The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts.The Origins of Biblical Monotheism monotheism (mŏn`əthēĭzəm) [Gr.,=belief in one God], in religion, a belief in one personal god. In practice, monotheistic religion tends to stress the existence of one personal god that unifies the universe. : Israel's Polytheistic pol·y·the·ism n. The worship of or belief in more than one god. [French polythéisme, from Greek polutheos, polytheistic : polu-, poly- + theos, god Background and the Ugaritic Texts. By Mark S. Smith (Oxford University Press, $60). In recent years, many scholars, S. included, view monotheism as a later phenomenon in Israel than older scholars, such as Albright, proposed. In part 1, S. studies polytheism polytheism (pŏl`ēthēĭzəm), belief in a plurality of gods in which each deity is distinguished by special functions. The gods are particularly synonymous with function in the Vedic religion (see Vedas) of India: Indra is the in Ugarit and concludes that the notion of a polytheistic divine family was more understandable to many ancients than monotheism. In part 2, he surveys issues like the strength and size, gender, holiness, and immorality of ancient deities and how these aspects influence the presentation of Yahweh. In the third part, he investigates the development of monotheistic emphases in Israel, especially in the postexilic post·ex·il·ic also post·ex·il·i·an adj. Of or relating to the period of Jewish history following the Babylonian captivity (after 586 b.c.). Adj. 1. period. 194 pages of text are followed by 131 pages of notes and indexes. Serious scholarship on a very serious subject, since some critics even blame monotheism for a type of discourse that excludes others and is a contributing factor in Western violence. |
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