Monotheism - PowerPoint Presentation

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