First-Century Jewish Monotheism

Abstract

In recent scholarship there has been considerable discussion over whether first-century Jewish religion can be described meaningfully as 'monotheistic', and, if so, how this affects our understanding of the rise of early 'high' Christology. This essay offers refinements in our approach to the question and concludes that we can attribute 'monotheism' to first-century Judaism, provided that we build our understanding of the term inductively. Ancient Jewish monotheism was a distinctive version of the ancient 'high god' pattern. The distinctives were in beliefs and practice. The key distinctive beliefs were (1) the high god is known and is the God of Israel, (2) this God presides over a heavenly host of other heavenly beings but is distinguished from them as creator of all and as ruler of all. In addition, and most importantly, there was a distinction in religious practice: This God is to be worshipped exclusively. First-century Jewish monotheism was, thus, an exclusivist, monarchical view of God, manifested particularly in 'orthopraxy' in cultic/liturgical matters.