Abraham and Monotheism

[JPUSC]

If Adam and Eve obviously knew the true God, why is Abraham regarded as the founder of monotheism?

If every person on earth is descended from Adam and Eve, wouldn’t their faith in the true God be passed from generation to generation?

What were the religions that predated the Abrahamic religions?

 

[gamesport]

Not sure why some people call him the “founder.” I think he is usually called the Father of the 3 main religions of the world.

Abel and Cain certainly offered sacrifices, and worshipped the true God, so it perhaps liberal scholars, doing their “thing”

 

[Texas_Roofer]

Do you mean Noah? His family still had a fallen nature so sin continues after the flood.

 

[Verbum]

HI JP,

If every person on earth is descended from Adam and Eve, wouldn’t their faith in the true God be passed from generation to generation?

When God created Adam and Eve, He did not found a Church to whom he gave the power to teach infallibly. After the Fall, they were on their own There are various theories on this, but many think that polytheism evolved from local montheism. Individual family groups or tribes believed in some kind of power above them and gave this power a name. When they met with other groups, they each had a different name for this power and therefore came to believe that there was more than one god. Stories evolved around these gods and they came to be thought of as having human characteristics but with supernatural powers.

Although Yahweh’s pact with Abraham and later with the Jews under Moses does not tolerate the worship of other gods, it is not always clear before the great prophets that monotheism was an explicit belief among the Jews. Yahweh is the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is not presented as the God of other nations until the great prophets. It is surprising to see Yahveh presented as an “option”:

If you are not pleased to serve Yahveh, choose today whom you want to serve, either the gods that your fathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites whose country you now inhabit. As for me and my family, we wish to serve Yahveh.

Joshuah, 24, 2ff

But gradually it became explicit that there was only one God and the other “gods” were wood, stone and metal.

Am I not Yahweh? There is no other God but I, the just and saving God, and there is no other beside me. Turn towards me, to be saved, all the confines of the earth, for I am God without equal.

Isaiah, 45, 21ff

So Abraham was the founder of monotheism in the sense that he served only one God. It is not clear that he believed Yahweh to be the God of all nations.

Verbum