Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T16:46:29.338Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Appearance of a Monotheism in the Religion of Israel (3rd Century BC or Later?)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Arnaud Sérandour
Arnaud Sérandour*
Affiliation:
Collège de France
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Monotheism: the word indicates a system of thought that proceeds from a recognition of the divinity of a single god to the exclusion of all other. This exclusivity distinguishes monotheism from henotheism or monolatry and explains why monotheism is a question of belief, unlike traditional eastern religions, among them the religion of the Old Testament. The paper shows that monotheism is in fact absent from the Hebrew Bible by examining in particular the Creation stories and the vocabulary of divine oneness. It is in the Roman period, particularly in Philo of Alexandria's work, that we find more properly monotheistic writing, influenced by exegesis based on cosmogonic myths, foremost among them the biblical story known as the Creation. Imperial power would have had to assume a truly universal character for the idea of a single god assuring that power to emerge from the multitude.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 2005 , pp. 33 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2005

References

Albani, M. (2000) Der eine Gott und die himmlischen Heerscharen. Zur Begründung des Monotheismus bei Deuterojesaja im Horizont der Astralisierung des Gottesverständnis im alten Orient, ABG 1. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Day, J. (2000) Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, JSOTS 265. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lang, B. (2002) The Hebrew God. Portrait of an Ancient Deity. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lemaire, A. (2003) La Naissance du monothéisme. Point de vue d’un historien. Paris: Bayard.Google Scholar
Soler, J. (2004) Aux origines du Dieu unique. L’invention du monothéisme. Paris: Hachette Littératures.Google Scholar