Original Monotheism Notes

Originally written March 27, 2007 in Book 15

Christian Presuppositions

1. The Authority of Scripture
2. The historical Christ
3. Mediation through Christ's atonement
4. Faith
- cognitive dimension of faith
- faith involves trust

Models of Relationship

Model 1: Complete Continuity

One way of looking at Christianity in comparison to other religions is to regard all religion as interwoven Christianity is distinctive in this model but, not more so than any other religion.

John Hick uses this model. He held that all religions are responses to an ultimate transcendent reality.

Hick believes all religions are equally imperfect in their ways of relating to the ultimate transcendent reality because "the Real" is beyond human concepts.

Model 2: Complete Discontinuity

Christianity shares nothing with other religions. And it is separate in every category.

J.A. DiNoia believes all religions are equally unique. He held that each religion exists in its own context and shows no similarity.

Karl Barth conceived of Christianity as being wholly unique from all other religions to the point where he felt it but to not consider Christianity as a religion.

He held all religions to be a human attempt to establish themselves as their own god.

Model 3: Certainty on the basis of superiority and inferiority

This model allows for all religions to be categorically similar while one religion can possess more truth.

The Catholic Church believes in a hierarchy of received grace from the God.

From top to bottom:

1. The Church
2. Orthodox & Protestants
3. Jews
4. Muslims
5. Polytheists & Animists
6. Moral Atheists

The Catholic Church has the most grace while the Moral Atheist has the least grace.

Model 4: Discontinuity on the whole with some commonalities

Christianity is categorically different from all other religions, but there is some overlap in some areas.

General Revelation and Original Monotheism

Christianity is both unique and not unique. In some ways Christianity is discontinuous with other religions, while it shares features with other religions.

Christianity is based on specific revelation: the Word of God and the person of Christ. But there is revelation outside of Christianity's specific revelation.

Two types of revelation:

- General Revelation - God is known via nature
- Special Revelation - God's direct self-disclosure to man.

The idea that God has persisted throughout the history of mankind is "original monotheism".

Precursor-non-Theistic Theories

In the 19th Century it was assumed that religions evolved alongside mankind. During the 20th century this assumption was largely abandoned.

Origin theories of Religion

- Celestial Phenomena: Religion began with deifying heavenly bodies.
- Natural Phenomena: Religion arose with endowing personhood on natural occurrences
- Manism - Religion began with venerating on deceased human beings
- Manaism - "Mana" is a power that human beings can tap into for magical energy. "mana" belief is the root of all religion.
- Magic: Magic was the origin of all religion.
-Totemism - Religion originated on the societal level.
- Animism - Religion began with the recognition of personal spirits (both natural and ancestral)

Problems with evolutionary theories of religion

1. Identifying which are truly the oldest human cultures so that the equivalence between oldest culture and oldest religion can be drawn.
 - evolutionary theory arguments are often circular

2. Distinguishing between the rule and the exception
- Shaky data was used to support shaky theories

3. Allowing the theory to dictate the data
- Most of the theories had a philosophical or sociological background rater than an observational one.

Lang and Other Early Theories of Original Monotheism

Anthropology discovered that many preliterate cultures had a singular creator god who lived int the sky.

This sky god seemed to have many of the qualities associated with the monotheistic god.

Since the monotheistic God was seen as the top of the evolutionary process it was troublesome for the evolutionary theory that such primitive cultures would have such an evolved god.

Andrew Lang promoted the theory that the origin of religion lies in the knowledge of the single creator god.

Wilhelm Schmidt and Ethnohistory

Schmidt provided an anthropological method for deciding the relative age of cultures called ethnohistory.

His theory dispensed of the notion of a single global evolution.

Schmidt's development among preliterate societies:

Primordial - hunter/gatherers

Primary -

1) Hunter (patrilineal and totemism)
2) Horticulturalists (Matrilineal and fertility oriented)
3) Nomadic cattle herders

Secondary - Agriculturalists

Tertiary - Ancient City Builders

Schmidt held that original monotheism is the most basic religion and other parts of religion like polytheism and spirit worship evolved as the society became more advanced.

Schmidt's Expressions of God:

1. God - there is one God, but there could be many spirits (who are not worshipped as God)
2. Father - God is the Father of all
3. Skydweller - God lives in a celestial place.
4. Creator - God made what exists.
5. Superior one - God is not human, he does not have a human body.
6. Everlasting one - God is not subject to time the way man is.
7. All-knowing one - God knows what we say or think
8. All-good one - God is good. God made the moral rules.
9. All powerful one - God is not limited in his power to do anything.

Original Monotheism & Revelation (40)

One-sixth done!