Monotheism is ... Definition, concept

Before talking about monotheism as a phenomenon in world culture and the history of mankind, one must understand the immediate meaning of this term. Etymologically, the word goes back to the Greek language. Its first basis - monos - means "unity." The second - theos - is rooted in Latin. It is translated as "god." Thus, monotheism is in the literal translation "monotheism".

If there is a mono-, there must be a poly-

Obviously, in essence, one's faith in one god is opposed to the reverse realities. If you turn to history, you can see that the ancient Greeks had a whole pantheon of gods. Slavic beliefs presuppose the simultaneous existence of Dazhdbog, Makosh, Veles and many other deities. The same situation is observed in the Romans, who at one time adopted a system of beliefs from Greek culture.

If monotheism is a belief in a single god, then polytheism can be characterized by worshiping a multitude of higher beings, having an idea of two or more equal gods.

Is this phenomenon primary?

Some philosophers and experts on world religions say that monotheism, the definition of which is quite obvious from the name itself, existed in the history of mankind long before paganism - polytheism. This hypothesis can hardly be called legitimate, since the very nature of monotheism itself contradicts the laws of human development.

If you follow the evolution of people's views on higher power, you can see that initially in its role were various natural phenomena: wind, storm, sun and so on. It is only natural that a man who did not know how to resist the power of the world around him deified him. Thus in the Slavic culture appeared Yarilo, Perun and many others. The Greeks so appeared Zeus, Hera, Demeter and others. Drawing attention to this, it can be argued that monotheism - a religion more deliberate and anthropocentric - simply could not have arisen before polytheism.

Types of monotheistic religions

If you examine the most common types of beliefs, you can see that predominantly humanity has a commitment to monotheism. Even in the list of world religions the main places are fixed for monotheistic. First of all, this is, of course, Christianity. Skeptics may disagree, because in this ideology there appear at least three subjects: the father, the son and the holy spirit. If we turn to the text of Scripture, all this is the three incarnations of the one God. Islam is also a monotheistic religion, like Sikhism, Judaism and many others.

Monotheism is a fairly aggressive type of belief, and for a modern man it is much more logical than polytheism. First of all, this is connected with the very organization of the society, its management. In modern society over people there is a single highest instance: the director, president or representative of the royal family. By the way, the first step towards the establishment of monotheism did, oddly enough, the Egyptians, who recognized Pharaoh as a god on earth.

The point of view of philosophy

In fact, every philosophical doctrine, every thinker, one way or another comes to the question of religion. Since antiquity, the problem of the existence of the divine beginning has occupied one of the key positions of the works. If we consider monotheism directly, in philosophy it became particularly active in the era of the Middle Ages, since it was precisely this period that was the time of the maximum planting of religion for mankind.

As for specific opinions, Pierre Abelard, for example, argued that everything is being built for God, including philosophy. It is noteworthy that the word "god" in this case is used in the singular. In his teachings appealed to a single god (abstract) and Benedikt Spinoza, who claimed that the whole world exists because of the influence of some entity.

Even Friedrich Nietzsche, the author of the famous statement about the death of God, already claimed the monotheistic point of view with the fact of his formulation.

Monotheism in the context of world religions

Despite noticeable differences in world teachings, it should be noted that there are a lot of similarities in them. Even monotheism itself is a key similarity between different models of worship. Allah, Jesus, Yahweh - all of them, if they do some research, are similar to each other. Even in Sikhism, where there are seemingly immediately two gods - Nirgun and Sargun, everything in the end comes down to a monotheistic model. The fact is that the god of the Sikhs, embodied in every person, is the same Absolute ruling the world.

Monotheism, whose philosophy is as simple as possible on one side and incredibly complex on the other, for the modern man the model is almost the only acceptable one. This is due to the peculiarity of the present day: mankind has conquered the elements, it no longer needs to deify it, accordingly, in polytheism it is no longer necessary.