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Most ancient religions were polytheistic, exceptions being Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Atenism?. The belief in multiple gods does not imply the worship of multiple gods. Many polytheists believe in the existence of many gods, but worship only one. This variant of polytheism is termed henotheism. Personal experience indicates that some Christians view henotheistic polytheism as a form monotheism; All Jews and Muslims, however, view henotheism as polytheism. http://www.religioustolerance.org/gl_h.htm |
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Most ancient religions were polytheistic, exceptions being Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Atenism?. The belief in multiple gods does not imply the worship of multiple gods. Many polytheists believe in the existence of many gods, but worship only one. This variant of polytheism is termed henotheism. Some people view henotheistic polytheism as a form of monotheism; practically all Jews and Muslims, however, view henotheism as polytheism. |
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External links: * http://www.religioustolerance.org/gl_h.htm |
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This article needs a TALK section, but I am unsure how to add one. RK I disagree with this article. Henotheism is generally recognized as different from polytheism. For example, the ancient Israelites probably believed that many gods existed, although they only worshipped one; yet few call them polytheists for this belief. -- SJK I think you are conflating two different issues. The Torah (first five books of the Tanach) is vague on whether the earliest Israelites were strict monotheists in the modern day understanding of the term, or whether they were henotheists. Some passages imply the former, but others may imply otherwise. In any case, the later books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanach) make clear that no other gods were real, period. Only the God recognized by the Jewish people was held to be extantg. Maybe you could argue that before, and perhaps during, the time of Moses, some Israelites were henotheists, but this is an issue still under study, and one not likely to generate any conclusions any time soon - if ever. In any case, the Tanach teaches a strict and zealous monotheism; the only god that Jews even accepted as existing was the Jewish God (YHVH). However, at certain times some (not all) later adopted the polytheistic beliefs of the surrounding nations. That is precisely why their strict monotheist Israelite neighbors became so incensed at them, and why the Bible attacks them in the harshest of terms. RK Someone wrote - "IMHO, polytheism implies worship, not just belief" Not so. Most polytheists did not even attempt to pray to all the gods that they believed in. This was especially true of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who acknowledged the existence of a huge pantheon of gods - they even admitted that other pantheons existed! But they usually only worshipped a handful, and sometimes just one.RK The ReligiousTolerance?.Org website defines henotheism in this way: Henotheism. belief in many deities of which only one is the supreme deity. This may involve: One chief God and multiple gods and goddesses of lesser power and importance. Ancient Greek and Roman religions were of this type; One supreme God, and multiple gods and goddesses who are all simply manifestations or aspects of the supreme God. Hinduism is one example; they recognize Brahman as the single deity. Some Wiccans believe in a single deity about which they know little. They call the deity "The One" or "The All." They recognize the God and Goddess as the male and female aspects of that supreme deity; One supreme God who rules over a country, and many other gods and goddesses who have similar jurisdiction over other territories. Liberal theologians believe that the ancient Israelites were henotheists; they worshipped Jehovah as the supreme God over Israel, but recognized the existence of Baal and other deities who ruled over other tribes. : Isn't this clearly variations on polytheism, and not monotheism? (If we want to keep this quote it will need to be properly cited and rewritten to address fair-use issues. RK |
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