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Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. Various forms of monotheism exist, including:
- Theism, a term that usually refers to the belief in a 'personal' god, that is, a single god with a distinctive personality, rather than just a divine force.
- Deism is a form of monotheism in which it is believed that one god exists, however, a Deist comes to his belief through reason, and rejects any religious revelations such as the Bible, the Tanakh, or the Qur'an.
- Monistic Theism is the type of monotheism found in Hindu culture. Such type of theism is different from the Semitic religions as it encompasses panentheism, monism, and at the same time includes the concept of a personal God as an universal, omnipotent Supreme Being.
- Pantheism holds that the Universe is God. Depending on how this is understood, such a view may be tantamount to atheism, deism or theism.
- Panentheism is a form of theism that holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. This is also the view of Process theology and also Hinduism. According to Hinduism, the universe is part of God but God is not equal to the universe but in fact transcends it as well. However, unlike Process theology, God in Hinduism is omnipotent. Panentheism is thought of as "God is within the universe as the soul is within the body". By some accounts, panentheism is also called monistic theism in Hinduism. But since process theology is also included in the broad definition of panenetheism and does not accept an omnipotent supreme being, the Hindu view would be called monistic theism.
In contrast, see Polytheism, which holds that there are many gods. Dualism teaches that there are two independent divine beings or eternal principles, the one good, and the other evil, as set forth especially in Zoroastrianism, but more fully in its later offshoots in Gnostic systems, such as Manichaeism.
Most monotheists would say that, by definition, monotheism is incompatible with polytheism. However, devotees within polytheistic religious traditions often behave like monotheists. This is because a belief in multiple gods does not imply the worship of multiple gods. Historically, many polytheists believe in the existence of many gods, but worship only one, considered by the devotee to be the supreme being. This practice is termed henotheism. There are also monotheistic theologies in Hinduism which teach that the many forms of God, i.e., Vishnu, Shiva, or Devi merely represent aspects of a single or underlying divine power or Brahman.(please see articles on Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman.)
Hinduism never taught polytheism and has been often misunderstood. Please see web site, [1] (http://www.hinduism-today.com/archives/2003/10-12/44-49_four_sects.shtml) for clarification.
Worship of a single god within a pantheon may also evolve into a form of monotheism, as in the case of the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton, under the wifely influence of the Eastern-originating Nefertiti.
Zoroastrianism is considered by some to be the earliest monotheistic view to have evolved among mankind, though it is not fully so, as the chief god Ahura Mazda is not the sole creator. It has been theorized that Judaism was influenced by Zoroastrianism as well as by Greek philosophy before arriving at its modern monotheistic view of God. Earlier Judaism is assumed to have claimed only that Yahweh was a tribal deity who was the patron of the descendants of Abraham, or that there were many gods but that theirs was the most powerful. This view is not compatible with the modern self-understanding of the Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - which traditionally insist that exclusive monotheism is the original religion of all mankind, all other gods being viewed as idols and creatures which wrongly came to be worshipped as deities.
Several professors of archeology claim that many stories in the Old Testament, including important chronicles about Moses, Solomon, and others, were actually made up for the first time by scribes hired by King Josiah (7th century BCE) in order to rationalize monotheistic belief in Yahweh. Evidently, the neighboring countries that kept many written records, such as Egypt, Persia, etc., have no writings about the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 BCE. Such claims are detailed in "Who Were the Early Israelites?" by William G. Dever, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI (2003). Another such book by Neil A. Silberman and colleagues is "The Bible Unearthed," Simon and Schuster, New York (2001).
Though Christians believe in a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit (often collectively called the Trinity), most Christians characterize their belief in a Trinity as monotheistic. This is deemed possible through a mechanism beyond human comprehension whereby the three share the same substance. However, many Jews, Muslims, and some Christians such as Unitarians question this classification and consider Christianity as a form of Tritheism. Moreover, some minority sects of Christianity, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, are strict monotheists in the Jewish or Muslim sense, while others, such as some sects of Mormonism, worship only one god, but are open to the existence of others.
Monotheism can be divided into different types on the basis of its attitude to polytheism: inclusive monotheism claims that all polytheistic deities are just different names for the single monotheistic God; exclusive monotheism claims that these deities are distinct from the monotheistic God, and false (either invented, or demonic, in nature.)
In Hinduism views are broad and range from monism, dualism, pantheism, panentheism, alternatively called monistic theism by some scholars, and strict monotheism, but are not polytheistic as outsiders perceive the religion to be. Hinduism has often been confused to be polytheistic as many of Hinduism's adherents are monists, and view multiple manifestations of the one God or source of being. Hindu monists see one unity, with the personal Gods, different aspects of only One Supreme Being, like a single beam of light separated into colours by a prism, and are valid to worship. Some of the Hindu aspects of God include Devi, Vishnu, Ganesh, and Siva. Additionally, like Judaeo-Christian religions which believe in angels, Hindus also believe in less powerful entities, such as devas.
Contemporary Hinduism is now divided into four major divisions, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Just as Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in one God but differ in their conceptions of him, Hindus all believe in one God but differ in their conceptions. The two primary form of differences are between the two monotheistic religions of Vaishnavism which conceives God as Vishnu and Shaivism, which conceives God as Shiva. Other aspects of God are in fact aspects of Vishnu or Shiva; see Smartism for more information.
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