]] quoted in ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P17.HTM#1FT §253] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329042425/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P17.HTM#1FT |date=2020-03-29 }}</ref>]] Among [[early Christians]], there was considerable debate over the nature of the [[Godhead (Christianity)|Godhead]], with some denying the incarnation but not the deity of Jesus ([[Docetism]]) and others later calling for an [[Arianism|Arian]] conception of God. Despite at least one earlier local [[Council of Alexandria|synod]] rejecting the claim of Arius, this [[Christology|Christological]] issue was to be one of the items addressed at the [[First Council of Nicaea]]. The First Council of Nicaea, held in [[Nicaea]] (in present-day [[Turkey]]), convoked by the [[Roman Emperors|Roman Emperor]] [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine I]] in 325, was the first [[ecumenical council|ecumenical]]<ref>''Ecumenical'', from [[Koine Greek]] [[Oikoumene|oikoumenikos]], literally meaning worldwide the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are in Eusebius's ''Life of Constantine'' 3.6 [http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/eusebius/vc/gr/index.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707114759/http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/eusebius/vc/gr/index.htm|date=2007-07-07}} around 338 "{{lang|grc|σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει}}" (he convoked an Ecumenical council), Athanasius's Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369 [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2819.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130122828/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2819.htm|date=2018-11-30}}, and the Letter in 382 to [[Pope Damasus I]] and the Latin bishops from the [[First Council of Constantinople]] [http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-63.htm#TopOfPage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613083149/http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-63.htm#TopOfPage|date=2006-06-13}}</ref> council of [[bishop]]s of the [[Roman Empire]], and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian [[doctrine]], called the [[Nicene Creed]]. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent general ecumenical councils of bishops ([[synod]]s) to create statements of belief and [[Canon law|canons]] of doctrinal [[orthodoxy]]—the intent being to define a common creed for the [[Christian Church|Church]] and address [[heresy|heretical]] ideas. One purpose of the council was to resolve [[Arian controversy|disagreements]] in [[Early centers of Christianity#Alexandria|Alexandria]] over the nature of [[Jesus]] in relationship to the Father; in particular, whether Jesus was of the [[Homoousia|same substance]] as [[God the Father]] or merely of [[Homoiousia|similar substance]]. All but two bishops took the first position; while [[Arius]]' argument failed. [[File:Michelangelo's "God", from "the Creation of Adam".jpg|thumb|upright|left|God in ''[[The Creation of Adam]]'', fresco by [[Michelangelo]] (c. 1508–1512)]] Christian orthodox traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestants) follow this decision, which was reaffirmed in 381 at the [[First Council of Constantinople]] and reached its full development through the work of the [[Cappadocian Fathers]]. They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising three "[[person]]s", [[God the Father]], [[God the Son]], and [[God the Holy Spirit]]. These three are described as being "of the same substance" ({{lang|grc|[[ousia|ὁμοούσιος]]}}). 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". From earlier than the times of the [[Nicene Creed]], 325 CE, various Christian figures advocated<ref>''Examples of ante-Nicene statements'': {{blockquote|Hence all the power of magic became dissolved; and every bond of wickedness was destroyed, men's ignorance was taken away, and the old kingdom abolished God Himself appearing in the form of a man, for the renewal of eternal life.|St. Ignatius of Antioch in ''Letter to the Ephesians'', ch.4, shorter version, Roberts-Donaldson translation}} {{blockquote|We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For 'the Word was made flesh.' Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts|St. Ignatius of Antioch in ''Letter to the Ephesians'', ch.7, shorter version, Roberts-Donaldson translation}} {{blockquote|The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: ...one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father 'to gather all things in one,' and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, 'every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess; to him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all...'|St. Irenaeus in ''Against Heresies'', ch.X, v.I, {{Citation | last = Donaldson| first = Sir James|title = Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus | publisher = [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] | year = 1950| isbn = 978-0802880871}}}} {{blockquote|For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water|Justin Martyr in ''First Apology'', ch. LXI, {{Citation | last = Donaldson| first = Sir James|title = Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company| year = 1950| isbn = 978-0802880871}}}} </ref> the triune [[Holy Mystery|mystery]]-nature of God as a normative profession of faith. According to [[Roger E. Olson]] and Christopher Hall, through prayer, meditation, study and practice, the Christian community concluded "that God must exist as both a unity and trinity", codifying this in ecumenical council at the end of the 4th century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Olson|first1=Roger E.|title=The Trinity|date=2002|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUAidAp8AgEC&q=the+trinity|isbn=9780802848277}}</ref> Most modern Christians believe the [[Godhead in Christianity|Godhead]] is triune, meaning that the three persons of the Trinity are in one union in which each person is also wholly God. They also hold to the doctrine of a [[Hypostatic union|man-god]] [[Christ Jesus]] as [[God incarnate#Christianity|God incarnate]]. These Christians also do not believe that one of the three divine figures is God alone and the other two are not but that all three are mysteriously God and one. Other Christian religions, including [[Unitarian Universalism]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Mormonism]] and others, [[Nontrinitarianism|do not share those views on the Trinity]]. Some Christian faiths, such as [[God in Mormonism|Mormonism]], argue that the Godhead is in fact three separate individuals which include God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/article/articles-of-faith|title=The Articles of Faith: 13 Beliefs | ComeUntoChrist|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=2022-08-05|archive-date=2022-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805174338/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/article/articles-of-faith|url-status=live}}</ref> each individual having a distinct purpose in the grand existence of human kind.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe/jesus|title=Jesus Christ Is Our Savior | ComeUntoChrist|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=2022-08-05|archive-date=2022-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805174339/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe/jesus|url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, Mormons believe that before the Council of Nicaea, the predominant belief among many early Christians was that the Godhead was three separate individuals. In support of this view, they cite early Christian examples of belief in [[subordinationism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1105&index=3|title=Offenders for a Word|access-date=2015-02-28|archive-date=2015-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210010625/http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1105&index=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Unitarianism]] is a theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism.<ref>''[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15154b.htm Unitarians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705011058/http://newadvent.org/cathen/15154b.htm |date=2014-07-05 }}'' at 'Catholic Encyclopedia', ed. Kevin Knight at New Advent website</ref> Some in Judaism and some in Islam do not consider Trinitarian Christianity to be a pure form of monotheism due to the pluriform monotheistic Christian doctrine of the [[Trinity]], classifying it as ''[[shituf]]'' in Judaism and as ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]'' in Islam.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Mohammed Amin|title=Triangulating the Abrahamic faiths – measuring the closeness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam|url=http://www.mohammedamin.com/Community_issues/Triangulating-the-Abrahamic-faiths.html|quote=Christians were seen as polytheists, due to the doctrine of the Trinity. In the last few hundred years, rabbis have moderated this view slightly, but they still do not regard Christians as being fully monotheistic in the same manner as Jews or Muslims. Muslims were acknowledged as monotheists.|access-date=2016-01-20|archive-date=2016-02-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222121459/http://mohammedamin.com/Community_issues/Triangulating-the-Abrahamic-faiths.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Oxford University Press" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Islamic Practices|url=http://www.ulc.org/training-education/guide-to-divinity/22-religions-of-the-world/134-practicing-islam/|publisher=Universal Life Church Ministries|quote=It is the Islamic belief that Christianity is not monotheistic, as it claims, but rather polytheistic with the trinity-the father, son and the Holy Ghost.|access-date=2016-01-20|archive-date=2016-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307144019/http://www.ulc.org/training-education/guide-to-divinity/22-religions-of-the-world/134-practicing-islam/|url-status=live}}</ref> Trinitarian Christians, on the other hand, argue that the doctrine of the Trinity is a valid expression of monotheism, citing that the Trinity does not consist of three separate [[deities]], but rather the three [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|persons]], who exist [[consubstantiality|consubstantially]] (as one [[Ousia|substance]]) within a single [[Godhead in Christianity|Godhead]].<ref>[https://icucourses.com/pages/025-10-three-persons-are-subsistent-relations Lesson 10: Three Persons are Subsistent Relations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731154530/https://icucourses.com/pages/025-10-three-persons-are-subsistent-relations|date=2017-07-31}}, [[International Catholic University]]: "The fatherhood constitutes the Person of the Father, the sonship constitutes the Person of the Son, and the passive aspiration constitutes the Person of the Holy Spirit. But in God "everything is one where there is no distinction by relative opposition." Consequently, even though in God there are three Persons, there is only one consciousness, one thinking and one loving. The three Persons share equally in the internal divine activity because they are all identified with the divine essence. For, if each divine Person possessed his own distinct and different consciousness, there would be three gods, not the one God of Christian revelation. So you will see that in this regard there is an immense difference between a divine Person and a human person."</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity Trinity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430124922/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity |date=2021-04-30 }}, ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'': "The Council of Nicaea in 325 stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the Son is "of the same substance [homoousios] as the Father", even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit. Over the next half century, Athanasius defended and refined the Nicene formula, and, by the end of the 4th century, under the leadership of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus (the Cappadocian Fathers), the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since. It is accepted in all of the historic confessions of Christianity, even though the impact of the Enlightenment decreased its importance."</ref> =====Islam===== {{Main|God in Islam|Tawhid|Hanif|}} [[File:Allah1.png|thumb|upright|Arabic calligraphy reading "Allah, may his glory be glorified"]] In Islam, [[God in Islam|God]] ([[Allāh]]) is [[omnipotence|all-powerful]] and [[omniscience|all-knowing]], the Creator, Sustainer, Ordainer and Judge of the universe.<ref name="EoQ-Quran">Gerhard Böwering, ''God and his Attributes'', [[Encyclopedia of the Quran]]</ref><ref name="esp22">{{cite book |first=John L. |last=Esposito |title=Islam: The Straight Path |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |page=22}}</ref> [[God in Islam]] is strictly singular (''[[tawhid]]''){{sfn|Esposito|1998|p=88}} unique (''wahid'') and inherently One (''ahad''), all-merciful and omnipotent.<ref name="Britannica">"Allah." [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> Allāh exists on the ''[[Throne of God#Islam|Al-'Arsh]]'' {{qref|7|54|s=y|b=y}}, but the [[Quran]] states that "No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware." ({{qref|6|103|b=y}})<ref name="esp22"/> Islam emerged in the 7th century CE in the context of both Christianity and Judaism, with some thematic elements similar to [[Gnosticism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Todd|title=Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam: Qurʼan, Exegesis, Messianism and the Literary Origins of the Babi Religion|year=2011 |publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0415495394}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Tisdall|first=William |title=The Sources of Islam: A Persian Treatise|year=1911|publisher=Morrison and Gibb|location=London |pages=46–74}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rudolph|first=Kurt|title=Gnosis: The Nature And History of Gnosticism|year=2001|publisher=T&T Clark Int'l|location=London |isbn=978-0567086402|pages=367–390}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hoeller|first=Stephan A.|title=Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing|year=2002|publisher=Quest Books|location=Wheaton, IL |isbn=978-0835608169|pages=155–174}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Andrew|title=The Gnostics: History, Tradition, Scriptures, Influence.|year=2008a|publisher=Watkins|isbn=978-1905857784 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosticshistoryt00smit}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Andrew |title=The Lost Sayings of Jesus: Teachings from Ancient Christian, Jewish, Gnostic, and Islamic Sources--Annotated & Explained |year=2006|publisher=Skylight Paths Publishing|isbn=978-1594731723}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Van Den Broek|first=Roelof|author-link=Roel van den Broek|title=Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times|year=1998 |publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0791436110 |pages=87–108}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Tillman|first=Nagel|title=The History of Islamic Theology from Muhammad to the Present|year=2000|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=978-1558762039|pages=215–234}}</ref> Islamic belief states that [[Muhammad]] did not bring a new religion from God, but rather the same religion as practiced by [[Islamic view of Abraham|Abraham]], [[Islamic view of Moses|Moses]], [[David in Islam|David]], [[Jesus in Islam|Jesus]] and all the other [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophets]] of God.<ref>{{cite web |title=People of the Book |work=[[Islam: Empire of Faith]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpeople.html |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |access-date=2010-12-18 |archive-date=2011-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628213312/http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpeople.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The assertion of Islam is that the message of God had been corrupted, distorted or lost over time, and the Quran was sent to Muhammad in order to correct the lost message of the [[Tawrat]] (Torah), [[Injil]] (Gospel) and [[Zabur]].<ref>Accad (2003): According to Ibn Taymiya, although only some Muslims accept the textual veracity of the entire Bible, most Muslims will grant the veracity of most of it.</ref>{{sfn|Esposito|1998|pp=6, 12}}{{sfn|Esposito|2002|pp=4–5}}{{sfn|Peters|2003|p=9}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Muhammad |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online |author1=F. Buhl | author2=A. T. Welch}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Tahrif |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online |author=[[Hava Lazarus-Yafeh]]}}</ref> The Quran asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the creation.<ref name="EncRel">Vincent J. Cornell, ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', Vol 5, pp.3561-3562</ref> The Quran rejects binary modes of thinking such as the idea of a [[Dualistic cosmology|duality]] of God by arguing that both [[Goodness and evil|good and evil]] generate from God's creative act. God is a universal god rather than a local, tribal or parochial one; an absolute who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.<ref name="Barlas96">Asma Barlas, Believing Women in Islam, p.96</ref> [[Ash'ari]] theology, which dominated Sunni Islam from the tenth to the nineteenth century, insists on ultimate divine transcendence and holds that divine unity is not accessible to human reason. Ash'arism teaches that human knowledge regarding it is limited to what has been revealed through the prophets, and on such paradoxes as God's creation of evil, revelation had to accept ''bila kayfa'' (without [asking] how).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Tamara Sonn|title=Tawḥīd |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford |year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0788?rskey=y8ZWqZ |url-access=subscription |isbn=9780195305135}}</ref> ''Tawhid'' constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim [[Shahada|profession of faith]], "There is no god but [[Allah|God]], Muhammad is the messenger of God.<ref name="EoI">D. Gimaret, ''Tawhid'', [[Encyclopedia of Islam]]</ref> To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Quran.<ref name="Barlas96"/> The entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of ''tawhid''.{{sfn|Ramadan|2005|p=230}} Medieval Islamic philosopher [[Al-Ghazali]] offered a proof of monotheism from [[omnipotence]], asserting there can only be one omnipotent being. For if there were two omnipotent beings, the first would either have power over the second (meaning the second is not omnipotent) or not (meaning the first is not omnipotent); thus implying that there could only be one omnipotent being.<ref>Wainwright, William, "[https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/monotheism Monotheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318100216/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/monotheism/ |date=2019-03-18 }}", ''[[The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).</ref> As they traditionally profess a concept of monotheism with a singular entity as God, Judaism<ref name="RebShmuleyKosherJoshkel"/> and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism. Judaism uses the term [[Shituf]] to refer to non-monotheistic ways of worshiping God. Although Muslims [[Veneration#Islam|venerate]] Jesus ([[Jesus in Islam|Isa]] in Arabic) as a prophet and messiah, they do not accept the doctrine that he was a begotten son of God. =====Mandaeism===== [[File:درفش مندائي darfash mandaean.jpg|thumb|upright|Mandaean pendant]] {{Main|Mandaeism|Mandaeans}} Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ({{lang-ar|مندائية}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|Mandāʼīyah}}''), sometimes also known as Sabianism, is a monotheistic, [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]], and [[ethnic religion]].<ref>{{citation|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195153859|url=http://mandaeannetwork.com/Mandaean/books/english/2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf|page=4|access-date=2019-10-05|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011181602/http://mandaeannetwork.com/Mandaean/books/english/2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Ginza>{{cite book|title=[[Ginza Rabba]]|translator1-last=Al-Saadi |translator1-first=Qais |translator2-last=Al-Saadi |translator2-first=Hamed |edition=2nd |place=Germany |year=2019 |publisher=Drabsha}}</ref>{{rp|1}} Mandaeans consider [[Adam#In Mandaeism|Adam]], [[Seth#Mandaeism|Seth]], [[Noah#Gnosticism|Noah]], [[Shem#In Mandaeism|Shem]] and [[John the Baptist#Mandaeism|John the Baptist]] to be prophets, with Adam being the founder of the religion and John being the greatest and [[Last prophet|final prophet]].<ref name=BSN>{{cite web|author=Brikhah S. Nasoraia|title=Sacred Text and Esoteric Praxis in Sabian Mandaean Religion|year=2012|url=http://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D201813/2012_I/2012_I_NASORAIAB.pdf|access-date=2022-03-17|archive-date=2022-10-09|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D201813/2012_I/2012_I_NASORAIAB.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|45}} The Mandaeans believe in one God commonly named [[Hayyi Rabbi]] meaning 'The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God'.<ref name=Nashmi>{{Citation|last=Nashmi|first=Yuhana|title=Contemporary Issues for the Mandaean Faith|website=Mandaean Associations Union|date=24 April 2013|url=http://www.mandaeanunion.com/history-english/item/488-mandaean-faith|access-date=8 December 2021|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031155605/http://www.mandaeanunion.com/history-english/item/488-mandaean-faith|url-status=live}}</ref> The Mandaeans speak a dialect of [[Eastern Aramaic languages|Eastern Aramaic]] known as [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]]. The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic ''[[Manda (Mandaeism)|manda]]'' meaning "knowledge", as does Greek ''[[gnosis]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rudolph|first1=Kurt|title=Mandaeism|date=1978|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004052529|page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1kWzSxecUQC&q=kurt%20rudolph%20mandaeism&pg=PA15}}</ref><ref>The Light and the Dark: Dualism in ancient Iran, India, and China Petrus Franciscus Maria Fontaine – 1990</ref> The term 'Sabianism' is derived from the [[Sabians]] ({{lang-ar|الصابئة|link=no}}, {{transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|al-Ṣābiʾa}}), a mysterious religious group mentioned three times in the [[Quran]] alongside the Jews, the Christians and the [[Zoroastrians]] as a '[[people of the book]]', and whose name was historically claimed by the Mandaeans as well as by several other religious groups in order to gain the legal protection ({{transliteration|ar|[[dhimma]]}}) offered by [[Islamic law]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=De Blois|first1=François|year=1960–2007|title=Ṣābiʾ|editor1-last=Bearman|editor1-first=P.|editor1-link=Peri Bearman|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor2-first=Th.|editor2-link=Thierry Bianquis|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor3-first=C.E.|editor3-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor4-first=E.|editor4-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel|editor5-last=Heinrichs|editor5-first=W.P.|editor5-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0952}} {{cite book|last1=Van Bladel|first1=Kevin|year=2017|title=From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|doi=10.1163/9789004339460|isbn=978-90-04-33943-9|url=https://brill.com/view/title/34389|access-date=2022-06-19|archive-date=2022-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601074236/https://brill.com/view/title/34389|url-status=live}} p. 5.</ref> Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination who has no partner.<ref name=Routledge>Hanish, Shak (2019). The Mandaeans In Iraq. In {{cite book|last=Rowe|first=Paul S.|title=Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOF1DwAAQBAJ&q=Routledge+Handbook+of+Minorities+in+the+Middle+East|page=163|year=2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317233794|place=London and New York|access-date=2023-03-19|archive-date=2022-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730071808/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Routledge_Handbook_of_Minorities_in_the/bOF1DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Routledge+Handbook+of+Minorities+in+the+Middle+East&printsec=frontcover|url-status=live}}</ref> =====Baháʼí Faith===== {{Main|God in the Baháʼí Faith}} [[File:House of Worship Germany 2007.jpg|thumb|Baháʼí House of Worship, [[Langenhain]], Germany]] God in the [[Baháʼí Faith]] is taught to be the Imperishable, uncreated Being Who is the source of existence, too great for humans to fully comprehend. Human primitive understanding of God is achieved through his revelations via his divine intermediary [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestations]].<ref name="hatcher_huri">{{Cite journal |last = Hatcher |first = John S. |year = 2005 |title = Unveiling the Hurí of Love |journal = Journal of Baháʼí Studies |volume = 15 |issue = 1 |pages = 1–38 |doi = 10.31581/jbs-15.1-4.1(2005) |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="manifestation">{{Cite book |first = Juan |last = Cole |year = 1982 |chapter = The Concept of Manifestation in the Bahá'í Writings |title = Bahá'í Studies |volume = 9 |pages = 1–38 |chapter-url = http://bahai-library.com/cole_concept_manifestation |access-date = 2012-05-28 |archive-date = 2019-05-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190517105145/http://bahai-library.com/cole_concept_manifestation |url-status = live }}</ref> In the Baháʼí faith, such Christian doctrines as the [[Trinity]] are seen as compromising the Baháʼí view that God is single and has no equal,<ref>{{cite journal | title = Jesus Christ in the Baha'i Writings | first = Robert | last = Stockman | journal = Baháʼí Studies Review | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | url = http://bahai-library.com/articles/stockman.jesus.html | access-date = 2012-05-28 | archive-date = 2012-10-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121003150622/http://bahai-library.com/articles/stockman.jesus.html | url-status = live }}</ref> and the very existence of the Baháʼí Faith is a challenge to the Islamic doctrine of the finality of Muhammad's revelation.<ref>*{{Cite book |last = Lewis |first = Bernard |year = 1984 |title = The Jews of Islam |publisher = Princeton University Press |place = Princeton |isbn = 0-691-00807-8 |title-link = The Jews of Islam }}</ref> God in the Baháʼí Faith communicates to humanity through divine intermediaries, known as [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestations of God]].<ref name="Psmith107-108"/> These Manifestations establish religion in the world.<ref name="manifestation" /> It is through these divine intermediaries that humans can approach God, and through them God brings divine revelation and law.<ref name="BFaith-115-123">{{cite book | first = William | last = Hatcher | year = 1985 | title = The Baháʼí Faith | publisher = Harper & Row | location = San Francisco | isbn = 0060654414 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/bahfaithemer00hatc/page/115 115–123] | url = https://archive.org/details/bahfaithemer00hatc/page/115 }}</ref> The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the [[Baháʼí Faith]]. The [[Obligatory Baháʼí prayers|obligatory prayers]] in the Baháʼí Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony.<ref>{{cite book |last = Smith |first = P. |year = 1999 |title = A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher = Oneworld Publications |location = Oxford, UK |isbn = 1-85168-184-1 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Momen |first = M. |year = 1997 |title = A Short Introduction to the Baháʼí Faith |publisher = One World Publications |location = Oxford, UK |isbn = 1-85168-209-0 |url = https://archive.org/details/bahaifaith00mooj }}</ref> God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence.<ref name="BFaith-74">{{harvnb|Hatcher|1985|p=74}}</ref> He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, [[omniscience|omniscient]], [[omnipresence|omnipresent]] and [[omnipotence|almighty]]".<ref name="Psmith106">{{harvnb|Smith|2008|p=106}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Effendi|1944|p=139}}</ref> Although transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator.<ref name="Psmith111">{{harvnb|Smith|2008|p=111}}</ref> God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through intermediaries, known as [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestations of God]], who are the prophets and messengers that have founded religions from prehistoric times up to the present day.<ref name="Psmith107-108">{{harvnb|Smith|2008|pp=107–108}}</ref> =====Rastafari===== [[Rastafari]], sometimes termed Rastafarianism, is classified as both a [[new religious movement]] and [[social movement]]. It developed in [[Jamaica]] during the 1930s. It lacks any centralised authority and there is much heterogeneity among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas. Rastafari refer to their beliefs, which are based on a specific interpretation of the [[Bible]], as "Rastalogy". Central is a monotheistic belief in a single God—referred to as [[Jah]]—who partially resides within each individual. The former emperor of Ethiopia, [[Haile Selassie]], is given central importance. Many Rastas regard him as an incarnation of Jah on Earth and as the [[Second Coming of Christ]]. Others regard him as a human prophet who fully recognised the inner divinity within every individual. ====Zoroastrianism==== {{Main|Zoroastrianism|Iranian religions}} [[File:Faravahar-Gold.svg|thumb|[[Faravahar]] (or Ferohar) is one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit).]] By some scholars, the Zoroastrians ("Parsis" or "Zartoshtis") are sometimes credited with being some of the first monotheists and having had influence on other world religions.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Ferrero |first=Mario |date=2021-12-01 |title=From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 |journal=Homo Oeconomicus |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=77–108 |doi=10.1007/s41412-021-00113-4 |issn=2366-6161|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Heckert |first=Jason |date=May 2023 |title=Reflections Across Religions: A Historical Examination of Common Themes in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity |url=https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=graduatetheses |website=digitalcommons.winthrop.edu}}</ref> Zoroastrianism combines [[Cosmology|cosmogonic]] dualism and [[Eschatology|eschatological]] monotheism which makes it unique among the religions of the world. There are two issues that have long made it problematic to identify Zoroastrianism as true monotheism: the presence of lesser deities and dualism. But before hastening to conclude that the Amesha Spentas and the other yazatas compromise the purity of monotheism, we should consider that the other historical monotheisms too made room for other figures endowed with supernatural powers to bridge the gulf between the exalted, remote Creator God and the human world: the angels in all of them (whose conception in post-exilic Judaism was apparently developed after the pattern of the Amesha Spentas; Boyce and Grenet, 1991, 404–405), the saints and the Virgin Mary in several Christian churches, and the other persons of the Trinity in all of Christianity. Despite the vast differences with Zoroastrian theology, the common thread is that all these beings are subordinate to the Godhead as helpers or (in the case of the persons of the Trinity) co-equals, hence they do not pursue different interests and are worshiped jointly with the Godhead, not separately; therefore the supplicant’s dilemma does not arise.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Citation |title=Buddhism in China: A Historical Sketch |journal=The Journal of Religion}}.</ref><ref name="Boyce_1975_155">{{harvnb|Boyce|1975a|p=155}}.</ref>{{Ref_label|water_worshippers|ε|none}} ====Yazidism==== {{Main|Yazidism}} God in Yazidism created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven [[Holy]] Beings, known as [[Angel]]s.<ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014">{{cite book |author1-last=Asatrian |author1-first=Garnik S. |author1-link=Garnik Asatrian |author2-last=Arakelova |author2-first=Victoria |year=2014 |title=The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World |chapter=Part I: The One God - Malak-Tāwūs: The Leader of the Triad |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1RsBAAAQBAJ |location=[[Abingdon, Oxfordshire]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |series=Gnostica |pages=1–28 |doi=10.4324/9781315728896 |isbn=978-1-84465-761-2 |oclc=931029996}}</ref><ref name="Birgül">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ql4BAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion|last=Açikyildiz|first=Birgül|date=2014-12-23|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857720610|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Allison 2017">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Allison |author-first=Christine |date=25 January 2017 |title=The Yazidis |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-254 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.254 |isbn=9780199340378 |doi-access=free |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311065225/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-254 |archive-date=11 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=15 May 2021}}</ref> The Yazidis believe in a divine Triad.<ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014"/><ref name="Allison 2017"/><ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2003">{{cite journal |author1-link=Garnik Asatrian |date=January 2003 |editor-last=Asatrian |editor-first=Garnik S. |title=Malak-Tāwūs: The Peacock Angel of the Yezidis |journal=[[Iran and the Caucasus]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] in collaboration with the Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies ([[Yerevan]]) |volume=7 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.1163/157338403X00015 |issn=1609-8498 |eissn=1573-384X |jstor=4030968 |lccn=2001227055 |oclc=233145721 |author1-last=Asatrian |author1-first=Garnik S. |author2-last=Arakelova |author2-first=Victoria}}</ref> The original, hidden God of the Yazidis is considered to be [[Deus otiosus|remote and inactive]] in relation to his creation, except to contain and bind it together within his essence.<ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014"/> His first [[Emanationism|emanation]] is the Angel [[Melek Taus|Melek Taûs]] ({{Lang|ku|Tawûsê Melek}}), who functions as the ruler of the world and leader of the other Angels.<ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014"/><ref name="Allison 2017"/><ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2003"/> The second [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostasis]] of the divine Triad is the [[Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir|Sheikh 'Adī ibn Musafir]]. The third is [[Sultan Ezid]]. These are the three hypostases of the one God. The identity of these three is sometimes blurred, with Sheikh 'Adī considered to be a manifestation of Tawûsê Melek and vice versa; the same also applies to Sultan Ezid.<ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014"/> Yazidis are called ''{{Lang|ku|Miletê Tawûsê Melek}}'' ("the nation of Tawûsê Melek").<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Asatrian|first1=Garnik S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1RsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT23|title=The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World|last2=Arakelova|first2=Victoria|date=2014-09-03|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-54428-9|language=en}}</ref> God is referred to by Yazidis as ''{{Lang|ku|Xwedê}}'', {{Lang|ku|Xwedawend}}, ''{{Lang|ku|Êzdan}}'', and ''{{Lang|ku|Pedsha}}'' ('King'), and, less commonly, ''{{Lang|ku|Ellah}}'' and ''{{Lang|ku|Heq}}''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kreyenbroek|first=Philip G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTQqAQAAMAAJ&q=Ancient+iranian|title=Yezidism: its Background, Observances, and Textual Tradition|date=1995|location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|isbn=978-0-7734-9004-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Omarkhali, Khanna|title=The Yezidi religious textual tradition, from oral to written : categories, transmission, scripturalisation, and canonisation of the Yezidi oral religious texts: with samples of oral and written religious texts and with audio and video samples on CD-ROM|year=2017|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-10856-0|oclc=994778968}}</ref><ref name="Birgül" /><ref name="Asatrian-Arakelova 2014"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Omarkhali |first=Khanna |title=Names of God and Forms of Address to God in Yezidism. With the Religious Hymn of the Lord |journal=Manuscripta Orientalia International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research |volume=15 |number=2 |date=December 2009 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7918282 |language=en |access-date=2023-02-09 |archive-date=2023-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032900/https://www.academia.edu/7918282 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to some Yazidi hymns (known as ''Qewls''), God has 1,001 names, or 3,003 names according to other Qewls.<ref name="Kreyenbroek 2005">{{cite book | last=Kreyenbroek | first=Philip | author-link=Philip G. Kreyenbroek | title=God and Sheikh Adi are perfect: sacred poems and religious narratives from the Yezidi tradition | publisher=Harrassowitz | publication-place=Wiesbaden | year=2005 | isbn=978-3-447-05300-6 | oclc=63127403}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45N4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|title=Deutsche Yeziden: Geschichte, Gegenwart, Prognosen|last=Kartal|first=Celalettin|date=2016-06-22|publisher=Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag|isbn=9783828864887|language=de}}</ref> ===Oceania=== ====Aboriginal Australian religion==== Aboriginal Australians are typically described as [[polytheistic]] in nature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/religion.html|title=Aboriginal Culture|access-date=2021-03-26|archive-date=2021-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306020837/https://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/religion.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Although some researchers shy from referring to [[List of Australian Aboriginal mythological figures|Dreamtime figures]] as "gods" or "deities", they are broadly described as such for the sake of simplicity.<ref>Jennifer Isaacs (2005). Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History. New South Wales: New Holland.</ref> In Southeastern Australian cultures, the sky father [[Baiame]] is perceived as the creator of the universe (though this role is sometimes taken by other gods like [[Yhi]] or [[Bunjil]]) and at least among the [[Gamilaraay]] traditionally revered above other mythical figures.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Greenway | first1=Charles C. | last2=Honery | first2=Thomas | last3=McDonald | first3=Mr. | last4=Rowley | first4=John | last5=Malone | first5=John | last6=Creed | first6=Dr. | title=Australian Languages and Traditions | journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland | publisher=JSTOR | volume=7 | year=1878 | pages=232–274 | issn=0959-5295 | doi=10.2307/2841001 | jstor=2841001 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1574076 | access-date=2023-03-12 | archive-date=2023-04-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407024453/https://zenodo.org/record/1574076 | url-status=live }}</ref> Equation between him and the Christian god is common among both missionaries and modern Christian Aboriginals.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/spirituality/aboriginal-christians-christianity|title = Aboriginal Christians & Christianity|date = 14 August 2020|access-date = 26 March 2021|archive-date = 14 August 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210814144738/https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/spirituality/aboriginal-christians-christianity|url-status = live}}</ref> The [[Yolngu]] [[Makassan contact with Australia|had extensive contact with the Makassans]] and adopted religious practises inspired by those of Islam. The god Walitha'walitha is based on Allah (specifically, with the ''wa-Ta'ala'' suffix), but while this deity had a role in funerary practises it is unclear if it was "Allah-like" in terms of functions.<ref>Rogers, Janak (24 June 2014). "When Islam came to Australia". BBC News. Retrieved 25 June 2014.</ref> ====Andaman Islands==== The religion of the [[Andamanese peoples]] has at times been described as "animistic monotheism", believing foremost in a single deity, [[Pūluga]], who created the universe.<ref>Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (14 November 2013). The Andaman Islanders. Cambridge University Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-107-62556-3.</ref> However, Pūluga is not worshipped, and anthropomorphic personifications of natural phenomena are also known.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.webindia123.com/territories/andaman/people/intro.htm|title=PEOPLE of Andaman and Nicobar Islands|access-date=2021-03-28|archive-date=2021-06-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622142857/https://www.webindia123.com/territories/andaman/people/intro.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> ===South Asia=== {{main|Proto-Indo-Iranian religion|Indian religions}} ====Hinduism==== {{Main|Hindu views on monotheism|God in Hinduism|}} {{See also|Hindu denominations}} [[File:Vishnuvishvarupa.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Krishna]] displaying his ''[[Vishvarupa]]'' (universal form) to [[Arjuna]] on the battlefield of Kurukshetra]] As an old religion, [[Hinduism]] inherits religious concepts spanning monotheism, [[polytheism]], [[panentheism]], [[pantheism]], [[monism]], and [[Atheism in Hinduism|atheism]] among others;<ref>{{Citation | last = Rogers| first = Peter|title = Ultimate Truth, Book 1| publisher = AuthorHouse| year = 2009| page = 109| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e3kf6GtwaT0C&pg=PA109| isbn = 978-1-4389-7968-7}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Chakravarti| first = Sitansu| title = Hinduism, a way of life| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publ.| year = 1991| page = 71| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71| isbn = 978-81-208-0899-7}}</ref><ref name="EBpolytheism">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38143/polytheism |title=Polytheism|access-date= 2007-07-05 |year=2007 |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Pattanaik| first = Devdutt| title = The man who was a woman and other queer tales of Hindu lore| publisher = Routledge| year = 2002| page = 38| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Odsk9xfOp6oC&pg=PA38| isbn = 978-1-56023-181-3}}</ref> and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. Hindu views are broad and range from monism, through pantheism and panentheism (alternatively called monistic theism by some scholars) to monotheism and even atheism. Hinduism cannot be said to be purely polytheistic. Hindu religious leaders have repeatedly stressed that while God's forms are many and the ways to communicate with him are many, God is one. The ''[[Puja (Hinduism)|puja]]'' of the ''[[murti]]'' is a way to communicate with the abstract one god (''[[Brahman]]'') which creates, sustains and dissolves creation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.islam101.com/religions/hinduism/conceptOfGod.htm |title=Concept Of God In Hinduism By Dr Naik |publisher=Islam101.com |access-date=2012-06-05 |archive-date=2012-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429092129/http://www.islam101.com/religions/hinduism/conceptOfGod.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Rig Veda]] 1.164.46, :''{{IAST|Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,}}'' :''{{IAST|ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ}}'' :"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garuda. :To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan." (trans. [[Ralph T.H. Griffith|Griffith]]) Traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, the [[Nimbarka Sampradaya]] and followers of [[Swaminarayan]] and [[Vallabha]] consider Krishna to be the source of all [[avatar]]s,<ref name = jsn>'' 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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Q0YAAAAIAAJ&q=Avatara+Swaminarayan+Krishna+origina%3B New Dimensions in Vedanta Philosophy - Page 154] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420040419/https://books.google.com/books?id=_Q0YAAAAIAAJ&q=Avatara+Swaminarayan+Krishna+origina; |date=2023-04-20 }}, Sahajānanda, Vedanta. 1981</ref> and the source of [[Vishnu]] himself, or to be the same as [[Narayana]]. As such, he is therefore regarded as ''[[Svayam Bhagavan]]''.<ref name = "Delmonico2004">{{cite journal | author = Delmonico, N. | year = 2004 | title = The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism | journal = The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant | isbn = 978-0-231-12256-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mBMxPdgrBhoC&q=Vaisnava+monotheism&pg=PA31 | access-date = 2008-04-12 }}</ref><ref name = "Elkman1986">{{cite book | author = Elkman, S.M. |author2=Gosvami, J. | year = 1986 | title = Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Movement | publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Pub }}</ref><ref name = Dimock1989>{{cite book | author = Dimock Jr, E.C. |author2=Dimock, E.C. | year = 1989 | title = The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal | publisher = University Of Chicago Press }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYa1BtUTm0C&dq=Svayam+bhagavan&pg=PA132 page 132] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420040421/https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYa1BtUTm0C&dq=Svayam+bhagavan&pg=PA132 |date=2023-04-20 }}</ref> When [[Krishna]] is recognized to be ''Svayam Bhagavan'', it can be understood that this is the belief of [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]],<ref name=Kennedy1925>{{cite book | author = Kennedy, M.T. | year = 1925 | title = The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal | url = https://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.24847 | publisher = H. Milford, Oxford university press }}</ref> the [[Vallabha Sampradaya]],<ref name = "flood">{{cite book | author = Flood, Gavin D. | author-link = Gavin Flood | title = An introduction to Hinduism | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, UK | year = 1996 | page = [https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/341 341] | isbn = 0-521-43878-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo | url-access = registration | quote = gavin flood. | access-date = 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."</ref> 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"<ref name=Gupta2007>{{cite book | author = Gupta, Ravi M. | year = 2007 | title = Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-0-415-40548-5 }}</ref> (1.3.28).<ref name = Rosen>''Essential [[Hinduism]]'' S. Rosen, 2006, Greenwood Publishing Group [https://books.google.com/books?id=VlhX1h135DMC&dq=Krishna+is+the+original+Personality+of+Godhead&pg=PA124 p.124] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403225031/https://books.google.com/books?id=VlhX1h135DMC&dq=Krishna+is+the+original+Personality+of+Godhead&pg=PA124 |date=2023-04-03 }} {{ISBN|0-275-99006-0}}</ref> A viewpoint differing from this theological concept is the concept of [[Krishna]] as an ''[[avatar]]'' of [[Narayana]] or [[Vishnu]]. It should be however noted that although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avataras, this is only one of the names of the God of [[Vaishnavism]], who is also known as Narayana, [[Vasudeva]] and Krishna and behind each of those names there is a divine figure with attributed supremacy in Vaishnavism.<ref name = Krishna4> {{cite book |author=Matchett, Freda |title=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 |publisher=Routledge |location=Surrey |year=2000 |page=4 |isbn=0-7007-1281-X }}</ref> The Rig Veda discusses monotheistic thought, as do the [[Atharva Veda]] and [[Yajur Veda]]: "Devas are always looking to the supreme abode of Vishnu" (''tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sṻrayaḥ'' [[Rig Veda]] 1.22.20) "The One Truth, sages know by many names" ([[Rig Veda 1]].164.46)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vedavid.org/1sb/1.164c.html |title=Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text with an Introduction and Notes, HOS, 1994 |publisher=Vedavid.org |access-date=2012-06-05 |archive-date=2012-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425143106/http://www.vedavid.org/1sb/1.164c.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "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)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/atharva_veda/spritual_hymns.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007123304/http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/atharva_veda/spritual_hymns.html|url-status=dead|title=Atharva Veda: Spiritual & Philosophical Hymns|archivedate=October 7, 2008}}</ref> "There is none to compare with Him. There is no parallel to Him, whose glory, verily, is great." ([[Yajur Veda]] 32.3)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/yajur_veda/the_transcendent.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011220748/http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/yajur_veda/the_transcendent.html|url-status=dead|title=Shukla Yajur Veda: The transcendental "That"|archivedate=October 11, 2008}}</ref> The number of auspicious qualities of God are countless, with the following six qualities (''bhaga'') being the most important: * ''Jñāna'' (omniscience), defined as the power to know about all beings simultaneously * ''[[Aishvarya]]'' (sovereignty, derived from the word [[Ishvara]]), which consists in unchallenged rule over all * ''Shakti'' (energy), or power, which is the capacity to make the impossible possible * ''Bala'' (strength), which is the capacity to support everything by will and without any fatigue * ''Vīrya'' (vigor), which indicates the power to retain immateriality as the supreme being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations * ''Tejas'' (splendor), which expresses His self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by His spiritual effulgence<ref name= Tapasyananda>{{cite book | author = Tapasyananda | year = 1991 | title = Bhakti Schools of Vedānta | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_VtAAAACAAJ | isbn = 81-7120-226-8 | publisher = Sri Ramakrishna Math | location = Madras }}</ref> In the [[Shaivite]] tradition, the ''[[Shri Rudram]]'' ([[Sanskrit]] श्रि रुद्रम्), to which the Chamakam (चमकम्) is added by scriptural tradition, is a Hindu ''[[stotra]]'' dedicated to [[Rudra]] (an epithet of [[Shiva]]), taken from the [[Yajurveda]] (TS 4.5, 4.7).<ref>For an overview of the Śatarudriya see: Kramrisch, pp. 71-74.</ref><ref>For a full translation of the complete hymn see: Sivaramamurti (1976)</ref> Shri Rudram is also known as ''Sri Rudraprasna'', ''{{IAST|Śatarudrīya}}'', and ''Rudradhyaya''. The text is important in [[Vedanta]] where [[Shiva]] is equated to the Universal supreme God. The hymn is an early example of enumerating the [[Names of God|names of a deity]],<ref>For the {{IAST|Śatarudrīya}} as an early example of enumeration of divine names, see: Flood (1996), p. 152.</ref> 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 (''[[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]'') and sages (''[[rishi]]s'') in the beginning, who wrote the Vedas and created the world. Nyaya says that: {{blockquote|[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|date=August 2009}} }} 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yP-fIislexUC&pg=PA161|title=The Arian Christian Doctrines: The Origins of Christianity|editor-last=Levy|editor-first=Charles D. |date=2010-08-30 |publisher=Metaphysical Institute|isbn=9781453764619|pages=161}}</ref> Many other Hindus, however, view polytheism as far preferable to monotheism. The famous Hindu revitalist leader [[Ram Swarup]], for example, points to the [[Vedas]] as being specifically polytheistic,<ref>{{cite book|last=Goel|first=Sita Ram|title=Defence of Hindu Society|year=1987|publisher=Voice of India|location=New Delhi, India|url=http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|quote="In the Vedic approach, there is no single God. This is bad enough. But the Hindus do not have even a supreme God, a fuhrer-God who presides over a multiplicity of Gods." – Ram Swarup|access-date=2011-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> and states that, "only some form of polytheism alone can do justice to this variety and richness."<ref>{{cite book|last=Goel|first=Sita Ram|title=Defence of Hindu Society|year=1987|publisher=Voice of India|location=New Delhi, India|url=http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|access-date=2011-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Sita Ram Goel]], another 20th-century Hindu historian, wrote: {{Blockquote|I had an occasion to read the typescript of a book [Ram Swarup] had finished writing in 1973. It was a profound study of Monotheism, the central dogma of both Islam and Christianity, as well as a powerful presentation of what the monotheists denounce as Hindu Polytheism. I had never read anything like it. It was a revelation to me that Monotheism was not a religious concept but an imperialist idea. I must confess that I myself had been inclined towards Monotheism till this time. I had never thought that a multiplicity of Gods was the natural and spontaneous expression of an evolved consciousness.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goel|first=Sita Ram|title=How I became a Hindu|year=1982|publisher=Voice of India|location=New Delhi, India|page=92}}</ref>}} ====Sikhism==== {{Main|Sikhism}} [[File:Sikh Temple Manning Drive Edmonton Alberta Canada 01A.jpg|thumb|A Sikh temple, known as ''Nanaksar [[Gurudwara]]'', in [[Alberta]], Canada]] [[File:Ek onkar.svg|thumb|upright|left|[[Ik Onkar|Ik Onkār]], a [[Sikh]] symbol representing "the One Supreme Reality"]] Sikhi is a monotheistic<ref>{{cite book |last=Mark Juergensmeyer |first=Gurinder Singh Mann |year=2006 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=US |isbn=978-0-19-513798-9 |page=41 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ardinger |first=Barbara |year=2006 |title=Pagan Every Day: Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives |publisher=Weisfer |isbn=978-1-57863-332-6 |page=13 }}</ref> and a [[revealed religion]].<ref name="Nesbitt2005">{{cite book |last=Nesbitt |first=Eleanor M. |title=Sikhi: a very short introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fvTK_CfkeasC&pg=PP6 |access-date=19 July 2010 |date=15 November 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280601-7 |page=136}}</ref> [[God in Sikhism]] is called [[Akal Purakh]] (which means "The Immortal Being") or ''[[Waheguru|Vāhigurū]]'' (Wondrous Enlightener). However, other names like [[Names of God in Sikhism|Rama]], [[Brahman]], [[Khuda]], [[Allah]], etc. are also used to refer to the same God, who is [[Nirankar|shapeless]], [[akaal|timeless]], and [[Alakh Niranjan|sightless]]: ''niraṅkār'', ''akaal'', and ''alakh''. Sikhi presents a unique perspective where God is present (''[[sarav viāpak]]'') in all of its creation and does not exist outside of its creation. God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart". Sikhs follow the Aad Guru Granth Sahib and are instructed to [[Naam Japo|meditate]] on the [[Nāma|Naam]] (Name of God - ''[[Waheguru|Vāhigurū]]'') to progress towards enlightenment, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.<ref name="p252">{{cite book |last=Parrinder |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Parrinder |year=1971 |title=World Religions:From Ancient History to the Present |publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group |location=USA |url=https://archive.org/details/worldreligions00edwa |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-87196-129-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/worldreligions00edwa/page/252 252]}}</ref> Sikhism is a monotheistic faith<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religionfacts.com/sikhism/beliefs.htm |title=Sikh Beliefs and Doctrine |publisher=ReligionFacts |access-date=2012-06-05 |archive-date=2012-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612050928/http://www.religionfacts.com/sikhism/beliefs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.multifaithcentre.org/sikhism/71-a-short-introduction-to-sikhism- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727101929/http://www.multifaithcentre.org/sikhism/71-a-short-introduction-to-sikhism- |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-27 |title=A Short Introduction to Sikhism |publisher=Multifaithcentre.org |access-date=2012-06-05 }}</ref> that arose in the [[Punjab]] region of the [[Indian subcontinent]] during the 16th and 17th centuries. [[Sikh]]s believe in one, timeless, omnipresent, supreme creator. The opening verse of the [[Guru Granth Sahib]], known as the [[Mul Mantra]], signifies this: :{{lang-pa|ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥}} :[[Transliteration]]: ikk ōankār sat(i)-nām(u) karatā purakh(u) nirabha'u niravair(u) akāla mūrat(i) ajūnī saibhan<small>(g)</small> gur(a) prasād(i). :One Universal creator God, The supreme Unchangeable Truth, The Creator of the Universe, Beyond Fear, Beyond Hatred, Beyond Death, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent, by Guru's Grace. The word "ੴ" ("Ik ōaṅkār") has two components. The first is ੧, the digit "1" in [[Gurmukhi]] signifying the singularity of the creator. Together the word means: "One Universal creator God". It is often said that the 1430 pages of the [[Guru Granth Sahib]] are all expansions on the Mul Mantra. Although the Sikhs have many names for God, some derived from [[Islam]] and [[Hinduism]], they all refer to the same Supreme Being. The Sikh holy scriptures refer to the One God who pervades the whole of space and is the creator of all beings in the [[universe]]. The following quotation from the Guru Granth Sahib highlights this point: {{blockquote|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: {{blockquote| {{lang-pa|ਸਹਸ ਪਦ ਬਿਮਲ ਨਨ ਏਕ ਪਦ ਗੰਧ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਹਸ ਤਵ ਗੰਧ ਇਵ ਚਲਤ ਮੋਹੀ ॥੨॥}} <p>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.|[[Guru Granth Sahib]], Page 13}} Sikhs believe that God has been given many names, but they all refer to the One God, [[VāhiGurū]]. Sikh holy scripture (Guru Granth Sahib) speaks to all faiths and Sikhs believe that members of other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and [[Christianity]] all worship the same God, and the names [[Allah]], [[Ar-Rahim|Rahim]], [[Al-Karim|Karim]], [[Names of God in Sikhism|Hari]], Raam and [[Brahman|Paarbrahm]] are, therefore, frequently mentioned in the Sikh holy scripture (Guru Granth Sahib) . God in Sikhism is most commonly referred to as [[Akal Purakh]] (which means "The Immortal Being") or [[Waheguru]], the Wondrous Enlightener. ==Criticism== {{main|Criticism of monotheism}}{{see also|Criticism of religion}} Critics have described monotheism as a cause of ignorance, oppression, and violence. [[David Hume]] (1711–1776) said that monotheism is less pluralistic and thus less [[toleration|tolerant]] than [[polytheism]], because monotheism stipulates that people pigeonhole their beliefs into one tenet.<ref name="Hume">David Hume said that unlike monotheism, polytheism is pluralistic in nature, unbound by doctrine, and therefore far more tolerant than monotheism, which tends to force people to believe in one faith.(David Hume, ''Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and the Natural History of Religion'', ed. J. C. A. Gaskin, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 26-32.</ref> In the same vein, [[Auguste Comte]] said that "Monotheism is irreconcilable with the existence in our nature of the instincts of benevolence" because it compels followers to devote themselves to a single Creator.<ref name="Comte">[https://archive.org/details/catechismpositi00conggoog/page/n263 ''The Catechism of Positive Religion'', page 251]</ref> [[Mark S. Smith]], an American [[biblical scholar]] and ancient historian, wrote that monotheism has been a "totalizing discourse", often co-opting all aspects of a social belief system, resulting in the exclusion of "others".<ref name="Smith2001">Mark S. Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=S1tQ5Larst0C "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts]", (August 2001). p. 11. Oxford University Press. (Google Books).</ref> Jacob Neusner suggests that "the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions".<ref name="Berchman2008"> {{cite book| last1 = Berchman| first1 = Robert M.| chapter = The Political Foundations of Tolerance in the Greco-Roman Period| editor1-last = Neusner| editor1-first = Jacob| editor1-link = Jacob Neusner| editor2-last = Chilton| editor2-first = Bruce| editor2-link = Bruce Chilton| title = Religious Tolerance in World Religions| date = May 2008| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9P4TU-0zEs8C| publisher = Templeton Foundation Press| publication-date = 2008| page = 61| isbn = 9781599471365| access-date = 2016-07-03| quote = Jacob Neusner [...] claims that 'the logic of monotheism ... yields little basis for tolerating other religions.'}}</ref> Ancient monotheism is described [[Casus belli|as the instigator]] of [[violence]] in its early days because it inspired the [[Israelites]] to wage war upon the [[Canaanites]] who believed in multiple gods.<ref name="Schwartz1997">Regina Schwartz, ''The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism'', The University of Chicago Press, 1997 {{ISBN|978-0-226-74199-4}}</ref> [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] regarded monotheism as a cause of violence, saying: "The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien [beliefs and cultures]. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had moulded it on this question rather than Palestine."<ref name="Sharma2006">Arvind Sharma, "A Primal Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion", Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, p.29.</ref> ==See also== {{columns-list|colwidth=20em| *[[Seicho no Ie]] *[[Cheondoism]] *[[Tenrikyo]] * [[Criticism of monotheism]] * [[Deism]] * [[Idolatry]] * [[Intelligent design]] * [[Panentheism]] * [[Pantheism]] * [[Post-monotheism]] * [[Unmoved mover]] }} {{portalbar|Religion}} ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==Further reading== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last=Bernard |first=David K. |author-link=David K. Bernard |year=2019 |origyear=2016 |chapter=Monotheism in Paul's Rhetorical World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AD1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ: Deification of Jesus in Early Christian Discourse |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Journal of Pentecostal Theology: Supplement Series |volume=45 |pages=53–82 |isbn=978-90-04-39721-7 |issn=0966-7393 }} *{{cite book |last=Betz |first=Arnold Gottfried |year=2000 |chapter=Monotheism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA916 |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myer |editor2-first=Allen C. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=916–917 |isbn=9053565035 }} * [[William G. Dever]], ''Who Were the Early Israelites?'', Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2003. * William G. Dever, ''Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel'', Eerdmans, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0802828521}}. * Jonthan Kirsch, ''God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism.'' Penguin Books. 2005. * [[Hans Köchler]]. ''The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and Christianity''. Vienna: Braumüller, 1982. {{ISBN|3-7003-0339-4}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=zMuipwd5MTEC Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405051855/https://books.google.com/books?id=zMuipwd5MTEC |date=2023-04-05 }}). *{{cite book |last=Niehr |first=Herbert |year=1995 |chapter=The Rise of YHWH in Judahite and Israelite Religion: Methodological and Religio-Historical Aspects |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bua2dMa9fJ4C&pg=PA45 |editor-last=Edelman |editor-first=Diana Vikander |title=The Triumph of Elohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms |location=[[Leuven]] |publisher=[[Peeters Publishers]] |pages=45–72 |isbn=978-9053565032 |oclc=33819403 }} * {{cite book |last=Patai |first=Raphael |author-link=Raphael Patai |year=1990 |origyear=1967 |chapter=Lilith |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0iRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA221 |title=[[The Hebrew Goddess]] |location=[[Detroit]] |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |edition=3rd Enlarged |series=Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology |pages=221–251 |isbn=9780814322710 |oclc=20692501 }} *{{cite book |author-last=Ratzinger |author-first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Ratzinger |year=2004 |origyear=1968 |chapter=Part One: God – Chapter II: The Biblical Belief in God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJlkwvExekkC&pg=PA116 |title=[[Introduction to Christianity]] |location=[[San Francisco]] |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |edition=2nd Revised |pages=116–136 |isbn=9781586170295 |lccn=2004103523 |s2cid=169456327 }} *{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Gabriel Said |author-link=Gabriel Said Reynolds |year=2020 |chapter=God of the Bible and the Qur'an |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxHPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA203 |title=Allah: God in the Qurʾān |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=203–253 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvxkn7q4 |isbn=978-0-300-24658-2 |jstor=j.ctvxkn7q4 |lccn=2019947014 |s2cid=226129509 }} * {{cite book |last=Römer |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Römer |year=2015 |title=The Invention of God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z59XCwAAQBAJ |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |doi=10.4159/9780674915732 |isbn=978-0-674-50497-4 |jstor=j.ctvjsf3qb |s2cid=170740919 }} * Silberman, Neil A. et al.; ''The Bible Unearthed'', New York: Simon & Schuster 2001. *{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |author-link=Mark S. Smith |year=2003 |chapter=El, Yahweh, and the Original God of Israel and the Exodus |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afkRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |title=The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=133–148 |doi=10.1093/019513480X.003.0008 |isbn=9780195134803 }} *{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |year=2017 |chapter=YHWH's Original Character: Questions about an Unknown God |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LtGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |editor1-last=Van Oorschot |editor1-first=Jürgen |editor2-last=Witten |editor2-first=Markus |title=The Origins of Yahwism |location=[[Berlin]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |series=Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |volume=484 |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1515/9783110448221-002 |isbn=978-3-11-042538-3 |s2cid=187378834 }} *{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |title=The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel |publisher=Eerdmans |edition=2nd |year=2002 |isbn=978-0802839725}} *{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Peter|title=An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith|year=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-86251-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7zdDFTzNr0C}} *{{cite book |last=Van der Toorn |first=Karel |author-link=Karel van der Toorn |year=1999 |chapter=God (I) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA352 |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |title=[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=352–365 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godi |isbn=90-04-11119-0 }} *{{cite book |last=Van der Horst |first=Pieter W. |author-link=Pieter Willem van der Horst |year=1999 |chapter=God (II) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA365 |editor1-last=Van der Toorn |editor1-first=Karel |editor2-last=Becking |editor2-first=Bob |editor3-last=Van der Horst |editor3-first=Pieter W. |title=[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=365–370 |edition=2nd |doi=10.1163/2589-7802_DDDO_DDDO_Godii |isbn=90-04-11119-0 }} * Keith Whitelam, ''The Invention of Ancient Israel'', Routledge, New York 1997. {{refend}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{Library resources box}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}} * {{Commons category-inline}} {{Prone to spam|date=June 2012}} <!-- {{No more links}} Please be cautious adding more external links. 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