According to Maijastina Kahlos, "monotheism was pervasive in the educated circles in Late Antiquity" and "all divinities were interpreted as aspects, particles or epithets of one supreme God". Often Zeus (or Jupiter) was considered the supreme, all-powerful and all-knowing king and father of the Olympian gods. While Greek and Roman religion began as polytheism, during the Classical period, under the influence of philosophy, differing conceptions emerged. Ishwar Chandra Sharma describes it as "Absolute Reality, beyond all dualities of existence and non-existence, light and darkness, and of time, space and cause." Hellenistic religion įurther information: Hellenistic religion Different schools of thought interpret Brahman as either personal, impersonal or transpersonal. Hinduism calls the metaphysical absolute concept as Brahman, incorporating within it the transcendent and immanent reality. An example of the questioning of the concept of God, in addition to henotheistic hymns found therein, are in later portions of the Rigveda, such as the Nasadiya Sukta. In late Vedic era, around the start of Upanishadic age (~800 BCE), theosophical speculations emerge that develop concepts which scholars variously call nondualism or monism, as well as forms of non-theism and pantheism. The Vedic hymns treat it as "limitless, indescribable, absolute principle", thus the Vedic divine is something of a panentheism rather than simple henotheism. The Vedic era conceptualization of the divine or the One, states Jeaneane Fowler, is more abstract than a monotheistic God, it is the Reality behind and of the phenomenal universe. Müller noted that the hymns of the Rigveda, the oldest scripture of Hinduism, mention many deities, but praises them successively as the "one ultimate, supreme God", alternatively as "one supreme Goddess", thereby asserting that the essence of the deities was unitary ( ekam), and the deities were nothing but pluralistic manifestations of the same concept of the divine (God). Henotheism was the term used by scholars such as Max Müller to describe the theology of Vedic religion. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Henotheism and inclusive monotheism are terms that refer to a middle position between unlimited polytheism and exclusive monotheism. A henotheist may worship a single god from a pantheon of deities at a given time, depending on his or her choice, while accepting other deities and concepts of god. According to Christoph Elsas, henotheism in modern usage connotes a syncretic stage in the development of religions in late antiquity. Various scholars prefer the term monolatrism to henotheism, to discuss religions where a single god is central, but the existence or the position of other gods is not denied. Further, the term henotheism does not exclude monism, nondualism or dualism. Another term related to henotheism is "equitheism", referring to the belief that all gods are equal. Henotheism refers to a pluralistic theology wherein different deities are viewed to be of a unitary, equivalent divine essence. The latter term is an extension of "henotheism", from καθ' ἕνα θεόν (kath' hena theon) 'one god at a time'. Related terms are monolatrism and kathenotheism. The term refers to a form of theism focused on a single god. Definition and terminology įriedrich Schelling coined the German term Henotheismus from Greek ἕν (hén) 'one' and German Theismus 'theism' (which comes from Greek θεός (theós) 'god'). Müller made the term central to his criticism of Western theological and religious exceptionalism (relative to Eastern religions), focusing on a cultural dogma which held "monotheism" to be both fundamentally well-defined and inherently superior to differing conceptions of God. Max Müller (1823–1900), a German philologist and orientalist, brought the term into wider usage in his scholarship on the Indian religions, particularly Hinduism whose scriptures mention and praise numerous deities as if they are one ultimate unitary divine essence. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) used it to depict primitive monotheism among ancient Greeks. Henotheism is the worship of a primary god or gods that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities.
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