Was Judaism always monotheistic? Does this affect our faith?

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Was Judaism always Monotheistic?

If not, wouldn’t it affect our faith considering its Catholicsm’s predecessor religion?
 
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Early on there seemed to be this idea that other Gods existed besides The Lord … but that The Lord was stronger than all of them combined and that they were all very evil. Gradually it became apparent that The Lord was the only one who really qualified as a God and that all other spiritual powers (Baal, etc) were imaginary at best and demons at worst.
 
I see. So it’s safe to say that Judaism is free from paganism?
 
Yes.

While ancient jews did worship other deities besides The Lord (this is something both God and his Prophets criticize Israel for on a regular basis), eventually they got the message and put the pagan deities aside.
 
“It does not trouble me to be told that the Hebrew god was one among many. I know he was, without any research to tell me so. Jehovah and Baal looked equally important, just as the sun and the moon looked the same size. It is only slowly that we learn that the sun is immeasurably our master, and the small moon only our satellite.” - G.K. Chesterton
 
I see. Well guess what I’m locked out of the document now! 😅 I guess I was able to see the document for a certain length of time and then it closes but idk.
 
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Well, instead of asking us to read the article and comment, maybe you could summarize the argument presented in the article for us, and ask for opinions on it…?
 
Was Judaism always monotheistic or were the Jews always monotheistic? It is obvious from Holy Scripture that the Jews were not always monotheistic but Judaism, in as much as it is the revelation of true religion from God himself, always was.

The Jews themselves were often straying from the true religion. They had to be brought back to the true religion by the words of the prophets and calamity.
 
exnihilo said:
Was Judaism always monotheistic or were the Jews always monotheistic? It is obvious from Holy Scripture that the Jews were not always monotheistic but Judaism, in as much as it is the revelation of true religion from God himself, always was.

The Jews themselves were often straying from the true religion. They had to be brought back to the true religion by the words of the prophets and calamity.
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The best evidence we have, some of it which comes out surviving Hebrew writings and some of it out of the archaeological record is that the Hebrew tribes were Canaanite peoples who went through at least a henotheistic phase before becoming fully monotheistic. It is presumed that because the rest of the Canaanites were a polytheistic people, that the Hebrews likely started out there as well. The textual hints are at least food for thought. Genesis 1:26, the “Let us make man in our image”, and the use of the word “Elohim”, which at least originally was plural, also suggests that at least some of the text of Genesis comes from an early polytheistic or henotheistic period.
 
why could not the authors of the creation stories in genesis have been inspired to acknowledge that the One God is Three Persons?
 
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eddietoo said:
why could not the authors of the creation stories in genesis have been inspired to acknowledge that the One God is Three Persons?
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I suppose they could have, though the more mundane explanation is that early variants of what would come to constitute the first chapters of Genesis were written by people who had not yet become monotheistic. This would certainly fit well with what we understand about Canaan at the time. The fact is that it took centuries for the Hebrews to fully differentiate themselves from their neighbors and close kin.

The origins of the Hebrew god are a bit muddied, but do appear to fit within the pantheon of gods worshipped through Canaan.
 
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