Abrahamic Judaism Islam Christianity Eastern Sikhism Dying Zoroastrianism Monotheism Definition Worship of One God Some Religions are more monotheistic than others EX Duality Angels Demons trinity semi divine prophets Satan ID: 617588
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Slide1
Monotheism
Abrahamic- Judaism, Islam, ChristianityEastern- SikhismDying- ZoroastrianismSlide2
Monotheism- Definition
Worship of ‘One’ GodSome Religions are more monotheistic than others, EX: Duality, Angels, Demons, trinity, semi- divine prophets, Satan ect.
Why did some religions become monotheistic?
What are some inevitable effects of a monotheistic faith on practitioners?
Consider throughout the presentation: As compared to polytheistic religions, what are some benefits and drawbacks to societies which practice monotheism?Slide3
Traits of Monotheism
Absolute BeliefIdealization of God (Platonic Forms)Duality of good and evil in order to preserve the ‘ideal’ of God.*
Idea of Salvation, either in this world or the next
Typically more dogmatic/ structured in terms of beliefs, practice and moral codes
Loss of ‘feminine’ elements of
diety
‘Missionary’ faiths*
‘Holy Wars’
‘Revealed’ sacred texts- in a literal sense
*- Judaism is the exceptionSlide4
Absolute Belief
What does it mean?What are the secondary effects of absolute belief, positive and negative?Slide5
Idealization of God
‘God’ loses his* anthropomorphic qualitiesTransition in Judaism- not immediate, as the religion progressive over centuries, God (YHWH) becomes less ‘human’ and more revered. Other deities lose importanceHowever, in Judaism, Satan is not used as a division of evil from God- Satan means “
prosecuter
”- viewed as a Slide6
Shift from Polytheism/ Anthropomorphism to Monotheism
Elohim- Plural article, singular nounAn obviously anthropomorphic expression is found in Genesis:
ẓelem
Elohim
("the image of God"), and there are references to actually "seeing" God (Ex. 24:10–12; Num. 12:8).
"
the mouth of the Lord" speaks to the prophets (both in Torah and Prophets); the heavens are the work of His fingers (Ps. 8:4), and the tablets of the covenant are written by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18).
At
times the personification is startlingly extreme: God (or His voice) "walks about in the garden" (Gen. 3:8); He "goes down" in order to see what is being done on the earth (Gen. 11:5; 18:21) or in order to reveal Himself there (Ex. 19:18; 34:5), and He "goes up again" (Gen. 17:22; 35:13); He goes through the land of Egypt and passes over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:12–13); He sits on a throne (Isa. 6:1), causes His voice to be heard among the cherubim who are over the ark of the tabernacle (Num. 7:89), dwells in Zion and in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:13; 135:21); the hair of His head is as wool (Dan. 7:9); Moses sees "His back" (Ex. 33:23).
Read Genesis 6 in groups of 4 and cite at least 3 examples which illustrate this transition.Slide7
Brief History
Judaism- The Hebrew leader Abraham founded Judaism around
1200
B.C.
Christianity
-
Founded by Jesus Christ
, who was crucified around A.D. 30 in Jerusalem. It was after his death when his followers came to believe in him as the
the Messiah from
theTanakh
.
Islam
-
Founded
in Arabia
by
Muhammad
, who is considered to be a prophet between
A.D. 610 and A.D.
632.Slide8
Judaism Briefly
Judaism is around 3200 years old
and is the
oldest
of the
world's four major
monotheistic religions (religions with only one God). It's also the
smallest
, with only about
12 million
followers around the world.
Its
holy city
is
Jerusalem
.
The holy land is considered to be the promised land of Canaan, which includes modern day Israel, Palestine and portions of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Slide9
Judaism beliefs
Jews believe that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship.
They await the Messiah
, who will be an earthly king. They believe in heaven, but that God determines where they go after life on earth.
They are bound to the 613 commandments of the Torah which command aspects of spiritual, cultural and physical life.Slide10
Judaism Holy Book
The most holy Jewish
book
is the
Torah, the first 5 books of the
Tanakh
. The
Tanakh
includes:
-Torah- Law
Kethuvim
- Prophets/ Prophecy
Nevi’im
- Writings (Poetry, histories, and psalms)
Others
include Judaism's oral tradition, the written form of which is known as the Talmud.
The Torah (
scroll of teachings
) contains the five books revealed to Moses by God on Mount Sinai.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
DeuteronomySlide11
Judaism Place of Worship
Jews worship in Synagogues or temples. Men and women usually sit separately.
Worship is led by a
Rabbi
.
Friday evening
is time for
worship, Saturday is the ‘Sabbath’
(Sun-down Friday to Sundown Saturday)
Stamford Hill, LondonSlide12
Major aspects of the faith
High levels of gender inequality in ‘traditional’ and ‘Orthodox’ Judaism. (no priestesses, God generally described in male pronouns, Torah disproportionately controls female behavior ect
.)
Afterlife is not a focus of the faith.
Breif
mentions throughout the
Tanakh
of ‘
Sheol
”, simply translating as ‘ the grave.’ Mentions of
necromancing
gives some indication of ideas of spiritual immortality.
Humans have free will, and must choose between their own good and evil nature- personal responsibility
Life is to be lived according to God’s commandments in order to honor and keep the covenant
No rationalization of God’s commandments
Emphasis on community, equality and charity
Emphasis on otherness of gentiles/ segregation of Jewish from non-Jewish, led to preservation of culture throughout exile.
Non- missionary (unique for monotheism) Slide13
Transformative Myths
Adam and Eve and the fall from grace (2 contradictory versions back to back Genesis 1 and 2Noah and the Flood Genesis 6Abraham and the Covenant
Jacob and his sons
Moses and the
Exous
King
David and
Solomon
Babylonian
Exile
Examples of female centered stories:
Ruth and Naomi
EstherSlide14
Stories
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Genesistoc.htmlPick two of the stories to read in their entiretySlide15
Zoroastrianism
Likely founded a couple centuries before Judaism in Persia (Modern day IranFirst (semi) monotheistic religion.Religious Syncretism throughout the Middle Eastern region resulted in Zoroastrian traits finding their way into the modern monotheistic religions.
Zoroastrianism is nearly a dead faith,
but is remembered for its
contributions to the foundations of all modern Monotheistic faiths
Declined after the rise of Islam in the Middle EastSlide16
Duality- Zoroastrianism and the Abrahamic faiths
Duality between Good/ EvilFinal judgment where good and evil realms will be entirely separatedFirst idea of judgment based on morality after death leading to heaven/ hell (Christianity) Paradise/ Hell (Islam)
First ‘Satan’ figure to further idealize god-’
Arhiman
as opposed to the idealized deity-
Ahura
Mazda
Read article:
Comparisons
between Judaism and
Zoroastrianism
Write 3
-5 examples of syncretism between the
Zoroastrianism and the Abrahamic faiths
Write 3 specific attributes of the Zoroastrian faith