Was Polytheism the Original belief ala Karen Armstrong

[desalesredux]

I’m searching for info to refute Karen Armstrong’s (author of the best seller “The History Of God”) inference that monotheism was a late development and that it evolved from polytheism. Links or book titles would be appreciated.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

I’m searching for info to refute Karen Armstrong’s (author of the best seller “The History Of God”) inference that monotheism was a late development and that it evolved from polytheism. Links or book titles would be appreciated.

Good luck. I think she happens to be right. The bible certainly seems to support that position.

 

[mschrank]

Good luck. I think she happens to be right. The bible certainly seems to support that position.

This is kind of complicated. On the one hand, I think it can be argued that the Jews were Henotheistic before the exile, but on the other hand, if you actually read the Bible you can see that even though the Jews may have been, God was saying “I’m GOD, period!”.

 

[holdencaulfield]

This is kind of complicated. On the one hand, I think it can be argued that the Jews were Henotheistic before the exile, but on the other hand, if you actually read the Bible you can see that even though the Jews may have been, God was saying “I’m GOD, period!”.

That’s true end of story.

 

[Nita]

I’m searching for info to refute Karen Armstrong’s (author of the best seller “The History Of God”) inference that monotheism was a late development and that it evolved from polytheism. Links or book titles would be appreciated.

From Scripture we know that some of the very early people were monotheistic (Enoch, Noah, etc.), but there are no written records left by those early generations - at least not that I’ve read about - other than the Biblical reference that is. Knowledge of them may well have been Divine revelation to Moses who is credited with having recorded most of the Torah; or else, oral tradition. Off hand, I can’t even recall a Scripture passage that says whether Abraham’s background was monotheistic. Judging from any history included in the Old Testament, it appears Abraham and his descendants were the only monotheistic people at the time.

Perhaps it was the complete loss of belief in the one true God that was the “timing” criteria for God’s intervention in human history - His calling into existence the “chosen people of God” - the Israelites.

Nita

 

[inthecloud]

Genesis 1 to 11 is a late addition to the Torah to counter Sumerian and Babylonian myths.
Abraham was the first monotheist. He is really the founding father of monotheism.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

From Scripture we know that some of the very early people were monotheistic (Enoch, Noah, etc.), but there are no written records left by those early generations - at least not that I’ve read about - other than the Biblical reference that is. Knowledge of them may well have been Divine revelation to Moses who is credited with having recorded most of the Torah; or else, oral tradition. Off hand, I can’t even recall a Scripture passage that says whether Abraham’s background was monotheistic. Judging from any history included in the Old Testament, it appears Abraham and his descendants were the only monotheistic people at the time.

Perhaps it was the complete loss of belief in the one true God that was the “timing” criteria for God’s intervention in human history - His calling into existence the “chosen people of God” - the Israelites.

Nita

The problem is, that the question is several different questions - it involves interpretation, as well as the facts of ancient history:​

• Was polytheism the original belief as a matter of history ?
• Is the Israelite picture of the past intended to be a record of historical actuality, without any interpretation of the past ?
• Is there always a real difference between monotheism & polytheism ?
• Are we applying inapplicable categories to the past & its texts, in a way that distorts those texts & that past ?
  To put it another way - our Christian Trinitarian faith is in some ways historically continuous with some “polytheistic” ideas; whether it is religiously in direct genetic descent from (say) some Egyptian ideas, is a separate question.

It’s the difference between observing the stars in order to find out the will of the great gods of Babylonia, as used to be done; & observing them to increase our understanding of astronomy (with or without reference to God).

 

[denkar]

I am new to this site. I am a Mother of four adult children and am newly retired. I’ve been a practicing Catholic all my life thus far. Don’t wish to start out on the out side but the answer I received about Karen Armstrong was much less an answer than it was a cop-out. Are we all to agree with everyones thoughts entirely, or can we not keep what is important" in what they believe" and use our own ability to decern to get the whole picture? I believe that it is not the right time in History to close our eyes and ears and piously walk away. People are searching and should not be dismissed as heretics or at the very least unimportant to the mainstream church. Without doubt, and some necessary digging one never grows and it usually shows. Looking forward to your response. Karen

 

[Sophie]

Good luck refuting Karen Armstrong’s book, (The History of God)! It’s very factual and very well researched. The history of religions and how they were manufactured can be incredibly fascinating stuff!!

 

[Harmony1988]

Why does it matter? God revealed himself only later on, so thus the monotheistic belief. She is probably right that polytheism was the original belief, but that doesn’t mean monotheism is some made up thing down the line.

 

[denkar]

I am new to this site. I am a Mother of four adult children and am newly retired. I’ve been a practicing Catholic all my life thus far. Don’t wish to start out on the out side but the answer I received about Karen Armstrong was much less an answer than it was a cop-out. Are we all to agree with everyones thoughts entirely, or can we not keep what is important" in what they believe" and use our own ability to decern to get the whole picture? I believe that it is not the right time in History to close our eyes and ears and piously walk away. People are searching and should not be dismissed as heretics or at the very least unimportant to the mainstream church. Without doubt, and some necessary digging one never grows and it usually shows. Looking forward to your response. Karen

 

[Mintaka]

I’m afraid I haven’t read Karen Armstrong’s book, but I’m sure it’s pretty much in the same vein as a lot of other books I’ve read. I’m a big mythology and comparative religion fan.

Most religions which appear polytheistic have a very strong monotheistic impulse at their cores. Often, this is thought of as secret knowledge, or is something that shows up in important things like creation stories, and then fades into the background.

For example, most Native American religions are full of elaborate cosmologies and beings of various levels of power, but in the back of it all there’s a creator, or someone seen as running it all. Manito is a good example of this.

Hindus will often contend that their religion is basically monotheistic, and they have an argument. Depending on the part of India, the Big Deity tends to have different names, and they often elide them together into one big gloopy tons of incarnations Big Deity. But they see it as monotheism, and I’m not going to argue. This idea is not at all “recent”, from what I’ve heard about how far back this is found in Sanskrit texts.

In some ways, in fact, this idea that somebody was in back of all the other gods, running it all, allowed people not to worry about whether the mythological gods were worth worshipping. They might not be the sort of people you wanted running a universe, but it wasn’t them doing it. The real God was too busy and responsible to come into the stories.