Monotheism vs
Monotheism vs. Polytheism; TheMonotheism vs. Polytheism; The problems with one Deity.
The philosophical investigation of the nature and grounds of religious beliefs is one of the oldest and most persistent areas of philosophical endeavor. Religious belief and practice give rise to a variety of philosophical issues, posing epistemological questions about the justification of religious belief, metaphysical questions about the nature of God and his/her existence in plural or singular form(s), and ethical questions about the relation of God to moral values. So many are the intersecting major philosophical concerns in the religious arena, and so immediate is the interest, that philosophy of religion is one of the most significant fields of philosophical endeavor to both Christian philosophers and those of other persuasions. The focus of problems in the philosophy of religion, that will be centered on, are the grounds for the belief in God(s), the immortality of the soul, the nature of God(s) to humankind, and the problem of evil.
Polytheism is distinguished from monotheism, on the basis of polytheism's claim that divinity, while personal and distinguished from the universe, is many rather than one. Most traditions are polytheistic, or at least monotheistic with helper spirits; but there are a few monotheistic ones which posit a single Great Creator with no supporting cast. Except for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the world's religions are overwhelmingly polytheistic. One of the major problems of these monotheistic religions that polytheism characterized Abraham's ancestors (Josh. 24:2), kinsmen (Gen. 31:19), and descendants (Gen.35:2). Although all three biblically derived monotheistic religions claim Abraham as their founder, Abraham's monotheism was perhaps more practical than theoretical. God monopolized his allegiance to the extent that Abraham had neither room nor time for competing deities, but nowhere in Genesis does he clearly deny their existence. By contrast, Moses defined the nature of God in a clearly monotheistic fashion (Deut. 4:35,39; 32:39). The first of the Ten Commandments, "You shall have no other gods before / besides me" (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7), insists that Israel is to have only one object of faith and worship. Elijah on Mount Carmel likewise demanded that the people choose either the Lord or another god (see also Josh. 24:15), because it was both unseemly and unwise to continue to "waver between two opinions" (I Kings 18:21).
Polytheism characterizes Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism in the East, and also contemporary African tribal religions. In the ancient world Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians worshipped a plurality of deities, as did the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Norse. Belief in several distinct deities serves to provide a focus for popular religious devotion when the official deity or deities of the religion are remote from the common person.
Another example of traditional difference between monotheism and polytheism expresses itself through the law codes of the Hebrews and Babylonians religious values. Hammurabi's Babylonians did not have very strong religious beliefs and therefore had no laws in their code stating specific behavior having to...
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