Monotheism and It's Development

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Hi and thank you once again for your trust. The solution below has been written as a tutorial module for you to get you started. The topic of monotheism is broad, for the purpose of your question; we will be narrowing it down to only key monotheistic movements in the ancient period so that you can focus on their details. A word version of the solution is attached for easy download and printing. References are listed so you can expand on the information provided. Good luck!

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OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Monotheism in the Ancient World

Monotheism is the theological practice of believing in one god only. Whereas in the pantheon of the Greeks, the Romans and the Norse, for example, there were a number of deities and gods that occupy a certain 'position' in the ordering of their belief systems; this is the opposite of monotheism and it is referred to as polytheism. In our world today, we are very much familiar with monotheistic practices primarily because the more popular belief systems and religions that majority of the world follow is in this vein; notably Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But, prior to the current incarnation of these beliefs, in the ancient period, the seeds of their foundations were sown in the practices of monotheistic religions in the Fertile Crescent, now present day Middle East. I shall focus my exploration on the belief systems in this region for I believe that the ancient monotheistic systems here are of great importance in understanding the origins of our present monotheistic beliefs and that perhaps, while these religions are currently at odds, being that dividing line between people politically and socially, the truth of the matter is at core, they are preaching similar messages for they share similar social, political and geographic origins.

Atenism

The Egyptian Pharaoh Imhotep IV believed that Ra, the sun god is the only one true God. He holds the aspect of Ra, Aten or Aton as the true and the only true god. Aten is both Ra and Horus and is both male and female but is beyond gender or sex. The full name of the god is Ra-Horus-Aten, a synthesis of all the gods in the pantheon of Egyptian mythology. Imhotep renamed himself as Akhenaton in honor of the god and his reign of 17 years under the 8th dynasty saw Egypt forced to adopt into this monotheistic belief. Scholars point that each dynasty, each Pharaoh and each region of Egypt had a 'Supreme God'. Politics ...