MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION

Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three major monotheistic religions, all originated in what is known
today as the Arab World. Monotheism literally means "the belief in only one God".

Judaism-the oldest of the monotheistic religions, is 3500 years old. Jews believe that God made a
promise (called the first covenant) to Abraham that he would be the father of a great people if he
followed God’s instructions. Jews believe that God renewed the covenant (the second covenant) with
Moses, who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. God also revealed the Ten Commandments to the Jews
as a set of rules to follow. The Jewish holy book is the Torah, which provides the first five books for the
Bible. Jews also study the Talmud, the most significant collection of Jewish interpretations of the Torah.
In the Arab World, there have been large populations of Arab Jews in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, and
Morocco. After the creation of Israel in 1948, many Arab Jews settled there, along with other Jews from
around the world. Today, the majority of Jews worldwide live in Israel and the United States.

Christianity- is nearly 2,000 years old, beginning around 30 CE with the death of Jesus Christ. There is
a strong Christian tradition in many parts of the Arab World. Some Arab Christians are the descendants
of the very first Christians, and the world’s oldest churches are found in the Arab World. Some church
services in the Arab World are still delivered in Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ. Most Christians
in the Arab World belong to the Eastern Rite churches, which are indigenous to the Arab World. These
include - the Catholic Antiochian Orthdox (Greek Orthodox), the Catholic Maronite and Melkite
churches, Syrian Orthodox churches, and the Egyptian Coptic Church. Most Iraqi Christians belong to the
Catholic Chaldean Church. A smaller number of Arab Christians are Protestants converted by 19th
century missionaries in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. Today, significant populations of Arab Christians
also live in Iraq and Egypt

Islam- is almost 1,300 years old and recognizes Moses, Jesus, and many others as prophets. The
Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE) was born in Mecca, in present-day Saudi Arabia, and is considered
the last of the prophets. Muslims believe that Islam began in 610 CE when Muhammad started receiving
revelations from God, or Allah in Arabic. These revelations are recorded in the Qur’an, the holy book of
Islam. There are two main branches in Islam: Sunni and Shi’a. A split occurred shortly after the death of
Muhammad over the question of who was to lead the Muslims. The Shi’a believed that Muhammad pre-
selected Imam Ali, his cousin and son-in-law. The Sunnis believed that the leader should be chosen
through consultation and election. Today about 85-90% of the Muslim population worldwide are Sunni.
In the Arab World most of the Shi’a live in Lebanon and Iraq. A small minority of Muslims are Druze, a
branch of Islam found mostly in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
Monotheism -has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world,
is all-powerful and intervenes in the world.[1][2][3] A broader definition of monotheism is the belief in
one god.[4][5][6][7] A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive
monotheism and pluriform (panentheistic) monotheism which, while recognising various distinct gods,
postulate some underlying unity.[8] 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 monolatrism, the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent
worship of only one deity.[9] The term "monolatry" was perhaps first used by Julius Wellhausen.[10]

The broader definition of monotheism characterizes the traditions of Bábism, the Bahá'í Faith, Balinese
Hinduism, Cao Dai (Caodaiism), Cheondoism (Cheondogyo), Christianity, Deism, Eckankar, Hindu sects
such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism, Islam, Judaism, Mandaeism, Rastafari, Seicho no Ie, Sikhism,
Tengrism (Tangrism), Tenrikyo (Tenriism), Yazidism, and Zoroastrianism, and elements of pre-
monotheistic thought are found in early religions such as Atenism, ancient Chinese religion, and
Yahwism.

Man and Religion is a topic near and dear to the hearts of many people. Even those who are not
religious can have difficulty discussing religion, because believers may become offended. Still, religion is
an important part of culture that has to be studied if we're to advance the understanding of human
behavior and societies. Human is the operative word here. Anthropologists and other social scientists
study religious belief systems for what they tell us about human beings, rather than to find any kind of
universal religious truth. Many modern religious belief systems are monotheistic, but what does this
mean?

What Is Monotheism?

Theism is the belief in some kind of god or gods, while atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods.
Among theists, monotheism is the belief in a single god, while polytheism is the belief in multiple gods.
Note that henotheism is a belief in multiple gods, though one is more important than the others.
Modern faiths include a variety of monotheistic, polytheistic and atheistic beliefs.

Monotheism Yesterday: Egyptian & Zoroastrianism

So, what was the very first monotheistic faith? There's actually no clear answer to that. The Egyptian
deity, Aten, was declared the one and only god by the pharaoh Akhenaten around 1350 BCE. Akhenaten
went so far as the strike out references to the other gods and make them reference only a singular
divine figure, Aten the sun god.

The Persian religion of Zoroastrianism began around 1000 BCE. This faith focused upon a single god,
Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians also believed in an evil god-like being called Angra Mainyu, which is similar
to the modern Western concept of the devil. Hinduism, one of the world's earliest religions with roots
dating back to 2000 BCE, is also an interesting case, as it has some followers who may be properly called
monotheists. However, this monotheistic tradition dates back to around 900 CE, and so this tradition
can't be called the oldest.

Nevertheless, in the case of both Atenism and Hinduism, their monotheistic traditions can be seen as
developing from polytheistic sources. Both of these religious traditions have preceding traditions that
feature multiple gods. These faiths likely progressed through a sort of henotheism in which a single deity
became prominent. In the case of Atenism, this was due to a concerted effort by Akhenaten to erase the
old gods. With Hindu monotheism, all the gods can be said to be different forms of Brahman, the all-
pervading god principle. Monotheism as a Category of Religion

Monotheism is perhaps the most discussed and debated category of religious classification. Unlike
other religious classifications, monotheism has often been associated with an "ideal" for which all
religions should strive. Many faiths have put forward great amounts of effort to champion monotheism,
considering it to be the supreme form of religiosity. Monotheism has even been, on occasion, placed on
a pedestal in academia—religious scholars and theologians viewed it for decades as the most "rational"
way of conceiving of God—and often placed on an evolutionary hierarchy above more "primitive" ways
of viewing divinity such as polytheism or animism.

The term "monotheism" was coined in 1660 by Henry More (1614-1687), a member of the Cambridge
Platonists, in order to better organize and categorize religions on a continuum (as progressing in an
evolution from "primitive" levels such as animism through to polytheism, eventually ending up at
monotheism). Monotheism was seen as the most "civilized" notion for conceiving of divinity and placed
at the top of this hierarchy. Scholars such as Max Müller (1823-1900) believed that monotheistic
religions such as Islam and Christianity were reflections of advanced civilizations and advanced levels of
thought. Although the theory of "Ur-monotheism" or original monotheism was put forward by Wilhelm
Schmidt (1868-1954) in a series of volumes beginning in 1912 to claim, in direct opposition to this
evolutionary viewpoint, that monotheism was the original belief of humankind, and that subsequent
beliefs such as polydaemonism and pantheism, among others, gradually arose out of the degeneration
of this primordial monotheism, nevertheless this theory has been largely discredited in academic circles.
Early History

Monotheism has been found in a variety of cultures around the world, and is not exclusive to
technologically advanced societies. However, scholars dispute the exact origin of monotheism. Some
suggest that monotheism first arose in the religion of Zoroastrianism. Others have argued that Egypt
was the birthplace of monotheism, while Jews often consider their religion to be the original form of
monotheism.

Zoroastrianism
Among these theories, Zoroastrianism has wide support for being the earliest example of monotheistic
belief in history. Zarathustra founded Zoroastrianism sometime during the long time-span between the
eighteenth and sixth centuries B.C.E. by turning against the polytheistic ritualism that was prevalent
among Indo-Iranian religions at that time. In doing so, he unified the various notions of divinity found
within these faiths into one all-encompassing deity called Ahura Mazda. It is said that Ahura Mazda
implements his will on the world by way of six angels, or Amesha Spentas, which represent
indispensable moral principles. Ahura Mazda is described as inherently good, just and moral, and as
such creates only good things. As for the existence of evil, this is explained by two subsidiary spirits who
Ahura Mazda is said to have fathered. Spenta Manyu is the good one, while Angra Manyu is evil;
because of the polarity of their natures, these two spirits were said to have feuded since the beginning
of time. Thus, Ahura Mazda, while supreme, is not completely omnipotent, as the realm of evil is beyond
his control, an idea that lessens the extent to which Zoroastrianism can be considered genuinely
monotheistic. However, Ahura Mazda is consistently portrayed as victorious over evil, which marks him
as the supreme entity. Hence, Zoroastrianism can be considered dualistic monotheism, a subtype of
monotheism where a monarchical God representing good stands opposed to less powerful evil forces.
Such monotheism remained prevalent in Zoroastrian belief as Zarathustra taught it; however, later
teachings brought older Indo-Iranian gods back into the Zoroastrian mythology, marking it as
distinctively polytheist.

Aten cult in Egypt

The Aten cult, which existed during the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten in the fourteenth
century B.C.E., represents another possible origin for monotheism. Those under Akhenaten's
predecessor Pharoah Amenhotep IV seem to have worshipped Amen-Re, the god representing the sun,
above and beyond all others within a pantheon. Upon inheriting the throne, Akhenaten made the
previously unheralded god Aten, synonymous with the solar disk, the single most powerful entity. In
contrast to the previous gods that had been primarily the focus of public ritual in temples, Aten came to
represent a more personal conception of the divine. With Aten's singular power established, Akhenaten
demanded that no other images of god be made save for those of the sun disk. This lead to the
iconoclastic destruction of idols dedicated to the other gods. Conceivably, the impetus for such actions
was the belief that no other god was tantamount to their preferred deity. Such a theology subtly
acknowledges the existence of the other gods, but only as foes to be destroyed due to the fact that they
draw attention away from the primary deity. As such, this could be classified as monarchic monotheism,
where one god is believed to reign supreme over many gods (see also Henotheism).

The Middle East

Zoroastrian and Egyptian monotheism had major influence on the monotheistic religions that would
develop in the Middle East. Several archaeologists and biblical critics alike have posited the controversial
claim that many stories in the Old Testament were actually developed by scribes employed by King
Josiah (seventh century B.C.E.) to rationalize monotheistic belief in YHWH. This theory observes that
neighboring countries, such as Egypt and Persia, (despite keeping written records), had no writings
about the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 B.C.E. Thus, it seems that the Zoroastrian
and Egyptian conception of singular divinity may have found its way into the Abrahamic traditions by
way of these shared mythologies. Judaism received undeniable influences from various pre-biblical
religions of Egypt and Syria. This is evident in the Torah's extensive references to Egypt and Egyptian
culture in Genesis and the story of Moses, as well as the mention of Hittite and Hurrian cultures of Syria
in the Genesis story of Abraham. One example of such influence could be the iconoclasm carried out
during Akhenaten's rule, which represents a possible origin for the subsequent destruction of idols
which Moses ordered of the Israelite people as they came to recognize Yahweh exclusively. As well, in a
process parallel with the Egyptians, ancient Israelite culture seems to have moved from henotheism to
monotheism; just as Aten came to primacy over the other Egyptian gods, so too did Yahweh rise to
supremacy. Recently discovered artifacts suggest that in some sections of Israelite society, Yahweh was
actually believed to exist within the Canaanite pantheon, among others. Fourteenth-century B.C.E. texts
found at Ugarit describe mythical battles between Yahweh and various other Canaanite gods, with
Yahweh consistently emerging as the champion. Like the Egyptians' Aten, the victorious Yahweh came to
be known in a more personalized form than these previous gods of ritual. Some thinkers, most notably
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), have gone so far as to suggest that Moses was himself an Egyptian, and
received the idea of monotheism directly from Akhenaten before bestowing it upon the Semitic peoples.
However, the conjecturable historical methodology Freud employed for making such an assertion was
extremely tenuous and highly incompatible with the Jewish tradition.

Ancient Greece

The Greeks were also among the first cultures to propound monotheistic ideals, at least in a
philosophical sense. Generally, the idea of a unified, divine principle was seen by the Greeks to express a
sense of reasonableness or order in the cosmos. For Pre-Socratic philosophers, including Xenophanes,
such an idea seemed to be the highest manifestation of religious thought. For example, Xenophanes
depicted the spiritual union of the so-called "All-One" as uncreated, unchangeable, and ubiquitous
throughout the universe. Plato construed the ultimate principle as a unity of the good, and identified
God this way. In a world of evil, in constant flux, God represented the single good, which was ultimately
unchanging in its embodiment of perfection. Likewise, Aristotle conceived of a First Mover who derives
from physical unity; that is, a solitary supreme being who is one, eternal, and immutable.

Forms of Monotheism in the World's Religions

Biblical and Judaic monotheism

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were the first monotheists, but their descendants are said to have
become disconnected with this idea over the ages. Instead, the various cultures of the world took to
worshipping either idols, animistic natural forces, or celestial bodies by way of astrology, forgetting the
one and only true God. Thus, when the Lord promised Abraham the land of Canaan and a legacy of
ancestors, he commanded that in return he shall be their lone God. Even Abraham's father, Terah, was
an idol manufacturer who served a number of false gods (Joshua 24:2). However, from the age of three,
Abraham questioned the divine authenticity of such images. Upon realizing God's oneness, Abraham
promptly destroyed his father's idols. Thus, Abraham's monotheistic vision came to represent the key
element of early Israelite religion, and served the purpose of combating the rampant idolatry and
polytheism that had come to characterize surrounding religions. As such, Abraham and his kinfolk were
able to effectively distinguish themselves from other faiths within the geographic region, and propagate
their new beliefs. Because of Abraham's efforts to spread the belief in one God after sealing the new
covenant, the Jewish tradition considers Abraham to be the father of monotheism. This sentiment is
reverberated in both Christianity and Islam, allowing these three monotheistic faiths to be classified
under the umbrella term of Abrahamic religions.

Despite this popular biblical narrative, it is still disputed whether God in the earlier parts of Genesis was
one or many. Genesis 1:26 has been the subject of much contention: "And Elohim said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth."[1] Such a verse suggests there were multiple entities involved in the creation of the earth.
However, linguistic factors must be taken into consideration. Elohim is morphologically plural in Hebrew,
but generally takes singular agreement when it refers to the God of Israel, and yet in this case the "our"
and "us" seems to create a presumption of plurality. Whatever possibility of henotheistic or polytheistic
intention this verse may suggest is certainly precluded by the contents of the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
Throughout the book, in both events and teachings, the aforementioned idolaters and polytheists
become the anathema of the ideal monotheistic Israelite religion. God is also quite clear as to where he
stands in this regard. For example, when Moses returned with the Ten Commandments, the very first
law stated, "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). Monotheism, then, became the
central tenet of the Jewish religion.

Many scholars argue that development of monotheism was important for creating a unified state of
Israel in the Ancient Near East, where the high god El coexisted with many family, tribal and city gods. A
key passage is found in a story in which God appears to Moses in a burning bush and says, "I am
Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by my name
Yahweh I did not make myself known to them" (Exodus 6:2-3). Scholars believe that Yahweh was the
god of Midian and the family of Moses' wife. This story argues that all Israelites really worshipped the
same God, but were using different names. Therefore all the tribes of Israel could live together in
religious peace. In some cases family gods were more like guardian angels watching over individuals and
were prayed to as intercessors, not as gods. To the extent they were worshipped, this would have a
form of henotheism.

This foundational focus on monotheism continues even today. Judaism claims that the Torah provides
the clearest textual source for the introduction and further development of what is often called "ethical
monotheism." This term entails two principles: first, that there is one God from whom emanates one
morality for all humanity; and secondly, that God's primary request is that people act decently toward
one another.[2]

Christianity

Christians believe in the one God of their Jewish origins, but nuance their monotheism with the doctrine
of the Trinity. The classic Christian "three in one, one in three" formula was first developed by the
theologian Tertullian at the beginning of the third century C.E. Christians generally profess that the one
God is manifest in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit/Ghost. The
Father is said to be the God the creator who has been present before time and during creation. The Son,
Jesus, is said to be God the savior incarnate in human flesh, an affirmation of the absolute supreme
being in real human life who makes possible the redemption of humanity. The Holy Spirit, meanwhile, is
said to represent the ongoing revelation touching the hearts of human beings.

Despite the idea that these three seemingly different persons manifest themselves separately, the
power of the one transcendent God is never diluted or mitigated by their manifestations. While the
human perception of God's revelation may change, the one supreme reality of God never changes.
Typically, Christian orthodoxy holds that these three persons are not independent but are instead
homoousios (a Greek transliteration), meaning that they share the same essence or substance of
divinity. However, critics have suggested that the Trinity in itself refers to three separate Gods and, as
such, is a form of tritheism.

The theological intricacies of the Trinity have caused many debates, and spurred the development of
some minority Christian denominations and sects that deny the idea of Trinity, such as the Jehovah's
Witnesses and the Unitarians. For the Jehovah's Witnesses, God is the creator and supreme being, while
Jesus Christ was created by God. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ, preceding his pre-human
existence, was actually the Archangel Michael. They teach that since Jesus possesses angelic (and not
inherently divine traits), he has subordinate status to God. Further, the Holy Spirit they claim is God's
means of acting rather than the third person of the Trinity. Unitarians, who are influenced by Deism,
hold that God is one being consisting of only one person, the Father. Further, they accept the moral
authority, but not the divinity, of the son Jesus, bolstering the idea of unchallenged oneness for the
creator alone.

Islamic monotheism

At the very core of the Islamic tradition is monotheism. Like the other Abrahamic faiths, Islam asserts
that monotheism is as old as humanity, and is the ultimate form of religious faith degrading into various
forms of polytheism and idolatry over time. However, in Islam more so than Judaism or Christianity,
monotheism is the linchpin by which the entirety of the belief system is held together. Islam has a
simple but pointed philosophy concerning monotheism: there is only one God (called "Allah") and no
others, period. There is no Trinity, as in Christianity, and no claims (such as that in Genesis 1:26) which
might suggest numerous creative entities. Rather, Allah alone is the sole entity for worship. There is no
existence or supernatural powers to be worshipped other than Allah; Allah is all truth and the source of
all creation. Allah created the universe by himself, and is also self-created. His power is not depleted in
any way on the basis of what he has created.

The utmost determinant of Islamic faith centers on the Shahadah (‫)الشهادة‬, or the Islamic creed, which
declares and affirms Muslim belief in the unity of God (Allah in Arabic) and the prophethood of
Muhammad. Its recitation is considered to be one of the Five Pillars of Islam by Sunni Muslims. To
bestow Allah's indivisible reality upon another god is considered by Muslims to be a lie, and stands as
the only sin which Allah will not forgive. Moreover, rewards and punishment in both earthly life and the
Bahá'í Faith
The oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. In Bahá'í belief, God is omnipotent,
omniscient, and perfect. Bahá'ís believe that, although people have different concepts of God and his
nature and call him by different names, everyone is speaking of the same Being. The obligatory prayers
in the Bahá'í Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony. The Bahá'í Faith also accepts the authenticity
of the founders of faiths with monotheism such as Vaishnavism, which focuses on worship of Krishna as
God, and even what are sometimes interpreted as atheistic teachings, such as Buddhism. Bahá'ís believe
in the unity of religion and that revelation is progressive, and therefore interpret earlier non-
monotheistic religions as simply less mature understandings of the unity of God. In regards to the
Trinity, Bahá'ís believe that it is symbolic of the light from the one God being reflected on pure mirrors,
which are Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Hinduism
Since Hinduism is a blanket term referring to a variety of religious traditions existing in India, the types
of religious views subsumed under the title are also multifarious. Hindu philosophies include monism,
dualism, pantheism, and panentheism, among others. Also, Hinduism has been alternatively classified as
monistic by some scholars, and as monotheism by others. Despite the fact that early Hinduism is
popularly viewed as polytheistic, monotheistic ideas are very clearly stated in the earliest scriptures of
the Hindus, known as the Vedas. The very first book of the Rig Veda states: "To what is One, sages give
many a title."[3]

Even though Vedic Hinduism is replete with stories of many gods such as Indra, Usha, and Varuna, this
quotation from scripture suggests that early Hindu rishis (seers) had already become aware of a deeper,
more unified reality underlying the stories of the many gods. Whether this unified reality was viewed as
monistic or monotheistic is still debated today.

The Upanishads developed this concept of a deeper oneness even further. They labeled this deeper
reality as Brahman, which they described as unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality
that is the Divine Ground of all being. This Supreme Reality is regarded as the source and sum of the
cosmos; eternal and genderless, yet utterly beyond description. The concept of Brahman in the Hindu
tradition could allow the religion to be classified under what scholars refer to as emanational mystical
monotheism, where humans come into communion with one ineffable God or monistic principle
through various tangible manifestations of that principle. However, this is a point of contention, since
Brahman is also beyond being and non-being alike, and thus does not adequately fit with the usual
connotations of the word God, and perhaps even the concept of monism.

Contemporary Hinduism is divided into four major divisions, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and
Smartism. These denominations all believe in one deity or deities but differ in their various conceptions
of God. Vaishnavites conceive of God as Vishnu, and Shaivites conceive of God as Shiva. These
denominations, then, can be said to follow a singular concept of God, which would classify their beliefs
as panentheistic monotheism or panentheistic monism. Smartas, who follow Advaita philosophy, are
monists, and accept each of the multiple manifestations of the one source of being as equally valid.
Smarta monists see all the personal gods as unified, representing different aspects of one supreme
being, like a single beam of light separated into colors by a prism. Because they are all from the same
source, any of these gods are valid for the purposes of worship. Some of the aspects of God commonly
worshipped in the Smarta school include goddesses such as Devi and Durga, as well as gods such as
Vishnu, Ganesha, and Shiva. It is the Smarta view that dominates Hinduism in its Western incarnation, as
Smarta belief includes Advaita. Advaita was the belief of Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), the first
Hindu saint to successfully transport Hinduism to the West, and ever since this philosophy has thrived in
the Diaspora. It was not until much later that gurus, such as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in
the 1960s, brought the Vaishnavite perspective to the West. Additionally, many Hindus, including
Smartas, believe in Brahman as having three aspects as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, otherwise known as
the Trimurti (also called the Hindu trinity). These different aspects are part of the one and the same
God.

Sikhism
Sikhism is another monotheistic faith that arose in northern India in the fifteenth century. The opening
verse of the Guru Granth Sahib, known as the Mool Mantra, exemplifies their firm belief in monotheism.
In English, this statement reads: "One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being
Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent."[4] Thus, even
before discussing the details of faith and practice, the Sikh holy book proclaims the oneness of God,
illustrating the importance of this idea to the faith. It is often said that the 1,430 pages of the Guru
Granth Sahib that follow the opening affirmation of monotheism are all expansions on this Mool
Mantra.

Sikhs believe in one, timeless, omnipresent, and supreme creator. God is the truth that never changes,
existing as an independent reality that is also prevalent in worldly forms. God, completely pure in his
essential nature, manifests himself within the many earthly forms without forfeiting any of the
transcendence that characterizes his abstract nature. In the worldly plane, God creates and preserves
the whole of existence by himself. In Sikhism God is seen as the one divine monarch for all people,
regardless of nation, race, or gender. This God is the ultimate and final destination of all creatures, since
every finite thing, animate or inanimate, was created as a manifestation of God. Thus, material creation
is not eternal; however, it is not illusory, either, as in other Indian traditions. Instead, everything in the
world is conceived to have been created out of the one God, and thus, everything is itself an aid to the
understanding of God in the tangible world.

Other forms

Some argue that there are additional ways to nuance the understanding of monotheism. For example,
Monistic theism taught by Ramanuja (1017-1137) suggests that the universe is part of God, although
there are a plurality of souls within this supreme being. Pantheism holds that the universe itself is God,
and the existence of a transcendent supreme beyond nature is denied. Panentheism is a form of theism
that holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the universe. The One God is omnipotent and all-
pervading, the universe is part of God, and God is both immanent and transcendent. This is the view of
Vishistadvaita Vedanta Hinduism. According to this school, the universe is part of God, but God is not
equal to the universe. Rather, God transcends the universe. Substance monotheism, found in some
indigenous African religions, holds that the many gods are different forms of a single underlying
substance, and that this underlying substance is God. This view has vague similarities to the Christian
trinitarian view of three persons sharing one nature.

Monotheism can also be divided into different types on the basis of its attitude towards polytheism. For
example, emanational mystical monotheism claims that all polytheistic deities are just different names
for the single monotheistic God: As discussed earlier in the case of Smartism, such beliefs holds that God
is one but has different aspects and can be called by different names. Exclusive monotheism, on the
other hand, claims that any deities other than the one true God are false and distinct from the one God.
That is, they are invented, demonic, or simply incorrect. Exclusive monotheism is also a well-known
tenet in the beliefs of the Abrahamic religions.

Monotheism Violent or Benevolent?

Numerous people have observed and commented that monotheistic religions such as Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, in spite of their fundamental ethical and moral guidelines on benevolence and
love, have actually been far more violent and intolerant, causing far more wars and conflicts, than non-
monotheistic religions. Such negative characters of monotheism have been attributed to its adherence
to an absolutist, theological thesis that only my God is God. According to book columnist and author
Jonathan Kirsch, who wrote God Against the Gods in 2005, the monotheistic idea of only one God tends
to bring forth a strict demand for intolerance of others holding different creeds, and although
polytheism may not be entirely free from intolerance, nevertheless monotheism is far more intolerant
than polytheism because violent monotheists kill to gain theological as well as political dominance, while
violent polytheists do so to gain only political control.[5]

It seems that ironically monotheism has been guilty of idolatry which it has been denouncing. Some
have argued that "monotheistic idolatry" idolizes the idea of only one God instead of properly
worshipping God himself. According to them, however, if monotheism overcomes idolatry, its
fundamental teachings on God's benevolence and love will come to the fore, and its problem of violence
can evaporate. For example, Emil Brunner held that if we go beyond the idolatrous nature of
monotheistic "objectivism" as well as the egotistic nature of "subjectivism," the truth will be revealed as
"personal encounter" of love between God and us.[6] In fact, the Hebrew Bible promotes an ethic of
charity, generosity, social justice, and peace trying to taking care of the widow, the orphan, the poor,
and the foreigner. Similar teachings on love and peace are found genuinely in other monotheistic
religions as well.