Monotheism

• History of monotheism

  Religious belief in early Israel shifted from polytheism to to monotheism, as encapsulated by the shema prayer in deuteronomy 6:4 (the lord our god is one).
• What is ethical monotheism?

  God is the source of one standard of ethical morality and guides people through the principles
• What is a covenant?

  Agreement between God and the people
• What is perichoresis?

  'Mutual indwelling' - refers to the relation between the three persons of the trinity
• God as omnipotent

  - Christians have deduced that God is all powerful because he cannot be challenged by any other power or authority.

  - Some believe that he can do absolutely anything but others say that he can do anything that is logically possible.

  - beliefs about his power as creator: some believe in ex deo (out of God's own being) but most believe he crested the world ex nihilo (out of nothing).

  - Process theologians disagree and believe in ex materia, but this is based on a mistranslation of genesis 1:1-3 that suggests that creation amounted to God putting pre-existing chaotic material into an ordered form
• God as controller of all things

  - an all powerful creator must control everything and sustain everything. For some his omniscience leads to theological determinism; god must know the entire future so there is no way the future can be changed. Therefore we cannot make free choices and in effect are controlled by God's omniscience

  - Others follow a similar view to Aquinas that God is timeless, so he sees the results of our choices but does not cause them

  - he is the sustainer. Biblical evidence from psalms 104:5. Psalms 89:9-10 prove that he put structure into chaos
• Trinity

  - father, son and the Holy Spirit are one God in three persons. Each person is God and possesses divine characteristics. Each person differs from the other in terms of their inner relations. God exists as one substance in three persons (hypostases).

  - all three persons are eternal and uncreated.

  - the doctrine of the trinity brings together the main historical and doctrinal truths of Christianity concerning sin, atonement and redemption. The trinity makes it possible for humans to have a personal relationship with God, since the father and the son are immanent within creation. Trinity also serves as a model for relationships
• Son of God

  - john 10 v 30: 'I and the father are one'. Words of Jesus that he used when talking about his role with his disciples

  - word for one in Greek is hen; some take it to mean that Jesus is claiming to be one in essence with God, others suggest he is saying that he and God are in harmony about Jesus' mission. Evangelicals interpret it literally

  - 1 Corinthians 8:6: 'there is one God, the Father... and one lord, Jesus Christ'. John and Corinthians shows the difficulties in understanding whether the New Testament sees Jesus as literally the son of God or as a son of God as in someone close to God.