MONOTHEISM (Greek single Ork god), in religion, the belief that God is one or that there is only one God. Several religious beliefs are in opposition to this tenet : polytheism, which holds that there are many gods; atheism, which denies the existence of God altogether; and scepticism or agnosticism, which doubts the existence of a supreme being. The historical sources of monotheism are very ancient and involved, and need not be dealt with here. However, in the history of religious thought, three philosophical types of mono theism have developed which are distinct enough logically, if not practically, to make analysis possible.
The first type is exemplified in the later monotheism of the Israelitish tribes. The unity of God is derived from an ethical concept of the universe. God is one, holy and the right eous ruler of the world. He is the dispenser of justice, the giver of the law. He derives his power from the fact that he is the creator and, therefore, he enjoins upon his creatures ethical responsibility and heightened moral conscious ness. Apart from the world, he sits in su prune jurisdiction over it.
In Greek philosophy we find the second type of monotheism, in which God as a unity or unifying principle is the source, the explana tion of the order and rational coherence of the universe. According to Aristotle, he is at once the commanding general of the universe and the rational order of it.
The Hindu philosophy represents the third type. In its teaching, a distinction is main tained between the reality of the world and the reality of God. The earth on which man lives and its phenomena are of the "stuff that dreams are made"; it is ephemeral, transitory, unreal. God, who is imminent in all things, is at the same time transcendental, superior — the ultimate reality. Knowledge of God cannot be obtained by intellectual reasoning alone. It must come as a direct revelation by insight to those souls who are best prepared to receive it. Therefore, the contemplative life is to be de sired and commended in preference to the practical. Logically, this mysticism argues that, since knowledge obtained through sensu ous experience is at best defective and limited, some comprehensive perfect reality partaking of the nature of all things must exist somewhere and this is the one God.
These various types of monotheism did not exist as pure concepts practically, however. The continued study of the problem of the relation of the world to God brought about interesting syntheses of these several philosophies. The
intellectualism of Greek monotheism which con ceived the 'Logos" or divine essence of things to be the ruler and the order of things at the same time, soon found its position besieged by ethical questionings. How establish the proper relationship between a remote, righteous God who orders all things and a lawless unjust world? How reconcile, in other words, the Greek rational and the Jewish ethical Mono theism? The Neo-Platonic school turned to mysticism for the solution. Likewise, early Christianity found itself beset with similar problems, and in its answer also found recourse to transcendental philosophy necessary. In Christian monotheism, a curious synthesis of all three monotheistic concepts is found, together with the doctrine of the personality of God. The ethical and mystical concepts predominate. The existence of a rational world is acknowl edged to the point of fixing the ethical re sponsibility of human relationships. But beyond that, the things of the earth are untrue, im perfect, unreal. The whole truth is in God, of whom knowledge is obtained through insight and revelation. The concept of immortality solves the problem of injustice and evil, for in the after life all ethical readjustments are made. The Hellenistic concept of the universe as a well-ordered system capable of being fathomed by the intellect also survives in Christianity in the attempt to rationalize its doctrines and to build up a definite convincing system to estab lish the unity between the finite world and its infinite ruler.
Constant revivals of the third type of mono theism arise also out of the problem of synthet izing all three forms. The escape from the difficulties attendant upon the acceptance of any of the three per se is generally in trans cendentalism of some form or in scepticism. True monotheism must take into just considera tion the ethical, rational and intuitional elements of religious philosophy.