Where did monotheistic religion develop?

Answer 1

A:Monotheism may have existed in more than one culture, so it is somewhat misleading to speak of monotheism as having been 'born'. For example, some early Bronze Age cultures in the Mediterranean region may have worshipped the Mother Goddess as a sole deity, although this would have given way to polytheism by the Iron Age.

It is popularly thought that the earliest form of monotheism began with the biblical Abraham around four thousand years ago, and that his monotheistic beliefs were passed down through Moses to the Israel nation. However, even if we accept the biblical account as literally true, The Bible at no time attributes monotheistic beliefs to Abraham. In fact, Jewish monotheism did not begin until the Deuteronomistic reforms of King Josiah of Judah, in the seventh century BCE. One respected source on this is Lang, cited by Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel), "In the four and a half centuries during which there were one or two Israelite monarchies (ca. 1020-586 B.C.), there was a dominant, polytheistic religion that was indistinguishable from that of neighboring peoples. Insofar as there were differences between the Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Tyrian, etc. versions of religion, these beliefs stayed within the framework of Near Eastern polytheism, and each should be interpreted as a local variant of the same basic pattern. The Israelites . . . venerated their own protector god who was there to provide for health and family. But they venerated Yahweh [God] as well, the regional and national god, whose special domain dealt with war and peace issues."

Zoroastrian monotheism began in southern Russia perhaps around 1800 BCE and was carried to eastern Iran, before being transmitted to western Iran (Persia and Media) in the eighth century BCE.

Monotheism was also born, at least officially, in Egypt in the mid-fourteenth century BCE, but di not continue after the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Answer 2

In reality, before monotheistic believes, there was no other religious believe. Since the beginning in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve worship a monotheistic God that the bible calls "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" in the Old Testament by the 4 letters YHWH (in Hebrew: יהוה, ha·wah′, meaning "to become"). Therefore, the divine name means "He Causes to Become."

It was later when people like Nimrod, that other ideas of Gods and Goddesses came to place. He was apparently Noah's great-grandson (1 Chronicles 1:4, 8, 10 (New Life Version): "4 Noah and his sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth." "8 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan." "10 Cush was the father of Nimrod. He began to be a powerful one on the earth."), and he invented the false worship, including worship to himself, according to the story of Babel (or Babylon as we now it today).

Genesis 10: 8-10 (New World Translation): "8And Cush became father to Nim′rod. He made the start in becoming a mighty one in the earth. 9 He displayed himself a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah. That is why there is a saying: "Just like Nim′rod a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah." 10 And the beginning of his kingdom came to be Ba′bel and E′rech and Ac′cad and Cal′neh, in the land of Shi′nar."

Genesis 11:1-9 (Amplified Bible): "1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression. 2 And as they journeyed eastward, they found a plain (valley) in the land of Shinar, and they settled and dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. So they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar. 4 And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have [a]all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confound (mix up, confuse) their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of the whole earth, and they gave up building the city. 9 Therefore the name of it was called Babel-because there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth; and from that place the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

In time, the name of the city was changed to Babylon. Babylon was a most religious place. Evidence from excavations and from ancient texts points to the existence of more than 50 temples. The principal god of the imperial city was Marduk, called Merodach in the Bible. It has been suggested that Nimrod was deified as Marduk, but the opinions of scholars as to identifications of gods with specific humans vary. Triads of deities were also prominent in the Babylonian religion. One of these, made up of two gods and a goddess, was Sin (the moon-god), Shamash (the sun-god), and Ishtar; these were said to be the rulers of the zodiac. And still another triad was composed of the devils Labartu, Labasu, and Akhkhazu. Idolatry was everywhere in evidence. Babylon was indeed "a land of graven images," filthy "dungy idols." (Jeremiah 50:1, 2, 38).

According to the scholar and rabbi M. Jastrow, Jr., the Babylonians believed in the immortality of the human soul ("The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria", 1898, p. 556.). The Babylonians developed astrology in an effort to discover man's future in the stars. Magic, sorcery, and astrology played a prominent part in their religion. (Isaiah 47:12, 13; Daniel 2:27; 4:7) Many heavenly bodies, for example, planets, were named after Babylonian gods. Divination continued to be a basic component of Babylonian religion in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who used it to reach decisions. (Ezekiel 21:20-22)

As you can see, most of this Babylonian believes have been assimilated by many religions even today, including native american religious believes like Pachamama, who came to be replaced by the virgin Mary to convert natives to Catholicism (Merlino, Rodolfo y Mario Rabey (1992). "Resistance and Hegemony: Local and centralized religion of the Southern Andes". [Published in Spanish] "Resistencia y hegemonía: Cultos locales y religión centralizada en los Andes del Sur". Allpanchis (40): 173-200.).

Many religions have triads of gods, like many Christian religions that believe in the trinity, though contrary to popular believe, the bases for many believes like that one came from Babylonian paganism, and are not based on the bible at all. (Deuteronomy 6:4 (English Standard Version): 4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." [footnote: Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone]; 1 Corinthians 8:6 (New American Standard Bible): "6 Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.")

That's why the Bible uses the representation of Babylon to depict all false religions when uses the term "Babylon the Great". (Revelation 17:3-5 (KJV): "3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.) This include not only the pagan religions, but also all Christian religions that have incorporated Babylonian and other pagan believes into their religion.

Answer 3

Abram of Ur traditionally was the founder of Judaism, considered the father of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahia-ism, Samaritan-ism, etc.). Mesopotamia is the region in which he lived, but h\ism people moved to the Levant later.

Answer 4

In the Ancient Near East, (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria. Lebanon, Jordan , Israel, Palestine and Cyprus) monotheistic religion is thought to have started during the Late Bronze Age (1500 to 1200 BC for that area).

Answer 5

Monotheism began in Rome. The Romans were the first to spread Christianity far and wide. Religions before this believed in many gods.

Answer 6

Given that it deals with ancient history, is it difficult to tell exactly when monotheism started. Amenhotep, who ruled ancient Egypt, tried to instate monotheism from 1379-1362 BC.

Answer 7

The Middle East (sometimes called The Near East).

Answer 8

The earliest known monotheistic religion is probably Zoroastrianism, which is believed by some scholars to have begun by the prophet Zoroaster in southern Russia around 2000 BCE.