Monotheistic religion as a type of religious worldview appeared long before the beginning of our era and represented both the personification of God and the representation and endowment of all the forces of nature with a single conscious egregor. World religions alone will endow God with personality and its qualities; others only elevate the central deity over the others. For example, Orthodox Christianity is a monotheistic religion, which is based on the image of the trinity of God.
To shed light on such a confused system of religious beliefs, it is necessary to consider the term itself from several aspects. It should be remembered that all world monotheistic religions belong to three types. These are the Abrahamic, East Asian religions and religions of America. Strictly speaking, a monotheistic religion is not one that is based on the functioning of several cults, but has a central god that rises above the rest.
Ideas of the Uniqueness of God
Monotheistic religions have two theoretical forms - inclusive and exclusive. According to the first - inclusive - theory, God can have several divine personifications provided that they are united in a whole central egregore. Exclusive theory gives the image of God transcendental personality traits.
This structure implies a deep heterogeneity. For example, deism involves a departure from the affairs of the Divine Creator immediately after the creation of the world and supports the concept of non-interference of supernatural forces in the course of the development of the Universe; pantheism implies the holiness of the universe itself and rejects the anthropomorphic appearance and essence of God; theism, on the contrary, embodies the general idea of ​​the existence of the Creator and his active participation in world processes.
Teachings of the Ancient World
The ancient Egyptian monotheistic religion, on the one hand, was a semblance of monotheism; on the other hand, it also consisted of a large number of local combined cults. An attempt to unite all these cults under the auspices of a single god, who patronized Pharaoh and Egypt, was undertaken by Akhenaten in the 6th century BC. After his death, religious beliefs returned to the previous course of polytheism.
Attempts to systematize the divine pantheon and bring it to a single personal image were undertaken by Greek thinkers Xefan and Hesiod. In the "State" Plato sets as his goal the search for the Absolute Truth, dominant over all things in the world. Later, on the basis of his treatises, representatives of Hellenistic Judaism attempted to synthesize Platonism and Judaic ideas about God. The heyday of the idea of ​​monotheistic divine essence refers to the period of antiquity.
Monotheism in Judaism
From the Jewish traditional point of view, the primacy of monotheism was destroyed during the development of mankind by its disintegration into multiple cults. Modern Judaism as a monotestic religion strictly denies the existence of any supernatural third-party forces, including gods not controlled by the Creator.
But in its history, Judaism has not always had such a theological basis. And the early stages of its development took place under the status of monolatry - a polytheistic belief in the exaltation of the main god over minor ones.
World monotheistic religions, such as Christianity and Islam, have their origins in Judaism.
The definition of the concept in Christianity
Christianity is dominated by the Old Testament Abrahamic theory of monotheism and God - as the only universal creator. However, Christianity is a monotheistic religion, the main directions of which introduce into it the idea of ​​the trinity of God in three manifestations - hypostases - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This dogma of the Trinity imposes a polytheistic or tritheistic character on the interpretation of Christianity by Islam and Judaism. According to Christianity itself, the "monotheistic religion" as a concept is fully reflected in its basic concept, but the very idea of ​​tritheism was repeatedly put forward by theologians until it was rejected by the First Council of Nicaea. However, among historians there is an opinion that in Russia there were followers of Orthodox movements that deny the trinity of God, which was patronized by Ivan the Third.
Thus, the request “explain the concept of monotheistic religion” can be satisfied by giving the definition of monotheism as faith in one God, who can have several hypostases in this world.
Islamic monotheistic views
Islam is strictly monotheistic. The principle of monotheism is proclaimed in the First Pillar of Faith: "There is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet." Thus, the axiom of the uniqueness and integrity of God - Tawhid - lies in his fundamental theory, and all rites, rituals and religious actions are called to show the Uniqueness and Integrity of God (Allah).
The greatest sin in Islam is shirk - equating other deities and personalities with Allah - this sin is unforgivable.
According to Islam, all the great prophets professed monotheism.
Baha'i specifics
This religion originates in Shiite Islam, now many scholars regard it as an independent trend, however, in Islam itself it is considered an apostate religion, and its followers in the Muslim republics were previously subjected to persecution.
The name "Bahai" comes from the name of the founder of the religion of Bahá'u'lláh ("Glory of God") - Mirza Hussein Ali, who was born in 1812 in a family of descendants of the royal Persian dynasty.
Baha'ism is strictly monotheistic. He claims that all attempts to know God will be futile and futile. The only connection between people and God is the "Epiphany" - the prophets.
A feature of Bahá'Ăs as a religious teaching is the open recognition of all religions as true, and God as one in all forms.
Hindu and Sikh monotheism
Not all world monotheistic religions have similar features. This is due to their different territorial, mental and even political origins. For example, it is impossible to draw a parallel between the monotheism of Christianity and Hinduism. Hinduism is a huge system of various rites, beliefs, local national traditions, philosophies and theories based on monotheism, pantheism, polytheism and closely related to linguistic dialects and writing. Such a broad religious structure was greatly influenced by the caste stratification of Indian society. Monotheistic representations of Hinduism are extremely complex - all deities are united in one host and created by the One Creator.
Sikhism, as a form of Hinduism, also affirms the principle of monotheism in its postulate “One God for All,” in which God is revealed by aspects of the Absolute and the individual particle of God that lives in every person. The physical world is illusory, God abides in time.
Chinese system of theological worldviews
Beginning in 1766 BC, the traditional worldview of the Chinese imperial dynasties is the veneration of Shan-Di - the "supreme ancestor", "God" - or heaven as the most powerful force (Tan). Thus, the Chinese ancient system of worldviews is a kind of the first monotheistic religion of mankind, existing before Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. God personified here, but did not acquire a bodily form, which equates Shan-Di with moism. However, this religion is not monotheistic in the full sense - in each locality there was a pantheon of small earthly deities that determine the characteristics of the material world.
Thus, at the request “explain the concept of“ monotheistic religion ”, we can say that such a religion is characterized by monism - the external world of Maya is just an illusion, and God fills the entire course of time.
One God in Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism never affirmed the idea of ​​clear monotheism, balancing between dualism and monotheism. According to his teachings, which spread in the first millennium BC throughout Iran, the supreme single deity is Ahura Mazda. In contrast to it, Angra Mainyu exists and acts - the god of death and darkness. Each person must kindle the fire of Ahur Mazda in himself and destroy Angra Mainyu.
Zoroastrianism had a significant impact on the development of the ideas of the Abrahamic religions.
America. Inca Monotheism
There is a tendency to monotheinize the religious beliefs of the Andes, where the process of uniting all the deities into the image of the god Vikarochi, for example, the rapprochement of Vikarochi himself, the creator of the world, with Pacha-Camak, the creator of people.
Thus, when compiling a rough explanation in response to the request “explain the concept of monotheistic religion,” it should be mentioned that in some religious systems gods with similar functions merge into one image over time.