About Monotheism

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד (Deut 6:4)— Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

It has increasingly become accepted in the scholarship of the Hebrew Bible, that Israelite religion was not monotheistic from its very inception. Rather, it only became so at a later stage following the return of a wave of Israelite exiles from Babylon to their homeland, Yehud (Aramaic for Judah). The circumstances under which this development happened are the work of an inexhaustive study which I have attempted to articulate in my two works of research, the MA and PhD theses; including works that are yet to be published in form of peer reviewed papers and books. Some of the key questions on this topic are: what is the correct definition of monotheism? Under what circumstances did Israelite religion become monotheistic? What was Israelite religion like, before becoming monotheistic? Along with all these is the question of Angels. Who were they? What role if any, did they play in the development of monotheism? In the present webpage, I will be extracting some intriguing excerpts from the afore mentioned works to which all are invited to make contributions through comments and questions.To participate, simply click on the link “Blog” above and type your contribution in the space provided at the bottom. You are also welcome to browse through my ongoing contributions by visiting the link “Publications” as well as the contributions from different scholars found at the “Downloads” link.