What was the first monotheistic religion?

Answer 1

Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion, believed to have been founded in southern Russia around 1700-2000 BCE.

Akhenaten, pharaoh of Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 BCE, also introduced a monotheistic religion, but it did not last beyond his death.

Monotheistic Judaism was introduced by King Josiah of Judah during the seventh century BCE.

Answer 2:

The first monotheistic religion was Judaism, from Abraham onward. For Jews, that is a religious truth and is stated by Maimonides based on the Torah and tradition.

There is no consensus on when Zoroaster lived. Also, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a) states that Zoroastrianism has two gods.

Answer 3

The oldest monotheistic religion was Atenism, the ancient Egyptian sun worshipping cult. It was propagated by the pharaoh Akhenaten in 1346 BC. The sun god Aten was worshiped as early as 2000 BC, but it is unlikely to have had monotheistic followers long before Akhenaten.

Judaism is indeed old, perhaps older than Atenism, but it was not monotheistic until 587 BC, when Solomon's temple was destroyed, and the Jews were exiled. It was a monolatrist religion prior to that, meaning they only worshiped one god, but they recognized the existence of other gods (mainly Babylonian deities).

Islam claims to be the oldest monotheism, but hardly any historians or archaeologists agree.

Answer 4

The oldest monotheistic religion still in existence today is Judaism. Zoroastrianism is unlikely to be older than Judaism, but it might be older than the monotheistic phase of Judaism. However, Zoroastrianism is by most standards a duotheism.

Answer 5

Judaism, the oldest of the monotheistic religions, is 3,500 years old.

Answer 2

There are at least three contenders as the first monotheistic culture of the world.

Judaism

Some believe Judaism to be the first monotheistic religion. However, scholars now believe that Judaism, as a monotheistic religion, only became established in the middle of the first millennium BCE.
King Hezekia (729-686 BCE) of Judah made the first real attempt, in historic times, to impose a monotheistic religion, but his son soon allowed Judah to revert to polytheism. King Josiah ( c. 640-609 BCE) re-instituted religious reform and, in his reign, a monotheistic religion seems to have finally become dominant among the Jews. So, the earliest real evidence of a monotheistic religion in Israel and Judah is during the reign of King Hezekiah.

Egypt

Ancient Egyptians worship was a form of syncretistic polytheism, except briefly during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten , who became an uncompromising monotheist in the 14th century BCE. The economic distress that occurred at the end of his reign was seen as a warning from the gods and his successor restored the ancient beliefs.

Zoroastrianism

The Zoroastrian prophet, Zarathushtra (or Zoroaster) appears to have lived among the proto-Indo-Iranian people of southern Russia, somewhere around 1700 BCE.

Summary

On the evidence, Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion in the world. The second was the brief Egyptian monotheistic religion that only lasted during the reign of Akhenaten. The third was in the Hebrew kingdom of Judah, during the reign of Hezekiah, but more successfully re-instituted during the reign of Josiah.

Answer 3

1) According to careful research, the original tradition, which was widespread, was monotheistic. However, it died out completely in a relatively brief span of time. This belief does not refer to a specific people, country, or named religion, since it was not centralized or organized.

• Link: The original tradition
  

2a) The first continuous monotheistic tradition and religion as we know it, was and is Judaism, the tradition founded by Abraham. It began 3800 years ago, and its founding principle is that God is One. This was well before the Egyptian king Akhenaten, who in any case (according to tradition) was influenced by Israelite beliefs.

• Link: How Abraham founded Judaism
  

2b) Some might claim that monotheistic Judaism started later, as (for example) King Josiah made reforms in the late First Temple period. However, this is the view of secular academe, and flies in the face of tradition. Judaism had already been monotheistic for eight centuries by the time of Josiah. All he did was to eradicate the idolatrous influences of those Jews who had strayed from their own religion. This had happened repeatedly (such as with Jehoshaphat [2 Chronicles 17:6], and Samuel before him [1 Samuel 7:3-4]); and those who strayed into pagan practices never encompassed the entire people.

• Link: Were the Israelites monotheistic
  

3) Zoroastrianism, which might be suggested as another early contender, is not such a clear matter. There is no consensus on when Zoroaster lived. Moreover, the Zoroastrians believed in two gods, not one. The Jewish Sages who collated the Talmud in the early centuries of the Common Era lived in Babylonia, witnessed the practices of the Zoroastrians, and recorded this fact (Talmud, Sanhedrin 39a). In addition, in Zoroastrianism:

• there is worship through intermediaries, who are themselves "worthy of worship"
• evil and good each has its own creator
• some of its adherents believe in a self-creating universe
• some modern scholars see it as a form of pantheism.

See also the other Related Links.

Link: What exactly did Josiah do?

Link: What do Jews believe about God?

Answer 4

JUDAISM was the first monotheistic religion, with at least 2,500 years of being monotheistic and clearly came out of the Babylonian Exile as a monotheistic faith. Jewish sources debate these secular numbers and argue that Judaism has been monotheistic for 3,800 years.

There is some debate as to whether the Ancient Egyptians or Zoroastrians preceded the Jews to be the first monotheistic religion. In both cases, these are/were monolatrous henotheistic faiths. This means that there are multiple divinities with powers not completely constrained by other divinities, but only one of these many gods is worshiped.

In the case of Atenism, also known as Ancient Egyptian monotheism, although all of the heavenly gods were reduced to Amun-Re, the Pharaoh was himself still a god, simply one that was not worshiped.

Probably the clearest distinction is that Judaism is a monotheistic religion whereas Zoroastrianism is a monolatrous henotheistic faith. Angra Mainyu, also called Ahriman, is the Zoroastrian equivalent to the Devil and has enough power to create (usually used for evil) and to challenge (although not defeat) the primary god Ahura Mazda, also called Ormuzd. Conversely, in Judaism, the Satan is an angel who serves as God's loyal opposition and lacks any serious creative or punitive powers without God's permission.

Answer 5

1) According to careful research, the original tradition, which was widespread, was monotheistic. However, it died out completely in a relatively brief span of time. This belief does not refer to a specific people, country, or named religion, since it was not centralized or organized.
2a) The first continuous monotheistic tradition and religion as we know it, was and is Judaism, the tradition founded by Abraham. It began 3800 years ago, and its founding principle is that God is One. This was well before the Egyptian king Akhenaten, who in any case (according to tradition) was influenced by Israelite beliefs.

2b) Some might claim that monotheistic Judaism started later, as (for example) King Josiah made reforms in the late First Temple period. However, this is the view of secular academe, and flies in the face of tradition. Judaism had already been monotheistic for eight centuries by the time of Josiah. All he did was to eradicate the traces of the idolatrous influences of those Jews who had strayed from their own religion. This had happened repeatedly (such as with Jehoshaphat [2 Chronicles 17:6], and Samuel before him [1 Samuel 7:3-4]); and those who strayed into pagan practices never encompassed the entire people.

3) Zoroastrianism, which might be suggested as another early contender, is not such a clear matter. There is no consensus on when Zoroaster lived. Moreover, the Zoroastrians believed in two gods, not one. The Jewish Sages who redacted the Talmud in the early centuries of the Common Era lived in Babylonia, witnessed the practices of the Zoroastrians, and recorded this fact (Talmud, Sanhedrin 39a). In addition, in Zoroastrianism:

• there is worship through intermediaries, who are themselves "worthy of worship"
• evil and good each has its own creator
• some of its adherents believe in a self-creating universe
• some modern scholars see it as a form of pantheism.

Answer 6

Judaism. Abraham was the first to preach monotheism.