Download Monotheism - Mrs. Miller-FALA

Monotheism
Abrahamic- Judaism, Islam, Christianity
Eastern- Sikhism
Dying- Zoroastrianism
MonotheismDefinition
Worship of ‘One’ God
Some Religions are more monotheistic than others, EX:
Duality, Angels, Demons, trinity, semi- divine prophets, Satan
ect.
Why did some religions become monotheistic?
What are some inevitable effects of a monotheistic faith on
practitioners?
Consider throughout the presentation: As compared to
polytheistic religions, what are some benefits and drawbacks to
societies which practice monotheism?
Traits of Monotheism
Absolute Belief
Idealization of God (Platonic Forms)
Duality of good and evil in order to preserve the ‘ideal’ of God.*
Idea of Salvation, either in this world or the next
Typically more dogmatic/ structured in terms of beliefs, practice and
moral codes
Loss of ‘feminine’ elements of diety
‘Missionary’ faiths*
‘Holy Wars’
‘Revealed’ sacred texts- in a literal sense
*- Judaism is the exception
Absolute Belief
What does it mean?
What are the secondary effects of absolute belief,
positive and negative?
Idealization of God
‘God’ loses his* anthropomorphic qualities
Transition in Judaism- not immediate, as the religion
progressive over centuries, God (YHWH) becomes less
‘human’ and more revered.
Other deities lose importance
However, in Judaism, Satan is not used as a division of
evil from God- Satan means “prosecuter”- viewed as a
Shift from Polytheism/ Anthropomorphism
to Monotheism
Elohim- Plural article, singular noun
An obviously anthropomorphic expression is found in Genesis: ẓelem Elohim ("the
image of God"), and there are references to actually "seeing" God (Ex. 24:10–12;
Num. 12:8). "the mouth of the Lord" speaks to the prophets (both in Torah and
Prophets); the heavens are the work of His fingers (Ps. 8:4), and the tablets of the
covenant are written by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18). At times the personification is
startlingly extreme: God (or His voice) "walks about in the garden" (Gen. 3:8); He
"goes down" in order to see what is being done on the earth (Gen. 11:5; 18:21) or in
order to reveal Himself there (Ex. 19:18; 34:5), and He "goes up again" (Gen. 17:22;
35:13); He goes through the land of Egypt and passes over the houses of the
Israelites (Ex. 12:12–13); He sits on a throne (Isa. 6:1), causes His voice to be heard
among the cherubim who are over the ark of the tabernacle (Num. 7:89), dwells in
Zion and in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:13; 135:21); the hair of His head is as wool (Dan.
7:9); Moses sees "His back" (Ex. 33:23).
Read Genesis 6 in groups of 4 and cite at least 3 examples which illustrate this
transition.
Brief History
Judaism- The Hebrew leader Abraham founded
Judaism around 1200 B.C.
Christianity - Founded by Jesus Christ, who was
crucified around A.D. 30 in Jerusalem. It was
after his death when his followers came to believe
in him as the the Messiah from theTanakh.
Islam - Founded in Arabia by Muhammad, who is
considered to be a prophet between A.D. 610 and
A.D. 632.
Judaism Briefly
Judaism is around 3200 years old and is the oldest
of the world's four major monotheistic religions
(religions with only one God). It's also the smallest,
with only about 12 million followers around the
world.
Its holy city is Jerusalem.
The holy land is considered to be the promised
land of Canaan, which includes modern day Israel,
Palestine and portions of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria
and Egypt.
Judaism beliefs
Jews believe that there is a single God who not
only created the universe, but with whom every
Jew can have an individual and personal
relationship.
They await the Messiah, who will be an earthly
king. They believe in heaven, but that God
determines where they go after life on earth.
They are bound to the 613 commandments of the
Torah which command aspects of spiritual,
cultural and physical life.
Judaism Holy Book
The most holy Jewish book is the Torah, the first
5 books of the Tanakh. The Tanakh includes:
-Torah- Law
Kethuvim- Prophets/ Prophecy
Nevi’im- Writings (Poetry, histories, and psalms)
Others include Judaism's oral tradition, the written
form of which is known as the Talmud.
The Torah (scroll of teachings) contains the five
books revealed to Moses by God on Mount Sinai.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy
Judaism Place of Worship
Jews worship in
Synagogues or temples.
Men and women usually
sit separately.
Worship is led by a
Rabbi.
Friday evening is time for
worship, Saturday is the
‘Sabbath’
(Sun-down Friday to
Sundown Saturday)
Stamford Hill, London
Major aspects of the faith
High levels of gender inequality in
‘traditional’ and ‘Orthodox’ Judaism.
(no priestesses, God generally
described in male pronouns, Torah
disproportionately controls female
behavior ect.)
Life is to be lived according to
God’s commandments in order
to honor and keep the covenant
Afterlife is not a focus of the faith.
Breif mentions throughout the
Tanakh of ‘Sheol”, simply translating
as ‘ the grave.’ Mentions of
necromancing gives some indication
of ideas of spiritual immortality.
Emphasis on community,
equality and charity
Humans have free will, and must
choose between their own good and
evil nature- personal responsibility
No rationalization of God’s
commandments
Emphasis on otherness of
gentiles/ segregation of Jewish
from non-Jewish, led to
preservation of culture
throughout exile.
Non- missionary (unique for
monotheism)
Transformative Myths
Adam and Eve and the fall
from grace (2 contradictory
versions back to back
Genesis 1 and 2
Noah and the Flood
Genesis 6
Abraham and the Covenant
Jacob and his sons
Moses and the Exous
King David and Solomon
Babylonian Exile
Examples of female
centered stories:
Ruth and Naomi
Esther
Stories
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Ge
nesistoc.html
Pick two of the stories to read in their entirety
Zoroastrianism
Likely founded a couple
centuries before Judaism
in Persia (Modern day
Iran
First (semi) monotheistic
religion.
Religious Syncretism
throughout the Middle
Eastern region resulted in
Zoroastrian traits finding
their way into the
modern monotheistic
religions.
Zoroastrianism is nearly a
dead faith, but is
remembered for its
contributions to the
foundations of all
modern Monotheistic
faiths
Declined after the rise of
Islam in the Middle East
Duality- Zoroastrianism and the
Abrahamic faiths
Duality between Good/ Evil
Final judgment where good and evil realms will be entirely
separated
First idea of judgment based on morality after death leading to
heaven/ hell (Christianity) Paradise/ Hell (Islam)
First ‘Satan’ figure to further idealize god-’ Arhiman as
opposed to the idealized deity- Ahura Mazda
Read article: Comparisons between Judaism and
Zoroastrianism
Write 3-5 examples of syncretism between the Zoroastrianism
and the Abrahamic faiths
Write 3 specific attributes of the Zoroastrian faith