Moses and Monotheism

The word monotheism comes from the Greek ‘monos’, which means one, and ‘theos’, which means god. Thus, monotheism is a belief in the existence of a single god. Monotheism is usually contrasted with polytheism, which is the belief in many gods, and atheism, which is the absence of any belief in gods.

Because monotheism is founded upon the idea that there is only one god, it is common for believers to also think that this god created all of reality and is totally self-sufficient, without any dependency upon any other being. This is what we find in the largest monotheistic religions systems: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The origin of monotheism is unclear. The first recorded monotheistic system arose in Egypt during the rule of Akhenaten, but it did not long survive his death. Some suggest that Moses, if he existed, brought monotheism to the ancient Hebrews. Therefore, the debates about the roots of the monotheism still exist because of the lack of the evidences. The exact duration when Moses lived in Egypt, if he lived, is not certain. Sigmund Freud carried out a research about the case os Moses and the roots of monotheism, and he wrote the book ‘Moses and Monotheism’. His arguments about this subject are very disputable. Because of the standing on psychoanalysis of his studying and not having clear arguments which are based on history, his theories must be certifiable. Before trying to discuss his arguments, I would like to talk about the Egyptian monotheism, the religion of Akhenaten.

When the Egyptian state had been powerful, and changed into an ‘empire’, there were occurred an high class composed of who are around the emperor. The occurrence centralization and having complexity over the time within the state prompted to ...

... middle of paper ...

...idences will find and analyze, we will not be sure about that subject.

REFERENCES

Assmann, J. (1997). Moses the Egyptian. London: Harvard University Press.

Athanassiadi, P., & Frede, M. (Eds.). (1999). Pagan monotheism in late antiquity. New York: Clarendon Press.

Freud, S. (1937). Moses and monotheism an outline of psychoanalysis and other works. London: The Hogarth Press.

Gager, G.G.(1989). Moses in Greco-Roman paganism. Atlanta: The Society of Biblical Literature.

House, S (2006). Gregory of Nyssa the life Moses .New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Köse, A. (n.d.).Musa ve tektanrıcılık: bir tarih psikanalizinin açmazları. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://ktp.isam.org.tr/pdfdrg/D01525/1998_4/1998_4_KOSEA.pdf

Runia, D.T. (2001). On the creation of the cosmos according to Moses. Atlanta: The Society of Biblical Literature.