Nation ： Wikipedia

Nation ： Wikipedia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Nation (disambiguation). A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, ethnic origin and language, often possessing or seeking its own government.[1] The development and conceptualization of a nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,[2] although nationalists would trace nations into the past along uninterrupted lines of historical narrative. Though the idea of nationality and race are often connected, the two are separate concepts, race dealing more with genotypic and phenotypic similarity and clustering, and nationality with the sense of belonging to a culture. A nation is different from a country in that a country is the land that belongs to a nation, and from a state in that a state is the government of the nation and country. Benedict Anderson argued that nations were "imagined communities" because "the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion", and traced their origins back to vernacular print journalism, which by its very nature was limited with linguistic zones and addressed a common audience.[3] Although "nation" is also commonly used in informal discourse as a synonym for state or country, a nation is not identical to a state. Countries where the social concept of "nation" coincides with the political concept of "state" are called nation states.

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2010年8月3日火曜日

私の白昼夢：グローバル実業家集団ロックフェラー一族の根底にある想念は一体どのよう

世界の政治・経済・情報・人脈・資本・産業・報道機関等を支配・管理するほどの国境なき活動で、世界に大きな影響を誇示するグローバル実業家集団一族の根底にある想念は一体どのような歴史的な背景から生じてきているのだろうか？？？？？


この設問に対しての解答は、簡単に求められるわけではない。


古代ユダヤ王国の歴史が、神話的な伝説として、世界の各地に広がって生きてきた多くのユダヤ民族によって、絶えることがなく、現代まで、引き継がれ語り続けられてきている。




ユダヤ民族の世界各地への流浪の始まりが、旧約聖書の中には、語られている。


その中には、人類世界の未来を預言するような記述も、ユダヤ民族の聖なる言葉の書として、扱われている。


古代エジプトの王朝の中で、多くのユダヤ民族が奴隷として使役されていた人間達の社会史的な歴史上の伝説なのである。


これらの物語の根底にあるのは、民族として、虐げられ奈落のような生活状態を生き残るべき術として、そのような宿命的な逆境状態から、どのように、きりぬけていったのであるのかについての先祖達が経験したことを教訓として、たどることであるように思える。



耐えることを遥かに超えた人々の奴隷状態の抑圧された困窮な生活状況から、如何にして、しのぎ、生き残ることに希望を託したのであるのか。

これらについて、我々の人類の先達たちの人々は、その時代の絶大な支配権力者に反抗・抵抗しながら、どのような思いで、熟考し、失敗を重ねながらも、計画を実行したのかについてを考察することも、意義深いことである。


世界の人類の４大分明の発祥地の一つである古代エジプトにおいて、旧約聖書の中で語られているユダヤ民族の言い伝えが、現代に生きるユダヤ人においても、旧約聖書を通して、先祖達が経験した聖なる言い伝えとしての物語を自らの生き方としての教訓・訓示・啓示として、人生の歩み方や思考・想念・判断に大きな影響を与えているのであろう。


この民族の歴史物語をユダヤ民族は大事にして、世界各地に、流浪しながらも、生活の基本にして、生存してきたのであろう。


民族の起源を聖なる書物として後世に伝え、子々孫々へ、引き継がれ、大事にして継続してきており、からこそ、世界各地に流浪した民族の拠り所として、その訓話的な想念の文化を共有・共感することが可能となっており、想念的な民族としての共同協力・団結心等が生み出されてくるのであろう。


エジプトの王朝の中で、多くのユダヤ民族が奴隷として蔑まれ使役されていたのである。


色々なユダヤ民族の指導者の伝説・説話歴史的な物語のように、語り続けられて現在の世界に、つたえられて残されてきたものが、聖書の中に残され記されてきているのである。


聖書の物語の真偽は別として、その聖書の物語は、今後とも、人類の歴史の中で、新らしいページが付け加えられて、後世に伝えられていくことであろう。




そのユダヤ民族の歴史の流れ中で、世界的な活動・支配を成し遂げてきたユダヤ民族の旗頭の一員であるロックフェラー一族は、今後の世界の大きな時代変遷の中において、統括的な権力支配者として、世界に君臨し、存在・存続・継続し、続けていくことは、困難なことであろう。


例えるならば、人類の歴史の変遷における物理的なエントロピー的な拡散の原則を押しのけて、集中的な集積という過程に進むということは、そこに莫大なエネルギーを必要とされるがゆえにおいて、また物理の経時の過程が、拡散の過程に進むという物理熱力学の法則が存在しているがゆえにあるのである。




現世に言い伝えられて残されてきた聖書の記述やそのの解釈も、拡散の過程による経年の変化で、様々に変化してきているのである。




例えとして、人類の知恵と力を集結させることが可能であっても、また、その管理・運営過程のすべてについて、そのような機構を維持できるような権力を構築し、維持・管理を企てたとしても、総合統括司令塔のような統括機能を維持して、その管理機構を経年的に変化させずに運営させていくことの果てしのない無限の工程を実現させていくことは、この現実の人類社会の中に存在する多様性のある情念の世界をも含めて管理することの実現性およびその可能性は殆どないことになるであろう。


人類の生存の存在のその根底には、遺伝子に組み込まれた生物の生命の本源の中に情念を所有している、各自各位が、独立して、存在して、内有されているものである。




それこそ、天地を司る神の持つ力によって可能であっったとしても、多様性のある世界の民族・民衆の意思を分断ではなく、統合・統一することは、非常に困難な過程を進む事を意味しており、其の実現可能性は殆どないことであろう。


楽観的な理想論では、超えることのできない生物種の生存の宿命がこの先に大きく待ち構えていることが判明するのである。




今後において、中国においての，秦の始皇帝の末裔である中国民族のある種の帝国主義国家の台頭に対して、どのように、このユダヤ的な思想で、ユダヤ民族と呼ばれている人びとは、どのように対抗していくことになるのであろうか？


無神論を基本として成立している中国共産主義思想と有神論で構成された自由主義リベラルの西洋思想の並存する現代社会の未来はどのような展開がなされることになるのであろうか。


人類の民族の興亡の歴史においては、絶え間ない生存競争・闘争と平和・協調の間の大きな揺り動きの変動の中で、浮き沈みを繰り返し経ながら変遷していくことになるのでであろうか。


日本を始め、世界の諸国は、その帝国主義的な覇権的な競争と協調の国際関係の谷間に、存在しているのである。




その人類の可能性を追求する歴史の過程で、人々が流浪すべき状況の出現を防ぐために、律法に規範を置く国家というものを構築しながら、また生活の規範・道徳としての神と言う概念が私達の先祖達の知恵の中で、創られ生まれ、育てられてきたのであろう。


人類の未来において、人類を統括支配する神は存在するのか、あるいは存在しないのかの神学論や支配権力者の論理・思想は、これからも探求されつづけられていくことになるであろう。




希望は逆境・絶望の状況を経験したことのあるものにだけ、その輝くような存在の価値があるようである。　そこにこそ、叱咤激励の自己への啓発と不断の努力が生みだされてくるのである。


社会で、成功する人は、このような逆境の状態を乗り越えてきているのである。


安穏で、安逸な生活の行き着くところは、やがては、絶望が待ち構えているのである。


民族、国家の興亡においても、このような原理・原則が厳然と存在しているのである。


未来の社会においても、そこに、永遠的に確実に継続されて存在するであろうものは、【未来への希望】と【対立関係ではない信頼関係によって形成され共有された共同・協同】といわれる人類社会に共通に存在している概念的な想念・イデアなのである。
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2010年8月2日月曜日

Monotheism　：　From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monotheism (from Greek μόνος) is the belief in theology that only one deity exists.[1]The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in theAbrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Druze, the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as the Advaita, Dvaitaand Vishishtadvaita philosophies of Hinduism, although the latter philosophies admit the existence of a plethora of divine beings including less-powerful deities such as devas.[2]Sikhism on the other hand, is a monotheistic Indian religion, in contrast to many schools of Hinduism and the other Indian religions.
Due to its Abrahamic association, the concept of monotheism has often been defined in contrast to polytheistic and pantheistic religions, and monotheism tends to overlap with other unitary concepts, such as monism.
Ostensibly monotheistic religions may still include concepts of a plurality of the divine. For example, the Trinity in which God is one being in three eternal persons (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). Additionally, most Christian churches teach Jesus to be two natures (divine and human), each possessing the full attributes of that nature, without mixture or intermingling of those attributes. This view is not shared by all Christians, notably the Oriental Orthodox (miaphysite) churches.
Catholics venerate the saints, (among them Mary), as human beings who had remarkable qualities, lived their faith in God to the extreme and are believed to be capable ofinterceding in the process of salvation for others.[3] The concept of monotheism in Islam and Judaism however, is far more direct, God's oneness being understood as absolutely unquestionable.


Part of a series on
God
General conceptions
Atheism · Deism · Henotheism · Monolatrism
Monotheism · Panentheism · Pantheism · Polytheism
Experience and practices
Faith · Prayer · Belief · Revelation
Fideism · Gnosis · Metaphysics
Mysticism · Hermeticism · Esotericism
Related topics



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[edit]Origin and development

The word monotheism is derived from the Greek μόνος (monos)[4] meaning "single" and θεός (theos)[5] meaning "God".[6] The English term was first used by Henry More (1614–1687).
The concept sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism (worshiping a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities) and monolatrism (the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity). In 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). Currents of monism or monotheism emerge in Vedic India in the same period, with e.g. the Nasadiya Sukta. Philosophical monotheism and the associated concept of absolute good and evil emerges in Judaism, later culminating in the doctrines ofChristology in early Christianity and finally (by the 7th century) in the tawhid in Islam.
Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt in the 1910s postulated an Urmonotheismus, "original" or "primitive monotheism."
Historically, some ancient Near Eastern religions from the Late Bronze Age begin to exhibit aspects of monotheism or monolatrism.
This is notably the case with the Aten cult in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, but also with the rise of Marduk from the tutelary of Babylon to the claim of universal supremacy.
In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda appears as a supreme and transcendental deity. Depending on the date of Zoroaster (usually placed in the early Iron Age), this may be one of the earliest documented instances of the emergence of monism in an Indo-European religion. Also in Indo-Iraniantradition, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism, in particular in the comparatively late tenth book, also dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in theNasadiya sukta.

[edit]Varieties

Further information: Comparative religion, Conceptions of God, and Theism
Some argue[who?] that there are various forms of monotheism, including:
  • Henotheism involves devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. Similarly, monolatrism is the worship of a single deity independent of the ontological claims regarding that deity.
  • Deism posits the existence of a single god, or the Designer of the designs in Nature. Some Deists believe in an impersonal god that does not intervene in the world while other Deists believe in intervention through Providence.
  • Monistic Theism is the type of monotheism found in Hinduism, encompassing pantheistic and panentheistic monism, and at the same time the concept of a personal god.
  • Pantheism holds that the universe itself is God. The existence of a transcendent supreme extraneous to nature is denied.
  • Panentheism, is a form of monistic monotheism which holds that God is all of existence, containing, but not identical to, the Universe. The 'one God' is omnipotent and all-pervading, the universe is part of God, and God is both immanent and transcendent.
  • Substance monotheism, found in some indigenous African religions, holds that the many gods are different forms of a single underlying substance.
  • Trinitarian monotheism is the Christian doctrine of belief in one God who is three distinct persons; God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit.
On the surface, monotheism is in contrast with polytheism, which is the belief in several deities. Polytheism is however reconcilable withInclusive monotheism, which claims that all deities are just different names or forms of a single god. This approach is common in Hinduism, e.g., in Smartism. Exclusive monotheism, on the other hand, actively opposes polytheism. Monotheism is often contrasted with theistic dualism(ditheism). However, in dualistic theologies as that of Gnosticism, the two deities are not of equal rank, and the role of the Gnostic demiurge is closer to that of Satan in Christian theology than that of a diarch on equal terms with God (who is represented in pantheistic fashion, asPleroma).

[edit]Abrahamic religions

Further information: Abrahamic religion
The major source of monotheism in the modern Western World is the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, the source of Judaism. Judaism may have received influences from various non-biblical religions present in Egypt and Syria. This can be seen by the Torah's reference to Egyptian culture in Genesis and the story of Moses, as well as the mention of Hittite and Hurrian cultures of Syria in the Genesis story of Abraham. Although, orthodox Jews would dispute this based on the Jewish fundamental that the Torah was received from God on Mount Sinai in 1313 BCE (Hebrew year 2448). References to other cultures are included to understand the specific references of the topic discussed or to give context to the narrative.
In traditional Jewish thought, which provided the basis of the Christian and Islamic religions, monotheism was regarded as its most basic belief.Judaism and Islam have traditionally attempted to interpret scripture as exclusively monotheistic whilst Christianity adopts Trinitarianism, a more complex form of monotheism, as a result of considering the Holy Spirit to be God, and attributing divinity to Jesus, a Judean Jew, in the first century CE, defining him as the Son of God. Thus, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".

[edit]Monotheism in the Hebrew Bible

Further information: God of Israel, Yahweh, and Elohim
The concept of monotheism develops gradually throughout the various books of the Hebrew Bible.
In the oldest sections - some of the Psalms, for example - Yahweh, the God of Israel, is shown as a member of a larger divine council of which El is the head; by the time of the Torah, written most probably around 700-450 BC, Yahweh reveals himself as the national deity to beworshipped alone, but without excluding the existence of other gods.[7] Besides the unambiguous presence of monolatrism by the early 6th century (the late monarchic period), there are some passages in the Hebrew Bible which have also been taken to express monotheism proper, such as Isaiah 44:6,
"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god"
or Deuteronomy 4:39 ,
"Know this day, and take it to heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is none else."
In the classical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, as taught in Rabbinical Judaism as well as in Christianity, it was Abraham who discovered God (Genesis 12:1-9;[8] 13:14-18;[9] 15[10] 18;[11] and 22[12]), and thus became "the world's first monotheist". This is in agreement with the teaching of Islam, holding Abraham to be the original hanif (to incline towards a right state).

[edit]Rabbinical Judaism

Further information: Judaism
The best-known Jewish statements of monotheism occur in the Shema prayer, the Ten Commandments and Maimonides' 13 Principles of faith, Second Principle:
God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity. This is referred to in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one."
There has historically been disagreement between the Hasidic Jews and the Mitnagdim Jews on various Jewish philosophical issues surrounding certain concepts of monotheism. A similar situation of differing views is seen in modern times among Dor Daim, students of the Rambam, segments of Lithuanian Jewry, and portions of the Modern Orthodox world toward Jewish communities that are more thoroughly influenced byLurianic Kabbalistic teachings such as Hasidism and large segments of the Sepharadi and Mizrahi communities. This dispute is likely rooted in the differences between what are popularly referred to as the "philosophically inclined" sources and the "kabbalistic sources;" the "philosophic sources" include such Rabbis as Saadia Gaon, Rabenu Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Maimonides. The "kabbalistic sources" include Rabbis such as Nahmanides, Bahya ben Asher, Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor, and Azriel. The Vilna Gaon is usually granted great respect in modern times by those who side with both views; by the more kabbalistic segments of Judaism he is regarded as a great kabbalist; those who take the other side of the issue regard him as a strict advocate of the people of Israel's historical monotheism.

[edit]The Shema

Main article: Shema
Judaism's earliest history, beliefs, laws, and practices are preserved and taught in the Torah (the Hebrew Bible) which provides a clear textual source for the rise and development of what is named Judaism's ethical monotheism which means that:
(1) There is one God from whom emanates one morality for all humanity. (2) God's primary demand of people is that they act decently toward one another...The God of ethical monotheism is the God first revealed to the world in the Hebrew Bible. Through it, we can establish God's four primary characteristics:
  1. God is supernatural.
  2. God is personal.
  3. God is good.
  4. God is holy.
...in the study of Hebrew history: Israel's monotheism was an ethical monotheism. Dennis Prager
When Moses returned with the Ten Commandments, the second of those stated that "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3), right after the first, which affirmed the existence of God. Furthermore, Israelites recite the Shema Yisrael ("Hear, O Israel") which partly says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Monotheism was and is the central tenet of the Israelite and the Jewish religion.
The Shema
Hebrewשמע ישראל יי אלהנו יי אחד
Common transliterationShema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad
EnglishHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God! The LORD is One!
The literal word meanings are roughly as follows:
  • Shema — 'listen' or 'hear.' The word also implies comprehension.
  • Yisrael — 'Israel', in the sense of the people or congregation of Israel
  • Adonai — often translated as 'Lord', it is used in place of the Tetragrammaton
  • Eloheinu — 'our God', a plural noun (said to imply majesty rather than plural number) with a pronominal suffix ('our')
  • Echad — 'one'
In this case, Elohim is used in the plural as a form of respect and not polytheism.
Gen.1:26 And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Elohim is morphologically plural in form in Hebrew, but generally takes singular agreement when it refers to the God of Israel (so the verb meaning "said" in this verse is vayyomer ויאמר with singular inflection, and not vayyomru ויאמרו with plural inflection), and yet in this case the "our" and "us" seems to create a presumption of plurality, though it may just be God talking to angels and not another god.
Judaism, however, insists that the "LORD is One," as in the Shema, and at least two interpretations exist to explain the Torah's use of the plural form. The first is that the plural form "Elohim" is analogous to the royal plural as used in English. The second is that, in order to set an example for human kings, Elohim consulted with his court (the angels, just created) before making a major decision (creating man).

[edit]Christian view

Most Christian churches teach the Trinity, an idea which does not conform to unitarian monotheistic beliefs. Historically, most Christian churches have taught that the nature of God is a mystery, in the original, technical meaning; something that must be revealed by special revelation rather than deduced through general revelation. Among early Christians there was considerable debate over the nature of godhead, with some factions arguing for the deity of Jesus and others calling for a unitarian conception of God. These issues of Christology were to form one of the main subjects of contention at the First Council of Nicaea.
The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (in present-day Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first ecumenical[13] conference of bishops of the Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent 'general (ecumenical) councils of bishops' (synods) to create statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy— the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole ofChristendom.
The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in relationship to the Father; in particular, whether Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father or merely of similar substance. St. Alexander of Alexandria andAthanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arian controversy comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly. (Of the estimated 250-318 attendees, all but 2 voted against Arius).
Christian orthodox traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical) follow this decision, which was codified in 381 and reached its full development through the work of the Cappadocian Fathers. They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising the three "Persons" God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three of this unity are described as being "of the same substance" (ὁμοούσιος). The true nature of an infinite God, however, is asserted to be beyond definition, and "the word 'person' is but an imperfect expression of the idea, and is not biblical. In common parlance it denotes a separate rational and moral individual, possessed of self-consciousness, and conscious of his identity amid all changes. Experience teaches that where you have a person, you also have a distinct individual essence. Every person is a distinct and separate individual, in whom human nature is individualized. But in God there are no three individuals alongside of, and separate from, one another, but only personal self distinctions within the divine essence, which is not only generically, but also numerically, one."[14]
Some critics[who?] contend that because of the adoption of a tripartite conception of deity, Christianity is actually a form of Tritheism orPolytheism. This concept dates from the teachings of the Alexandrian Church, which claimed that Jesus, having appeared later in the Bible than his "Father," had to be a secondary, lesser, and therefore "distinct" God. This controversy led to the convention of the Nicaean council in 325 CE. For Jews and Muslims, the idea of God as a trinity is heretical—— it is considered akin to polytheism. Christians overwhelmingly assert that monotheism is central to the Christian faith, as the Nicene Creed (and others), which gives the orthodox Christian definition of the Trinity, begins: "I believe in one God".
Some Christians eschew mainstream trinitarian theology; such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, the Unitarians, Christadelphians,Church of God General Conference, Socinian; and some of the Radical Reformers (Anabaptists) do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity at all. The Oneness Pentecostals believe the doctrine of the Trinity is not orthodox theology, and they adhere to the teachings of the Apostles from the times of the New Testament writings before the Council of Nicaea, which taught that God is a Spirit and is one, and Jesus was the visible manifestation of that Spirit.[15]

[edit]Islamic view

Main articles: Tawhid and Hanif
The holy book of Islam, the Qur'an, asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the creation.[16] The indivisibility of Allah (God) implies the indivisibility of Allah's sovereignty which in turn leads to the conception of the universe as just, coherent and moral rather than as an existential and moral chaos (as in polytheism). Similarly the Qur'an rejects the binary modes of thinking such as the idea of a duality of God by arguing that both good and evil generate from God's creative act and that evil forces have no power to create anything. Allah in Islam is a universal god rather than a local, tribal or parochial one; an absolute who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.[17]
Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.[18] To attribute divinity to a created entity is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Qur'an.[17] Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid (Oneness of God).[19]

[edit]Bahá'í view

Main article: God in the Bahá'í Faith
The Oneness of God is one of the core teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'ís believe that there is one supernatural being, God, who has created all existence. God is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty."[20]
Bahá'ís believe that although people have different concepts of God and his nature, and call him by different names, everyone is speaking of the same entity. God is taught to be a personal god in that God is conscious of his creation and has a mind, will and purpose. At the same time the Bahá'í teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully understand him or to create a complete and accurate image of him. Bahá'u'lláhteaches that human knowledge of God is limited to those attributes and qualities which are understandable to us, and thus direct knowledge about the essence of God is not possible. Bahá'ís believe, thus, that through daily prayer, meditation, and study of revealed text they can grow closer to God. The obligatory prayers in the Bahá'í Faith involve explicit monotheistic testimony.[21][22]

[edit]Chinese view


Shang Dynastybronze script character for tian (天), which translates to Heaven and sky.
Main articles: Shangdi, Tian, and Mohism
The orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC) until the modern period centered on the worship of Shangdi (literally "Above Sovereign", generally translated as "God") orHeaven as an omnipotent force.[23] This faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism and Christianity. It has features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, endowed with personality but no corporeal form. From the writings of Confucius in the Analects, we find that Confucius himself believed that Heaven cannot be deceived, Heaven guides people's lives and maintains a personal relationship with them, and that Heaven gives tasks for people to fulfill in order to teach them of virtues and morality.[23] However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshiped along with Shangdi. Still, variants such as Mohism approached high monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to carry out the will of Shangdi, akin to angels in Western civilization. In Mozi's Will of Heaven (天志), he writes:
"I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk that so the people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and rivers, ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to man's good or bring him evil. He appointed the dukes and lords to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked, and to gather metal and wood, birds and beasts, and to engage in cultivating the five grains and flax and silk to provide for the people's food and clothing. This has been so from antiquity to the present."
且吾所以知天之愛民之厚者有矣，曰以磨為日月星辰，以昭道之；制為四時春秋冬夏，以紀綱之；雷降雪霜雨露，以長遂五穀麻絲，使民得而財利之；列為山川谿谷，播賦百事，以臨司民之善否；為王公侯伯，使之賞賢而罰暴；賊金木鳥獸，從事乎五穀麻絲，以為民衣食之財。自古及今，未嘗不有此也。
Will of Heaven, Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. 5th Century BC
Worship of Shangdi and Heaven in ancient China includes the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to Shangdi, usually by slaughtering a completely healthy bull as sacrifice. Although its popularity gradually diminished after the advent of Taoism and Buddhism, among other religions, its concepts remained in use throughout the pre-modern period and have been incorporated in later religions in China, including terminology used by early Christians in China.

[edit]Indian religions

[edit]Hinduism

Main article: Hindu views on monotheism
In Hinduism, views are broad and range from monism, pantheism to panentheism – alternatively called monistic theism by some scholars – to monotheism (also see Hindu denominations). Hinduism is often misrepresented as polytheistic.
Rig Veda 1.164.46,
Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan."(trans. Griffith)
Vaishnavism is one of the earliest implicit manifestations of monotheism in the traditions of Vedas. Svayam Bhagavan is a Sanskrit term for the original deity of the Supreme God worshiped across many traditions of the Vaishnavism, the monotheistic absolute deity. This term is often applied to Krishna in some branches of Vaishnavism.[24][25][26] Traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, the Nimbarka Sampradaya and followers ofSwaminarayan and Vallabha considers him to be the source of all avataras,[27] and the source of Vishnu himself, or to be the same as Narayana. As such, he is therefore regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.[24][25][28]
When Krishna is recognized to be Svayam Bhagavan, it can be understood that this is the belief of Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[29] the Vallabha Sampradaya,[30] and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, where Krishna is accepted to be the source of all other avatars, and the source of Vishnuhimself. This belief is drawn primarily "from the famous statement of the Bhagavatam"[31](1.3.28).[32] A different viewpoint differing from this theological concept is the concept of Krishna as an avatara of Narayana or Vishnu. It should be however noted that although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avataras, this is only one of the names of the God of Vaishnavism, who is also known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Krishna and behind each of those names there is a divine figure with attributed supremacy in Vaishnavism.[33]
The Rig Veda, the very first book, discusses monotheistic thought. So does Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda.[citation needed]
"The One Truth, sages know by many names" (Rig Veda 1.164.46)[34]
"When at first the unborn sprung into being, He won His own dominion beyond which nothing higher has been in existence" (Atharva Veda10.7.31)[35]
"There is none to compare with Him. There is no parallel to Him, whose glory, verily, is great." (Yajur Veda 32.3)[36]
The number of auspicious qualities of God are countless, with the following six qualities being the most important:
  • Jñāna (Omniscience), defined as the power to know about all beings simultaneously
  • Aishvarya (Sovereignty, derived from the word Ishvara), which consists in unchallenged rule over all
  • Shakti (Energy), or power, which is the capacity to make the impossible possible
  • Bala (Strength), which is the capacity to support everything by will and without any fatigue
  • Vīrya (Vigor), which indicates the power to retain immateriality as the supreme being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations
  • Tejas (Splendor), which expresses His self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by His spiritual effulgence[37]
In the Shaivite tradition, the Shri Rudram (Sanskrit श्रि रुद्रम्), to which the Chamakam (चमकम्) is added by scriptural tradition, is a Hindu stotradedicated to Rudra (an epithet of Shiva), taken from the Yajurveda (TS 4.5, 4.7).[38][39]. Shri Rudram is also known as Sri Rudraprasna,Śatarudrīya, and Rudradhyaya. The text is important in Vedanta where Shiva is equated to the Universal supreme God. The hymn is an early example of enumerating the names of a deity,[40] a tradition developed extensively in the sahasranama literature of Hinduism.
The Nyaya school of Hinduism has made several arguments regarding a monotheistic view. The Naiyanikas have given an argument that such a god can only be one. In the Nyaya Kusumanjali, this is discussed against the proposition of the Mimamsa school that let us assume there were many demigods (devas) and sages (rishis) in the beginning, who wrote the Vedas and created the world. Nyaya says that:
[If they assume such] omniscient beings, those endowed with the various superhuman faculties of assuming infinitesimal size, and so on, and capable of creating everything, then we reply that the law of parsimony bids us assume only one such, namely Him, the adorable Lord. There can be no confidence in a non-eternal and non-omniscient being, and hence it follows that according to the system which rejects God, the tradition of the Veda is simultaneously overthrown; there is no other way open.
In other words, Nyaya says that the polytheist would have to give elaborate proofs for the existence and origin of his several celestial spirits, none of which would be logical, and that it is more logical to assume one eternal, omniscient god.[citation needed]

[edit]Sikhism

Further information: Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic faith[citation needed] that arose in northern India during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sikhs believe in one, timeless, omnipresent, supreme creator. The opening verse of the Guru Granth Sahib, known as the Mool Mantra signifies this:
Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
Transliteration: Ik ōaṅkār(or ikoo) sat nām karatā purakh nirabha'u niravair akāl mūrat ajūnī saibhaṁ gur prasād.
English: One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Timeless One, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace ~
The word "ੴ" is pronounced "Ik ōaṅkār" and is comprised to two parts. The first part is simply: "੧" - This is simply the digit "1" inGurmukhi signifying the singularity of the creator. Together the word means: "There is only one creator god"
It is often said that the 1430 pages of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib are all expansions on the Mool Mantra. Although the Sikhs have many names for God some of which have derived from Hinduism and Islam, they all refer to the same supreme being. The Islamic holy saints and Hindu saints are revered in high esteem and there teachings are mostly followed and recited during the Sikh prayers.
The Sikh holy scriptures refer to the One God who pervades the whole of space and is the creator of all beings in the universe. The following quotation from the Guru Granth Sahib highlights this point:
"Chant, and meditate on the One God, who permeates and pervades the many beings of the whole Universe. God created it, and God spreads through it everywhere. Everywhere I look, I see God. The Perfect Lord is perfectly pervading and permeating the water, the land and the sky; there is no place without Him."
—Guru Granth Sahib, Page 782
However there is a strong case for arguing that the Guru Granth Sahib teaches monism due to its non-dualistic tendencies:

Punjabi: "ਸਹਸ ਪਦ ਬਿਮਲ ਨਨ ਏਕ ਪਦ ਗੰਧ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਹਸ ਤਵ ਗੰਧ ਇਵ ਚਲਤ ਮੋਹੀ ॥੨॥"
English: You have thousands of Lotus Feet, and yet You do not have even one foot. You have no nose, but you have thousands of noses. This Play of Yours entrances me.
Sikhs believe that God has been given many names, but they all refer to the One God VāhiGurū. The word Guru means teacher in Sanskrit. Sikhs believe that members of other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity all worship the same god, and the names Allah, Rahim, Karim,Hari, Raam and Paarbrahm are frequently mentioned in the Sikh holy scriptures. The Sikh reference to God is Akal Purakh (which means "the true immortal") or Waheguru, the primal being.

[edit]Zoroastrianism

A Zoroastrian is an adherent to Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic religion which was once one of the biggest religions on Earth, founded in the early part of the 12-10th century BCE, or possibly even earlier in the 18th Century BCE. The religion is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoroaster. The Zoroastrians (or "Parsis") are sometimes credited with being the first monotheists and having had significant influence in the formation of current, larger world religions. Today, some figures put the number of adherents to Zoroastrianism at up to 3.5 million,[41] ranging from regions in South Asia and spread across the globe.

[edit]Notes

  1. ^ “Monotheism”, in Britannica, 15th ed. (1986), 8:266.
  2. ^ Edward Washburn Hopkins (1896). Morris Jastrow,. ed. THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. Jr. Ginn & Co. pp. 204. ISBN 9781603031431.
  3. ^ The Orthodox Church. Ware, Timothy. Penguin Books, 1997. ISBN 0-14-014656-3
  4. ^ Monos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
  5. ^ Theos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
  6. ^ The compound μονοθεισμός is current only in Modern Greek. There is a single attestation of μονόθεον 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)
  7. ^ R. G. Vincent, "Monotheism (in the Bible)" in New Catholic Encyclopedia, (1967), 9:1066.
  8. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=12
  9. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=13
  10. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=15
  11. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=18
  12. ^ http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=22
  13. ^ Ecumenical, from Koine Greek oikoumenikos, literally meaning worldwide but generally assumed to be limited to the Roman Empire as in Augustus's claim to be ruler of the oikoumene (world); the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are in Eusebius's Life of Constantine 3.6 [1] around 338 "σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει" (he convoked an Ecumenical council), Athanasius's Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369 [2], and the Letter in 382 to Pope Damasus I and the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople[3]
  14. ^ Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, page 87
  15. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneness_Pentecostalism#Father.2C_Son_and_Holy_Spirit
  16. ^ Vincent J. Cornell, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 5, pp.3561-3562
  17. ^ a b Asma Barlas, Believing Women in Islam, p.96
  18. ^ D. Gimaret, Tawhid, Encyclopedia of Islam
  19. ^ Ramadan (2005), p.230
  20. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 139. ISBN 0877430209.
  21. ^ Smith, P. (1999). A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1851681841.
  22. ^ Momen, M. (1997). A Short Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford, UK: One World Publications. ISBN 1851682090.
  23. ^ a b Homer H. Dubs, "Theism and Naturalism in Ancient Chinese Philosophy," Philosophy of East and West, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, 1959
  24. ^ a b Delmonico, N. (2004). "The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism". The Hare Krishna Movement: the Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. ISBN 9780231122566. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  25. ^ a b Elkman, S.M.; Gosvami, J. (1986). Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Movement. Motilal Banarsidass Pub.
  26. ^ Klostermaier, K. (1974). "The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin". Journal of the American Oriental Society 94 (1): 96–107.doi:10.2307/599733. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  27. ^ Bhagawan Swaminarayan bicentenary commemoration volume, 1781-1981. p. 154: ...Shri Vallabhacharya [and] Shri Swaminarayan... Both of them designate the highest reality as Krishna, who is both the highest avatara and also the source of other avataras. To quote R. Kaladhar Bhatt in this context. "In this transcendental devotieon (Nirguna Bhakti), the sole Deity and only" is Krishna. New Dimensions in Vedanta Philosophy - Page 154, Sahajānanda, Vedanta. 1981
  28. ^ Dimock Jr, E.C.; Dimock, E.C. (1989). The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal. University Of Chicago Press. page 132
  29. ^ Kennedy, M.T. (1925). The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal. H. Milford, Oxford university press.
  30. ^ Flood, Gavin D. (1996). An introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 341. ISBN 0-521-43878-0. Retrieved 2008-04-21."Early Vaishnava worship focuses on three deities who become fused together, namely Vasudeva-Krishna, Krishna-Gopala, and Narayana, who in turn all become identified with Vishnu. Put simply, Vasudeva-Krishna and Krishna-Gopala were worshiped by groups generally referred to as Bhagavatas, while Narayana was worshipped by the Pancaratra sect."
  31. ^ Gupta, Ravi M. (2007). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami. Routledge. ISBN 0415405483.
  32. ^ Essential Hinduism S. Rosen, 2006, Greenwood Publishing Group p.124 ISBN 0275990060
  33. ^ Matchett, Freda (2000). Krsna, Lord or Avatara? the relationship between Krsna and Visnu: in the context of the Avatara myth as presented by the Harivamsa, the Visnupurana and the Bhagavatapurana. Surrey: Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 0-7007-1281-X.
  34. ^ Rig Veda: A Metrically Restored Text with an Introduction and Notes, HOS, 1994
  35. ^ Atharva Veda: Spiritual & Philosophical Hymns
  36. ^ Shukla Yajur Veda: The transcendental "That"
  37. ^ Tapasyananda (1991). Bhakti Schools of Vedānta. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math. ISBN 8171202268.
  38. ^ For an overview of the Śatarudriya see: Kramrisch, pp. 71-74.
  39. ^ For a full translation of the complete hymn see: Sivaramamurti (1976)
  40. ^ For the Śatarudrīya as an early example of enumeration of divine names, see: Flood (1996), p. 152.
  41. ^ http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Zoroastrianism

[edit]Further reading

[edit]See also

[edit]External links

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