Credo in Unum Deum: A Challenge

And here is more on the fate of monotheism among the children of Abraham in our world:

Belief in One God is as intrinsic and integral to the Christian faith as it is to Judaism and Islam. But none of the three has yet arrived at accountable belief in the One God of All.

Each is to some extent still caught in the ephemeral cultural traps and trappings in which the scriptures and traditions of each were written.

And each has remained in its comfort zone of henotheism, belief in its particular view of God, falling well short of true monotheism, which recognizes that God is incomprehensible.

Some adherents of Christianity falsely think that some of those cultural trappings are traits of monotheism, such as patriarchalism and the honor-shame syndrome on which nearly all societies are and have been structured, and some have worked to eliminate the trappings but kept henotheism intact, or worse, have foolishly toyed with the chaos of polytheism.

Belief in the One God of All has at best been held out, like the coming of Messiah or the Second Coming of Christ, as a goal to which to aspire while calling common belief in the One God of All unrealistic and unattainable.

It is our contention, on the contrary, that the time has come for all three religions to work out what belief in the integrity of reality and of all humanity really means in contemporary terms and to strive to make that belief a reality if humanity is to survive the twenty-first century.

-- James A. Sanders, Paul E. Capetz

Credo in Unum Deum: A Challenge

Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology, Vol. 39, No. 4, 204-213 (2009)

Let's Keep It Rolling ~

Bottom-Line:

This is a Post-Monotheist world we're living in. Hence, most of what people pass as Monotheism in nowadays is nothing but Henotheism through and through.

That is:

Instead of orienting oneself toward One God and One Adam = One Source of Everything and Unity of Mankind, we have this:

My God and My Adam

My God (Yahweh/Jesus/Allah/Etc.)

My Adam (the Jew/Christian/Muslim/Etc.)

That is NOT Monotheism - pure and simple.

* * *

What H. R. Niebuhr says here applies to ALL:

When we turn from the question about Monotheistic faith in relation to religion as piety to the question about the relation of that faith to the "organized religions" in the West -- Judaism and Christianity -- two observations force themselves upon us:

First, the struggle for monotheism has been continuous in the history of these societies and is at present being carried on in them;

Secondly, though we call Judaism and Christianity "religions" they are not only concerned with religion as personal or communal piety but seem to be efforts at the incarnation of monotheistic faith in total life.These two facts seem interrelated but we must attempt to construct the whole picture by attending to each one in turn.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians have been prone to see the mote of particularism in our Israelite brother's eye while disregarding the plank in our own.

The God worshiped by Israel, we note, was almost always somewhat an Israelite god.

Israel, we tend to say, thinking of itself as a chosen nation, meant when it spoke of its election that it had been especially favored by a deity who was more the holy One of Israel than the Lord of heaven and earth.

Hence it tended to believe that it had been endowed with special privileges more than charged with special responsibilities.

So it thought of itself as the holy nation in such fashion that there was no access to God except through membership in its community.

While it is strange that Christians should charge Jews with this error as though it were peculiarly Jewish, it does seem clear from any study of the Hebrew Scriptures that the history of Israel is marked by an almost continuous struggle between social monotheism [henotheism] and radical monotheism [monotheism as such].

Continue reading here, pp. 56-63:

2. RADICAL FAITH IN "ORGANIZED RELIGION"

Radical Monotheism and Western Culture

H. Richard Niebuhr

Let's Roll Now ~

Evidently, Jesus affirmed the Oneness of God and the Unity of Mankind. (see post 1)

Now, how can any person perceive the One in the multiple phenomena of such a panoramic world, like this space-age one in which we are living? I would like to see how can any monotheist maintain his or her monotheistic focus while all-that-Jazz is playing so loudly around--and there's a lot of it playing in nowadays.

Meaning:

How can one perceive God as such? That is: God as the Absolute, the Infinite, the Beyond being-becoming-existing-names-numbers-images-space-thought-time-etc. The Source of all and is the all in all at the same time.

How can one relate to this monotheos as Is, Is-not and beyond any Is-ing altogether?

Does the Jew or the Christian or the Muslim, in the "West" and elsewhere, relate to God simultaneously as being here (Immanent), there (Transcendent), and beyond both here and there?

Do they perceive God-with-in, with-out, and beyond?

Is God conceived in their minds as known, unknown and ultimately unknowable?

And what about Man (Adam, Anthropos) for them?

Do they revere the human race as God's steward in the Kingdom? The vice-Regent of God on Earth?

Do they see the "other" as a non-Jew, non-Christian, non-Muslim, first? Or do they see the "other" as a fellow brother and sister in Adam and Eve, first?

Yes? . . . No? ...

If 'Yes', then where is it? . . .

If 'No', then what are they busying themselves with? . . .

Busy doing the *Just-Us-Department* thing, where everybody else goes to hell except "Us" cause we're saved and they're not? . . .

~ Long story short,

The above is a must-do-exploration to counter the henotheistic tendencies within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; to counter the narcissism of certain groups within them who think that just by being a "card-carrying" member in the Abrahamic tradition, they are entitled to launch judgmental assaults on fellow human beings.

They forget the overriding insistence of the Revealed books that Monotheism is not doctrinal nor dogmatic in its nature as much as it is of a perceptual, preconceptual one--that is, not the static "belief in one God" aspect as it is usually defined in the dictionaries, it is the dynamic aspect of it that counts, as in to monotheosize, to monotheize, to at-one-ize.

This insistence on relation to One God the source of all and relation to all other fellow human beings in terms of One Adam is stronger, more ontological, more compelling a claim than any other human interpretation of human boundaries--be it secular, racial, national, tribal, class, etc.

* * *

And here is more from another source:

This monotheizing process arose out of Israel's need to survive, out of its desire for life, so that the prophets could sometimes speak of defeat as an occasion for blessing and blessing as an occasion for sin. The sages introduced global thinking based on people's experiences that had nothing to do with national epics but with the common humanity of all people.

As this monotheizing process continued, it broadened under Greek, then Roman, hegemony to the point that Jesus admonished his followers to love their enemies ( Matthew 5:44). This can only be seen as the theological conclusion of the monotheizing process, but rather than pursuing this process, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have actually abandoned it in favor of their own particular versions of henotheism.

"La ilaha illa Allah"

Theologians say Times Op-Ed was wrong: Monotheism is the only way.

By Paul E. Capetz and James A. Sanders

November 10, 2007

The Greatest Commandment

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'

31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is One and there is no other but him.

33 To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And from then on, no one dared ask him any more questions.

(Mark 12:28-34)

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

(Matthew 22:34-40)

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

(Luke 10:25-37)