Is Jewish Monotheism a Myth?

Judgment by Doug X

Everybody knows the story of JudeoChristian morality. The Jews were the first monotheists in the Ancient World. Christianity came out of Judaism embracing Monotheism and led the world out of polytheism and paganism into civilization.

But what if none of that is true?

Now it’s certainly true that Jews were practicing monotheism in the time of Jesus. And it’s vaguely true that Christians are monotheistic at this point in history (if you accept the trinity as one God and if you also accept angels aren’t lesser divinities and you accept that Saints aren’t really being worshipped…I could go on but you get the idea.)

But, and this is a key idea I’ve picked up from Bart Ehrman, the author of Misquoting Jesus, that it is a mistake to imagine that ancient religions were one thing at one time. If you ask what the Jews believed in the 7th century B.C.E. consider the question what do Christians in the United States believe in 2023?

Christianity in the U.S. today is practiced quite differently by Catholics who say that the Pope is infallible and by Protestants who are quite sure he isn’t and by Appalachian snake handlers who in addition to being arguably unstable, base their beliefs on a verse in the bible that is probably a later addition by a scribe.