Doug Shaver

That is because, among the populace at large, particularly including most adherents of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, knowledge of the real history of those religions is quite scarce.

GakuseiDon

The question comes down to one of definition. If angels are deities, then Christianity is polytheistic. If they aren't, then it is monotheistic. Same creatures, same beliefs, but only the definition is changed.

Jack the Bodiless

Well, I think many Jews would be quick to declare that Christianity is polytheistic even without counting the angels: because of God + Jesus (+ Holy Spook).

mountainman

On 28 October 312, near the Tiber River,
outside the walls of Rome Sol Invictus
met Jesus Cross.

Best wishes,


Pete Brown

fanucon

no Polytheism is multiple Gods of the top tier
Henotheism is multiple Gods but only one on the Top Tier

mg01

The definitions to not specify a ranking in those terms.

Polytheism, "poly theos" simply means multiple deities.

Henotheism, "heis theos" simply means one deity, but is distinguished by monotheism in that other deities are recognized.

There is another term also used caled monolatry which is similar to henotheism, but recognizes other people may worship other deities similarly to the way you do yours (Numbers). Monolatry would be more "tollerant" than henotheism.

And yes, Christianity in pure technical terms would be considered polytheistic, YHWH, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Angels, and Satan are all in some sense considered divine and thus deities. To claim monotheism for Christianity means you to have to consider Hinduism as monotheistic as well as all Hindu deities are considered manifestations of the same "ultimate source".

fanucon

Jesus preached that there is One God, Pray to One God.

now if you consdier Jesus to be a God or the Holy Spirit or Satan to be a God but only pray to God and are a devotee of One God thats henotheism.

"devotion to a single "God" while accepting the existence of other gods" - Henotheism

"is the belief in or worship of multiple gods" - Polytheism

so Technically your right, there is Multiple Dietys but only one that matters.

its declaring that there are multiple dietys but devotation to only one.

so its henotheistic

and my argument the whole time was just that, that Christianity is not a Monotheistic reilgion that people assume

Huon

Not to mention the Saints of the catholic variety of Christianity. Saint Anthony of Padua will help you finding something you have lost, and I don't remember presently some other useful saints. Saint Rita, perhaps...

Roger Pearse

No, it's because normal people don't use words like 'henotheism'. Indeed I'd never heard it myself.

It's generally best to avoid polysyllables if you want to avoid blank looks. :-)

All the best,

Roger Pearse

mg01

I would agreed. In attempting to address your initial question I was simply pointing out that the same thing goes for the religion of Abraham. Where does Abraham ever claim YHWH is the only deity that should be worshiped? For that matter, any of the patriarchs? The first claims of any sort are from Moses and they are henotheistic. Within the OT, with the exception of a few verses in Deuteronomy and Issiah, one is hard pressed to find any true declarations of monthesim at all. Plus, any verses you do find are nearly adjacent to others forbidding the worship of other deities, an acknowledgement of their existance and again, henotheism.

I'd even point out, that the majority of the uses of Elohim ("god") in respect to YHWH in the books up through Kings is in the sense of "YHWH, the Elohim of [somebody]", "YHWH my/your Elohim", "YHWH his/her Elohim", and "YHWH our/their Elohim". If any of these speakers presumed that YHWH was the only deity that existed why is any sort of qualification necessary to identify which or who's deity he is? The implication again is other deities exist and YHWH is simply the one you subscribe to, henotheism.