Was Judaism henotheistic?

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A separate thread made me think of this. Last year, fall semester I took a required theology class at my Catholic University. The theology department there is (sadly) pretty liberal. In this regard, we were taught that Judaism essentially originated with the Babylonian Captivity and the early Jews were henotheistic.

This belief was based off of things like the command to not put other Gods before the one true God which is implying that there are other gods to put before Him; not to mention, they say, that He had to prove Himself more powerful than the gods of the Egyptians.

Is there an official-ish position of the Church on this matter? It is my opinion that this same line of reasoning could be applied to Christianity as well, could it not? We still uphold the commandments in that they are part of the natural law, too.
 
zach_dunn said:
A separate thread made me think of this. Last year, fall semester I took a required theology class at my Catholic University. The theology department there is (sadly) pretty liberal. In this regard, we were taught that Judaism essentially originated with the Babylonian Captivity and the early Jews were henotheistic.

This belief was based off of things like the command to not put other Gods before the one true God which is implying that there are other gods to put before Him; not to mention, they say, that He had to prove Himself more powerful than the gods of the Egyptians.

Is there an official-ish position of the Church on this matter? It is my opinion that this same line of reasoning could be applied to Christianity as well, could it not? We still uphold the commandments in that they are part of the natural law, too.
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Of course, Israel, Canaan, was politeistic before, slowly, becoming monotheistic

So Judaism started in Captivity, never heard of it, it seems those guys were there at the time. As the Bible says that Israel many times turned to other gods, so the Jewish Religion is Henotheistic. Your teacher does not seem to read the millions of passages where the Author says: “either one or the others” and NOT “one and the others”. I dont remember in the whole Bible that would take this position. Many times it is said that Go is a God Jealous, does not accept sharing and punishes severely the adultery of the People of Israel.

See the greatest and beautiful prayer of Israel Shema Yisrael, in the wikipedia
The Israelites were forbidden to worship other deities, but according to some interpretations of the Bible, they were not fully monotheistic before the Babylonian Captivity.
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By the end of the Babylonian captivity of Judah in the Tanakh, Judaism is strictly monotheistic.
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(wikipedia)🙂
 
Whether Judaism was henotheistic depends upon your definition of “theos”.
 
The definition of Elohim, occasionally means other than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one true God.

“I have made you a little lower than the angels(elohim)”

“I said ye are gods (elohim)” (Jesus quoting one of the Psalms to the Jewish religious leaders of his day in reference to the** judges **of Israel.)

Now, there is the possibility that the principalities and powers who have authority over nations may be called ‘elohim’, as were the judges over Israel, but such authority was given to them by the one true God.
 
Yes the early Hebrews were henotheists. I don’t see how anyone could deny that.
zach_dunn said:
Is there an official-ish position of the Church on this matter?
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It is a question of history. The church cannot rule on history.
zach_dunn said:
It is my opinion that this same line of reasoning could be applied to Christianity as well, could it not?
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What, that we started off as henotheists? :confused:

We started at Pentecost, with the teachings of Jesus Christ Our Lord.
 
byeveryword said:
Now, there is the possibility that the principalities and powers who have authority over nations may be called ‘elohim’, as were the judges over Israel, but such authority was given to them by the one true God.
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So, the deities of the cosmos all work for God?
 
zach_dunn said:
A separate thread made me think of this. Last year, fall semester I took a required theology class at my Catholic University. The theology department there is (sadly) pretty liberal. In this regard, we were taught that Judaism essentially originated with the Babylonian Captivity and the early Jews were henotheistic.

This belief was based off of things like the command to not put other Gods before the one true God which is implying that there are other gods to put before Him; not to mention, they say, that He had to prove Himself more powerful than the gods of the Egyptians.

Is there an official-ish position of the Church on this matter? It is my opinion that this same line of reasoning could be applied to Christianity as well, could it not? We still uphold the commandments in that they are part of the natural law, too.
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I’m responding to this as a Religious Studies major -

Liberal or not, history supports the fact that the Ancient Hebrews were henotheistic. They believed various gods existed, but only worshiped the One.

With regards to Judaism starting in Babylonian captivity, this is only partially correct. Obviously the faith of the Ancient Hebrews began before this, but Jewish theology as we know it - monotheistic instead of henotheistic, concerns for sin, judgement, etc. - began to take form after the Hebrews had come into contact with the Zoroastrians, from whom they absorbed quite a few ideas. But the destruction of the Temple and the reliance on the Rabbis was by far the most definitive event in determining modern Judaism’s structure, image, and theology.

With regards to Christianity, henotheism isn’t a universal attribute. For example, certain Evangelicals might cite the “worship of other gods” or believe “other gods aren’t as powerful as the One God,” etc. Some actually think other gods exist, while others are merely using Biblical-like rhetoric for their position. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Christianity is inherently henotheistic, though, because the New Testament is pretty clear about Monotheism.

(Also, the “belief” in other gods does NOT equal the “worship” of other gods. You can believe in other gods but not worship them.)
 
Ahimsa said:
So, the deities of the cosmos all work for God?
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Much more difficult question to answer. Even if there are rebellious beings, they may be accomplishing God’s will indirectly. The apostle Paul in one of his letters to the church in Corinth, says something to this effect, " Know ye not, that you will be the judge of angels?" Which seems to indicate that in the age to come, the true body of Christ will be given the authority to judge certain angels who have rebelled against their God and Creator.
 
Hesychios said:
Yes the early Hebrews were henotheists. I don’t see how anyone could deny that.

It is a question of history. The church cannot rule on history.
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Here’s my issue, you and another poster agree that the early Hebrews were henotheists (the other poster being Thomas_H_Ownings), and THO asserts that the Jews gradually developed their ideas of monotheism from Zoroastrians.

I assert that Christianity is an extension of Judaism. How does the fact that the Jews became monotheists because of a pagan religion affect the truthfulness of monotheism?
What, that we started off as henotheists? :confused:

We started at Pentecost, with the teachings of Jesus Christ Our Lord.
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Who was a Jew. And as I said Jewish theology seems to come from paganism . . . so how does that affect monotheism?
 
zach_dunn said:
Here’s my issue, you and another poster agree that the early Hebrews were henotheists (the other poster being Thomas_H_Ownings), and THO asserts that the Jews gradually developed their ideas of monotheism from Zoroastrians.

I assert that Christianity is an extension of Judaism. How does the fact that the Jews became monotheists because of a pagan religion affect the truthfulness of monotheism?

Who was a Jew. And as I said Jewish theology seems to come from paganism . . . so how does that affect monotheism?
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“Paganism” comes in many forms, including monotheistic forms.
 
zach_dunn said:
Here’s my issue, you and another poster agree that the early Hebrews were henotheists (the other poster being Thomas_H_Ownings), and THO asserts that the Jews gradually developed their ideas of monotheism from Zoroastrians.
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Well, I don’t, it wasn’t necessary.

Zorastrianism is not really a monotheist religion anyway.

That doesn’t change the fact that the Hebrews were henotheists.

However, I have read that the idea of angels (messengers) may have come from the Zoroastrians, and the three Wise Men could easily have been Zoroastrian or Babylonian priests.
zach_dunn said:
I assert that Christianity is an extension of Judaism.
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So do I.
zach_dunn said:
How does the fact that the Jews became monotheists because of a pagan religion affect the truthfulness of monotheism?
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Is this a question about validity?

The church has to have the ‘right’ pedigree to be believed?

Judaism evolved out of Henotheistic Hebrew religion. That is why it was so easy for them to fall out and worship ‘other gods’. They didn’t doubt that these gods existed, they broke faith with Yahweh (who specifically chose them) who is a jealous god by including some other gods in their worship.

This was the real danger of marrying ‘foreign women’.

By the time of Jesus the religion was fully monotheistic, and Jesus was in the tradition of the pharisaic Jews, who accepted the writings of the prophets and had come to believe in an afterlife.
 
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