Did anyone think of monotheism before Christianity(except the Jews)?

Question

Yeah, Zoroastrianism, almost forgot that.

Answer 1

Hindus. Rig Veda predates all existing religious beliefs.

The Rig Veda has declared the Ultimate Reality (God) as:

"Ekam sat vipraha, bahudha vadanti" (Sanskrit)

"Truth (God) is one, the wise call it by various names"

In the transcendent aspect, the Supreme Reality is called Nirguna Brahm, that is Brahm, without attributes. "Brahm is He whom speech cannot express, and from whom the mind is unable to reach Him, comes away baffled" states the Taittiriya Upanishad.

"Though I manifest Myself in all things, I am identified with none of them".

"the Reality is one without a second." This reality is beyond description by human mind. Hence it is indicated by a single world, "Brahman". "Infinite, eternal, changeless existence is the All; from that All, All comes forth; to that All, all returns," that is what the Chandogya Upanishad (vi.2.1) tells us.

"Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there Yajnavalkya?" "Thirty three". "yes," said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?" "One."
- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad III, IX, I

Only in India the mind went beyond monotheism to monism, from dvaita to advaita — to a god without form and attributes. One cannot go beyond that.

Monotheistic interpretations
In the west, the Hebrew Bible has been the primary source describing how and when Monotheism was introduced into the middle east and the west.

However, recent sources confirm that the Hindu civilization of the Indus practiced Hinduism, a monotheistic faith, before Abraham. According to these, until then, in ancient history all cultures believed in a variety of multiple deities such as in idolatry, forces and creatures of nature as in animism, or in celestial bodies as in astrology, but did not know the one and only true God.

The long time Monistic interpretation of Hindu scriptures is different from the interpretation of Semitic scriptures which claim exclusive monotheism as it encompasses pantheism, monism, and at the same time includes the concept of a personal God as an universal, omnipotent supreme being. The other types of monotheism are qualified monism, the school of Ramanuja or Vishishtadvaita, which admits that the universe is part of God, or Narayana, a type of panentheism, but there is a plurality of souls within this supreme Being and Dvaita, which differs in that it is dualistic, as God is separate and not panentheistic.

From the perspective of Hinduism, Dualism (Dvaita) is a monotheistic philosophy that teaches that God is separate from his creation and contrasts with monism. From this perspective, both monistic and dualistic philosophies are monotheistic and are differentiated by their stance in the immanance and transcendence of God.

Panentheism, or Monistic Monotheism, is a form of theism that holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. The One God is omnipotent and all-pervading, the universe is part of God, and God is both Immanent and Transcendent. This is also the view of Process theology and also Vishistadvaita Vedanta Hinduism. According to this school, from Ramanuja, the universe is part of God but God is not equal to the universe but in fact transcends it as well. However, unlike Process theology, God in Vishistadvaita Vedanta Hinduism is omnipotent. Panentheism is thought of as "God is within the universe as the soul is within the body".

Monotheistic theology was/is an inherent part of Hinduism which teach that the many forms of God, i.e., Vishnu, Shiva, or Devi merely represent aspects of a single or underlying divine power or Brahman . Claims that Hinduism never taught polytheism , are correct if we read the major texts of Hinduism such as the Vedas,Upanishads and Gita.

Monotheism can be divided into different types on the basis of its attitude towards polytheism: inclusive monotheism claims that all polytheistic deities are just different names for the single monotheistic God; Smartism, a denomination of Hinduism, follows this belief and holds that God is one but has different aspects and can be called by different names (this belief dominate the view of Hinduism in the West); exclusive monotheism, on the other hand, claims that these deities are false and distinct from the one God, either invented, demonic, or simply incorrect, as Vaishnavism, a denomination of Hinduism, regards the worship of anyone other than Vishnu. Exclusive monotheism is a well-known tenet in the beliefs of the Abrahamic religions.

Answer 2

in the start, it isn't available for Bedoin Arabs to have lived there, because that Arabic changed into not a spoke language 7000 years in the past. Hebrew is honestly not a spoken language to boot. that is the shortcoming of understanding many can see in this communicate board. maximum persons merely merely do not study books. those also are a similar those who declare that they are non secular yet say they have lived there 7000 years in the past. 7000 years is adversarial to the bible, Torah and the Q'ran. possibly 5000 years ability 5000 earth days (from the e book bible and genesis). As for the question, the in ordinary words reason arabs say it quite is because otherwise they could haven't any declare to the land.

Answer 3

The pharoah Akenaton was a monotheist during his reign, but this was a temporary hiccup in Egyptian history, and he was considered a nut.

There is some evidence apparently that Moses had been a priest of Akenaton's and took this idea of a solitary 'God' to the Jews, who exploited it into a war god which they claimed had declared them the chosen people.

Answer 4

Monotheism predates Judaism by thousands of years.

Egyptians & Hindus were monotheistic.

Answer 5

Yes Prophet Abraham (PBUH) monotheistic started long before Prophet Moses (PBUH).

Zoroastrian claimed themselves to be the first monotheistic relgion which is not true because they worship fire as their god.

Answer 6

Your answer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism

Answer 7

yes, the egyptians toyed with it, akenaten who was pharoah tried to make everyone monotheistic, to worship aten, the sun disk, but he failed horribly.

the next in line (tut) changed it to the normal pantheon of egyptian gods.

this was in the new kingdom, about mid 1300bce.

although i think they jews were already monotheistic by then....

Answer 8

Yes. The Greeks (Athenians predominantly) had a what was called the Alucinian (sp?) mysteries which was a one god theology.

Answer 9

I know the Egyptians did but it didn't go over too well.

Answer 10

technically there were indian nations that worshiped the sun, and that was their only god, so it was monotheistic.