We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. This is true in the largest monotheistic religious systems: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism. It is true that the Hebrew appellation for their deity, אֱלֹהִים (Elohim), is a masculine plural form of the word we know as the Arabic name for the Muslim god, ألله (Allah). It reduces all other supernatural beings to the level of angels, spirits, and the like. It should be noted at the outset, however, that this is chiefly a western difficulty: the Indian mind is much more inclined to regard divergent views as complementary rather than competing. Judaism is the world's oldest monotheistic religion. The religion, which began in the 1930s, was started in Jamaica, and is associated with dreadlocks, marijuana smoking, and chanting. Jews address their god by a variety of names, including "God" and YHWH, which is sometimes pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah. However, all of these things are symbolic, and followers of the religion, which are close to 1,000,000 people, also believe that Haile Selassie, the former Ethiopian emperor, is the Second Coming o… Originally a sect of Judaism, Christianity’s monotheism is different, i.e., God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit define separate divine persona. These groups are all Jewish but they lack commonalities in dress, food, and 2,000 years of language and history. And since historical books such as Judges and Kings state that the Israelites continued to worship other gods throughout their history, these scholars conclude that even the requirement of monolatry was not widely accepted in Israel until shortly before the Babylonian exile, or even later. Judaism was the first monotheistic religion that continued to exist and impact world history. Though the author does not present the latter view in as much depth, it has scholarly approval as well. The Father is God. There were some claims, for example in the 1st 2 chapters of Moses and Monotheism by Freud, that early Judaism was basically a spin-off of Akhenaten's religion. All Rights Reserved. Click again to see term 👆. So far as our evidence goes, therefore, ever since the time of Moses most Israelites seem to have regarded only YHVH as an independently effective divine power, and that belief is most simply explained as due to the teachings of Moses himself. So far as we can tell from the Bible and from archaeological evidence, most Israelites were de facto monotheistic ever since the time of Moses. 3 I. JUDAISM The laws of Exodus infer from those events only that Israel must not worship other gods; since laws do not normally deal with theological matters, they do not discuss the question of whether other gods exist. Christianity is truly a monotheistic religion because the Blessed Trinity is one God in three Divine persons who are co-equal in all things. Monotheism is a belief in only one divine being or God and this belief is based on the words of Moses in one of his books. EQ Explain the similarities and differences between the worlds three largest monotheistic religions. 10 11. Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to set … The Jews claimed that there is only one true God who created everything. Judaism is an "ethical monotheistic" religion, meaning that its conception of what counts as moral and ethical behavior is derived from a single deity. Followers of Judaism believe in one God who revealed himself through ancient prophets. The idea of one being three and three being one is far removed from a monotheistic vision of a deity. Judaism, Christianity, And Islam 1053 Words | 5 Pages. Judaism - is the world's first recorded monotheistic faith is the religion of the Jews. 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. Christianity is the largest religion in the world, with an approximate following of 2.2 billion people. For the sake of clarity it is important that we define the terminology that is used in discussing this issue. Some Israelites also worshiped supernatural beings and phenomena that were part of the Lord’s heavenly retinue, apparently in the belief that God himself required people to honor His subordinates. Judaism began around 2000 BCE when, according to Jews, God established a special covenant with Abraham. There is no evidence that these worshipers believed these beings to be independent of YHVH or on par with Him. Monotheism theism "having to do with god" Word Prefix and Root Meaning Examples 2. 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