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Monotheism has attracted criticism throughout the history of the concept. Opponents of Akhenaten restored polytheism in ancient Egypt following his death. Although Abrahamic monotheism later achieved widespread prominence, critics have described monotheism as a cause of ignorance, narrow-mindedness, oppression, and violence.
Numerous ancient Greek philosophers, including Xenophanes of Colophon and Antisthenes, believed in a similar polytheistic monism that bore some similarities to monotheism. [20] The first known reference to a unitary God is Plato 's Demiurge (divine Craftsman), followed by Aristotle 's unmoved mover , both of which would profoundly influence ...
Pre-Islamic Arabia practiced various forms of polytheistic religion until the 4th century, when monotheism was introduced into the region and became largely prevalent by the 6th century, as is attested in texts like the inscriptions from Jabal Dabub, Ri al-Zallalah, and the Abd Shams inscription. [85]
In the ancient Greek philosophical Hermetica, the ultimate reality is called by many names, such as God, Lord, Father, Mind , the Creator, the All, the One, etc. [1] However, peculiar to the Hermetic view of the divinity is that it is both the all (Greek: to pan) and the creator of the all: all created things pre-exist in God, [2] and God is ...
In Moses and Monotheism, Freud proposed that Moses had been a priest of Akhenaten who fled Egypt after the pharaoh's death and perpetuated monotheism through a different religion. [ 42 ] Freud's view on religion was embedded in his larger theory of psychoanalysis , which has been criticized as unscientific . [ 43 ]
Ancient Greek theology was polytheistic, based on the assumption that there were many gods and goddesses, as well as a range of lesser supernatural beings of various types. There was a hierarchy of deities, with Zeus , the king of the gods, having a level of control over all the others, although he was not almighty.
Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one god. [1] [2] [3] According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese Folk Religions, is really so, or whether the apparent different objects of worship are to be thought of as manifestations of a singular divinity. [1]
An important locus of pre-Islamic Arabian monotheism was in the Himyarite Kingdom that ruled over South Arabia, whose ruling class converted to Judaism in the fourth century (roughly when official polytheistic inscriptions stop appearing in the area) who nevertheless present a neutral outwards monotheism in engagement with the public.