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Monolatry

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Monolatry(Ancient Greek:μόνος,romanized:monos,lit. 'single', andλατρεία,latreia,'worship') is the belief in the existence of manygods,but with the consistent worship of only one deity.[1]The termmonolatrywas perhaps first used byJulius Wellhausen.[2]

Monolatry is distinguished frommonotheism,which asserts the existence of only one god, andhenotheism,areligious systemin which the believer worships one god while accepting that others, for example in different areas, may worship different gods with equal validity[clarify].[3]

Atenism

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Main article:Atenism
PharaohAkhenatenand his family adoring the Aten

ThepharaohAkhenaten,who was initially enthroned as Amenhotep IV, initially introducedAtenismin the fifth year (approximately 1348–1346 BCE) of his reign during theEighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.He raisedAten,once a relatively obscuresolar deityrepresenting the disk of the Sun, to the status of supreme deity inancient Egyptian religion.[4]

The fifth year of his reign marked the beginning of his construction of a new capital,Akhetaten(Horizon of the Aten), at the site known today as "Amarna".Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to" Akhenaten "(Agreeable to the Aten) as evidence of his new worship. In addition to constructing a new capital in honor of Aten, Akhenaten also oversaw the construction of some of the most massivetemple complexesof ancient Egypt, including one atKarnakand one atThebes,close to the old temple ofAmun.

In his ninth year of rule (approximately 1344–1342 BCE), Akhenaten declared a more radical version of his new religion, declaring Aten not merely the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon but the only god of Egypt, with himself as the sole intermediary between the Aten and the Egyptian people. Key features of Atenism included a ban on idols and other images of the Aten, with the exception of a rayed solar disc in which the rays (commonly depicted ending in hands) appear to represent the unseen spirit of Aten. Aten was addressed by Akhenaten in prayers, such as theGreat Hymn to the Aten.

The details of Atenist theology are still unclear. The exclusion of all but one god and the prohibition of idols was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition, but most scholars see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry rather than monotheism, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshiping any but Aten. It is known that Atenism did not solely attribute divinity to the Aten. Akhenaten continued theimperial cult,proclaiming himself theson of Atenand encouraging the people to worship him.[5]The people were to worship Akhenaten; only Akhenaten and the pharaoh's wifeNefertiticould worship Aten directly.[6]

Under Akhenaten's successors, Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten himself came to be reviled as a heretic.

In ancient Israel

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JosiahHearing the Book of the Law(1873)

Some historians have argued that ancient Israel originally practiced a form of monolatry orhenotheism.[7]Old Testament scholarJohn Daysuggests thatangelsin Judaism are what became of the other gods once monotheism took over Israel.[8]John McKenziehas stated: "In the ancient Near East the existence of divine beings was universally accepted without questions. [...] The question was not whether there is only oneelohim,but whether there is any elohim likeYahweh."[9]

Some scholars[who?]claim theTorah(Pentateuch) shows evidence of monolatry in some passages. The argument is normally based on references to other gods, such as the "gods of Egypt" in theBook of Exodus(Exodus 12:12).[10]The Egyptians are also attributed powers that suggest the existence of their gods; in Exodus 7:11–13,[11]after Aaron transforms his staff into a snake, Pharaoh's sorcerers do likewise. In the ancient Near East, magic was generally believed to exist,[12]although the Israelites viewed magic as being malign in origin and were forbidden from it.

TheTen Commandmentshave been interpreted by some as evidence that the Israelites originally practiced monolatry.[13][page needed]Exodus 20:3[14]reads, "you shall have no other gods before me",[15]and they argue that the addition of "before me" at the end of the commandment indicates not only that other gods may exist, but also that they may be respected and worshiped so long as less thanYahweh.In the creation story of Genesis (3:22), Yahweh says "The man has now become likeone of us,knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. "

There is evidence that the Israelites before theBabylonian captivityin the 6th century BCE did not adhere to monotheism. Much of this evidence comes from the Bible itself, which records that many Israelites chose to worship foreign gods and idols rather than Yahweh.[16][17][original research?]

During the 8th century BCE, the monotheistic worship of Yahweh in Israel was in competition with many other cults, described by the Yahwist faction collectively asBaals.The oldest books of theHebrew Biblereflect this competition, as in the books ofHoseaandNahum,whose authors lament the "apostasy" of the people of Israel and threaten them with the wrath of God if they do not give up their polytheistic cults.[18][19][20][page needed]

On the other hand, medieval Jewish scholars often interpreted ancient texts to argue that the ancient Israelites were monotheistic. TheShema Yisraelis often cited as proof that the Israelites practiced monotheism. It was recognized byRashiin his 11th century commentary to Deuteronomy 6:4[21]that the declaration of the Shema accepts belief in one god as being only a part of Jewish faith at the time ofMosesbut would eventually be accepted by all humanity.[22]

A similar statement occurs inMaimonides' second principle of hisThirteen Principles of Faith:

God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species [which encompasses many individuals], nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity. This is referred to in the Torah [Deuteronomy 6:4]: "Hear Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

References

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  1. ^Frank E. Eakin, Jr.The Religion and Culture of Israel(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971), 70.
  2. ^Mackintosh, Robert (1916)."Monolatry and Henotheism".Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.VIII:810.RetrievedJan 21,2016.
  3. ^McConkie, Bruce R.(1979),Mormon Doctrine(2nd ed.), Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, p. 351
  4. ^Rosalie David, op. cit., p.125
  5. ^"Ancient Egypt Gods: The Aten".ancientegyptonline.co.uk.Retrieved5 April2018.
  6. ^Hart, George (2005).The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses(2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 39.ISBN978-0-415-34495-1.
  7. ^Frank E. Eakin, Jr.The Religion and Culture of Israel(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971), 70 and 263.
  8. ^John Day,"Canaan, Religion of," in David Noel Freedman, ed.,The Anchor Bible Dictionary,six volumes (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1:835.
  9. ^John L. McKenzie, "Aspects of Old Testament Thought" in Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds.,The New Jerome Biblical Commentary(New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990), 1287, S.v. 77:17.
  10. ^Exodus 12:12
  11. ^Exodus 7:11–13
  12. ^Exodus 7:11–13
  13. ^Raymond F. Collins, "Ten Commandments," in David Noel Freedman, ed.,The Anchor Bible Dictionary,six volumes (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:385.
  14. ^Exodus 20:3
  15. ^Zvi D. Bar-Kochba, "Monolatrism or Monotheism in the Book of Exodus" (Chicago, 1996) p. 2
  16. ^Ezekiel 8:9–16
  17. ^Jeremiah 2:28
  18. ^1 Kings 18, Jeremiah 2.
  19. ^Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger,Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel,Fortress Press (1998)
  20. ^Mark S. Smith,The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts,Oxford University Press (2001)
  21. ^Deuteronomy 6:4
  22. ^Scherman, p.443[full citation needed]

Further reading

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