Monotheism As Novel

People in the West are so used to thinking in terms of one God that few realize how radically new this idea this was. It was an astounding innovation. When the Jews clung steadfastly to belief in a single God, the polytheistic tribes around them were offended because this belief challenged the very existence of their gods.

When the Roman Empire expanded to encompass most of the territory around the Mediterranean and beyond, its citizens brought with them their pantheon of gods, which in some cases were those taken over from the Greeks and given a new name. Zeus became Jupiter, Poseidon became Neptune, and so on.

Monotheism is defined in various ways, but it typically signifies exclusive monotheism, the belief that there is only one God behind creation. It also usually means God is behind ethical standards with which humans ought to comply.

Deism, a particular kind of monotheism, denies the validity of God’s self-disclosure through scripture (or any other kind of special) and focuses instead on natural theology, the view that God self-discloses through the natural world (general revelation). Its adherents usually believe that God, having created the universe, now leaves it on its own without supernatural interference. God, therefore, is not involved in human history.

What makes monotheism unusual and conceptually challenging for monotheists is how it is far more convenient to conceive of at least two gods at war with each other, one good and the other evil. If you believe in only one God, you face the challenge of trying to account for why bad things happen to good people, part of what theologians refer to as the problem of evil. There are no facile solutions to this problem, although there are certainly intriguing possibilities.

It is sometimes pointed out that, contrary to popular belief, Jews may not have been the first monotheists. In the fourteenth century BC, for example, Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten promoted a cult devoted exclusively to the sun god. Although the origins on monotheism can be debated, it seems clear that the people of Israel were the first to become and remain staunch monotheists.

Some scholars believe that over the course of their tribal history, Israelites moved from polytheism to monotheism, perhaps because God established a unique and self-revealing relationship with them, one that beckoned them away from gods that did not exist. Other scholars suggest the Israelites had always been monotheistic. and that whenever multiple gods became objects of their worship, it was an aberration. It appears from the Old Testament that discouragement and fear sometimes motivated the reversion to polytheism and therefore reflected a lack of faith.

What becomes clear when you read the Old Testament is that it reflects faith in only one God. You may debate the historical accuracy of some parts of it, or whether God encouraged the slaughter found in it, but you cannot credibly deny its staunch monotheism. Its documents are a collection of many different writings, set down in permanent form over the course of about a thousand years. Taken as a whole, they express the central belief of Judaism, captured in its prayer, the Shema, which asserts there is only one God who is to be loved and worshiped with one’s entire being.

Here, from the New Revised Standard Version, is the Old Testament text from Deutoronomy 6:4-9, on which the Shema is based: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”