No*s
Captain Obvious
Yesterday I got into a discussion on the issue of God and gods, monotheism and henotheism. I got quite the strong response, but alas, it was not a debate thread, so I couldn't throw down the gauntlet, so to speak. Here, though, I can.
Monotheism is the belief in one God. Henotheism is the belief in one God Who made other spiritual authorities and powers. "Mono-" means "alone" or "one" in the prefix, more "one." "Heno-" simply means "one. I would argue that henotheism is a subset of monotheism which includes Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Henotheism may also be used to denote the worship of one god among many equal gods (I will not argue that way of doing it; God is supreme and alone in all His criteria, but I have no doubt someone will lol).
Very simply put, we believe in angels at the very least, and most likely demons as well. We may define them differently, but all these spiritual beings were created by God to be authorities and powers. If they didn't derive their authority and power from God, then we have a problem. We must either become polytheists or deny their existance (even in the cases of demons, it is a perverted authority given them originally by God).
I tend to use "monotheist" to refer both to a strict monotheist who denies all of these and a henotheist. Every Christian, Jewish, or Muslim person/group I've spoken with believes in these entities. They are, therefore, henotheists one and all.
For Christians (and in the OT, Jews), there are Scripture quotations that not only refer to these beings, but where the Scripture actually calls them gods or strongly hints at it.
Given a former handle of one of our posters, the first good example I can give is that of Deut. 32.8: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of God's angels." (LXX & DSS; the MT has it changed to "sons of Israel"). The older reading (and stronger reading textually) has God setting up spiritual authorities over the nations.
That understanding of Deut. 32.8 works quite nicely with Daniel's comments on the archangel warring with the "prince of Persia," that is the "god" over Persia, in Dan. 10.12-13. This "prince" had power over Persia, and obviously he was placed there. For the Christian, he has perverted the role given him by God, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a powerful, spiritual being in control of a territory, such as we find in the old polytheistic religions (remember, each pagan god covered a certain realm, and well, I would argue this reflects the division here). This is furthered by the LXX reading of Psalm 96.5 where it says that "All the gods of the nations are demons." Satan is called the "god of this world" by the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 4.4).
If I can add to these blatant biblical statements where angelic beings (or even men) are called "gods" in the Scripture, then Ihave a case for Jews and Christians (well, both if I can do so with the Old Testament). Most blatantly, Judges 11.24 recognizes the "authority" of a pagan deity over his people (remember, Christ did not dispute the Adversary's authority when tempted).
In Psalm 82, God sits among and judges among "gods." Jesus uses this psalm to defend His own claims to divinity in Jn 10.34ff (which provides support for the Orthodox doctrine of theosis). Compare this with God's title as the "God of gods" in Daniel 11.36. How can God be the God of gods outside a henotheistic concept where both men and angels are called "gods" by their connection to God? It is not possible.
Even Scripture's admonition "You shall have no other gods before Me" in Exodus 20.3 presupposes the existance of other deities. There are other beings that are requesting worship, but Israel is to worship God alone. As a rather conservative Christian, I identify these forces as malevolent, but the text most certainly presupposes their existance. The injunction makes absolutely no sense outside of that understanding.
I remember some other passages, such as one where God appoints these beings over stars and things, but I cannot remember its address or even exact wording. In fact, go through the Pentateuch and notice how often "god" and "angel" are used together. It's amazing how often they are used in conjunction. It's even more amazing how often the Hebrew word underlying "angel" or the like is elohim, "god."
These realities directly affect Jews and Christians beyond the mere acknowledgement of angels as spiritual authorities. They also have a direct impact on Islam, because Islam claims to be in continuity with Judaism and Christianity. What affects our early history also affects Islamic history.
There are a few ways to analyze these. We can do as I have done, which preserves the monotheism. We can also simply claim Judaism, and by extension Christianity, evolved from polytheism rather than revelation. Likewise, we must take pasages like Gen. 1.26 as God taking counsel among similar beings, whether this is trinitarian, the angels, or polytheistic, but we may not have an absolutely strict monotheistic view here.
The Abrahamic faiths must be henotheistic or there will be none.
*ducks for cover*
Monotheism is the belief in one God. Henotheism is the belief in one God Who made other spiritual authorities and powers. "Mono-" means "alone" or "one" in the prefix, more "one." "Heno-" simply means "one. I would argue that henotheism is a subset of monotheism which includes Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Henotheism may also be used to denote the worship of one god among many equal gods (I will not argue that way of doing it; God is supreme and alone in all His criteria, but I have no doubt someone will lol).
Very simply put, we believe in angels at the very least, and most likely demons as well. We may define them differently, but all these spiritual beings were created by God to be authorities and powers. If they didn't derive their authority and power from God, then we have a problem. We must either become polytheists or deny their existance (even in the cases of demons, it is a perverted authority given them originally by God).
I tend to use "monotheist" to refer both to a strict monotheist who denies all of these and a henotheist. Every Christian, Jewish, or Muslim person/group I've spoken with believes in these entities. They are, therefore, henotheists one and all.
For Christians (and in the OT, Jews), there are Scripture quotations that not only refer to these beings, but where the Scripture actually calls them gods or strongly hints at it.
Given a former handle of one of our posters, the first good example I can give is that of Deut. 32.8: "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of God's angels." (LXX & DSS; the MT has it changed to "sons of Israel"). The older reading (and stronger reading textually) has God setting up spiritual authorities over the nations.
That understanding of Deut. 32.8 works quite nicely with Daniel's comments on the archangel warring with the "prince of Persia," that is the "god" over Persia, in Dan. 10.12-13. This "prince" had power over Persia, and obviously he was placed there. For the Christian, he has perverted the role given him by God, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a powerful, spiritual being in control of a territory, such as we find in the old polytheistic religions (remember, each pagan god covered a certain realm, and well, I would argue this reflects the division here). This is furthered by the LXX reading of Psalm 96.5 where it says that "All the gods of the nations are demons." Satan is called the "god of this world" by the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 4.4).
If I can add to these blatant biblical statements where angelic beings (or even men) are called "gods" in the Scripture, then Ihave a case for Jews and Christians (well, both if I can do so with the Old Testament). Most blatantly, Judges 11.24 recognizes the "authority" of a pagan deity over his people (remember, Christ did not dispute the Adversary's authority when tempted).
In Psalm 82, God sits among and judges among "gods." Jesus uses this psalm to defend His own claims to divinity in Jn 10.34ff (which provides support for the Orthodox doctrine of theosis). Compare this with God's title as the "God of gods" in Daniel 11.36. How can God be the God of gods outside a henotheistic concept where both men and angels are called "gods" by their connection to God? It is not possible.
Even Scripture's admonition "You shall have no other gods before Me" in Exodus 20.3 presupposes the existance of other deities. There are other beings that are requesting worship, but Israel is to worship God alone. As a rather conservative Christian, I identify these forces as malevolent, but the text most certainly presupposes their existance. The injunction makes absolutely no sense outside of that understanding.
I remember some other passages, such as one where God appoints these beings over stars and things, but I cannot remember its address or even exact wording. In fact, go through the Pentateuch and notice how often "god" and "angel" are used together. It's amazing how often they are used in conjunction. It's even more amazing how often the Hebrew word underlying "angel" or the like is elohim, "god."
These realities directly affect Jews and Christians beyond the mere acknowledgement of angels as spiritual authorities. They also have a direct impact on Islam, because Islam claims to be in continuity with Judaism and Christianity. What affects our early history also affects Islamic history.
There are a few ways to analyze these. We can do as I have done, which preserves the monotheism. We can also simply claim Judaism, and by extension Christianity, evolved from polytheism rather than revelation. Likewise, we must take pasages like Gen. 1.26 as God taking counsel among similar beings, whether this is trinitarian, the angels, or polytheistic, but we may not have an absolutely strict monotheistic view here.
The Abrahamic faiths must be henotheistic or there will be none.
*ducks for cover*