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Monotheism is defined by the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as belief in the existence of one god or in the oneness of God.〔"Monotheism", ''Britannica'', 15th ed. (1986), 8:266.〕 The ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' gives a more restricted definition: "belief in one personal and transcendent God", as opposed to polytheism and pantheism.〔Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.〕 A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform monotheism which, while recognising many distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity.〔Encyclopædia Britannica Online, art. "Monotheism" Accessed 23 January 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390101/monotheism〕 Monotheism characterizes the traditions of Bábism, the Bahá'í Faith, Cao Dai (Caodaiism), Cheondoism (Cheondogyo), Christianity, Deism, Eckankar, Islam, Judaism, Mandaeism, Rastafari, Ravidassia religion, Seicho no Ie, Shaivism, Shaktism, Sikhism, Tengrism (Tangrism),Tenrikyo (Tenriism), Vaishnavism, and Zoroastrianism and elements of the belief are discernible in numerous other religions including Atenism and Ancient Chinese religion.〔 *Zoroastrian Studies: The Iranian Religion and Various Monographs, 1928 – Page 31, A. V. Williams Jackson – 2003 *Global Institutions of Religion: Ancient Movers, Modern Shakers – Page 88, Katherine Marshall – 2013 *Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia – Page 348, James B. Minahan – 2012 *Introduction To Sikhism – Page 15, Gobind Singh Mansukhani – 1993 *The Popular Encyclopedia of World Religions – Page 95, Richard Wolff – 2007 *Focus: Arrogance and Greed, America's Cancer – Page 102, Jim Gray – 2012 *monotheism 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 12 January 2012, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390101/monotheism〕 ==Origin and development== The word ''monotheism'' comes from the Greek (''monos'')〔(Monos ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus〕 meaning "single" and (''theos'')〔(Theos ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus〕 meaning "god".〔The compound is current only in Modern Greek. There is a single attestation of in a Byzantine hymn (''Canones Junii'' 20.6.43; A. Acconcia Longo and G. Schirò, ''Analecta hymnica graeca, vol. 11 e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris''. Rome: Istituto di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici. Università di Roma, 1978)〕 The English term was first used by Henry More (1614–1687). In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda appears as a supreme and transcendental deity. Depending on the date of Zoroaster (usually considered to be contemporary with the Vedas〔Boyce, "Zoroastrianism, Its Antiquity and Constant Vigor"〕), this may be one of the earliest documented instances of the emergence of monism in an Indo-European religion. Monolatrism can be a stage in the development of monotheism from polytheism. Three examples of this are the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, the rise of Marduk from the tutelary of Babylon to the claim of universal supremacy, and the rise of Yahweh from among the Canaanite gods to the sole God of Judaism.〔The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts|Mark S. Smith|Oxford University Press, 6 Nov 2003|pg 5〕 Ethical monotheism and the associated concept of absolute good and evil emerge in Zoroastrianism and Judaism, later culminating in the doctrines of Christology in early Christianity and later (by the 7th century) in the ''tawhid'' in Islam. In the cities of the Ancient Near East, each city had a local patron deity, such as Shamash at Larsa or Sin at Ur. The first claims of global supremacy of a specific god date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's ''Great Hymn to the Aten'' (speculatively connected to Judaism by Sigmund Freud in his ''Moses and Monotheism''). However the historicity of the Exodus is disputed. Furthermore, it is not clear to what extent Akhenaten's Atenism was monotheistic rather than henotheistic with Akhenaten himself identified with the god Aten. Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India earlier, chiefly with worship of Lord Krishna, which is full-fledged monotheism, but also with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. In the Indo-Iranian tradition, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism, in particular in the comparatively late tenth book, also dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in the Nasadiya sukta. According to Christian tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity but was generally lost after the fall of man. This theory was largely abandoned in the 19th century in favour of an evolutionary progression from animism via polytheism to monotheism, but by 1974 this theory was less widely held.〔 Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt had postulated an ''Urmonotheismus'', "original" or "primitive monotheism" in the 1910s.〔Armstrong, Karen ''A History of God'' p. 3〕 It was objected that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism.〔 Furthermore, while belief in a "high god" is not universal, it is found in many parts of Africa and numerous other areas of the world.〔Nida, E.A. ''Customs, Culture and Christianity'' Tyndale Press: 1963, pp 141,2〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Monotheism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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