Monday, December 16, 2013

Monotheism, Polytheism, Monolatry, or Henotheism? Toward an Assessment of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible


Israel’s view of God and his relationship to other divine beings in the He- brew Bible has long been the subject of scholarly debate. The dominant critical consensus since the late nineteenth century holds that Israel’s faith evolved from polytheism or henotheism to monotheism. Passages in the Hebrew Bible that assume the existence of other gods are compared to other passages that put forth the declaration that “there are no other gods besides” the God of Israel as proof of this view. Other scholars who reject this evolutionary paradigm tend to assume passages evincing divine plu- rality actually speak of human beings, or that the other gods are merely idols. This view insists that “monotheism” must mean that the existence of other gods is denied. Both views are problematic and fall short of doing justice to the full description of Israel’s view of God and the heavenly host in the Hebrew Bible. This article overviews the difficulties of each view and offers a coherent alternative.

See: Michael S. Heiser: Monotheism, Polytheism, Monolatry, or Henotheism?

1 comment:

  1. https://www.facebook.com/dean.fontaine?ref=tn_tnmnDecember 25, 2013 at 7:31 AM

    I Believe that their is Only One True God, and his name is JEHOVAH, I AM THAT I AM Psalm 83:18, Exodus 3:14 and that Jesus Christ is the Son of The Most High God and Jesus excludes himself from being called God. JOHN 17:3

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