Henotheism

The word henotheism is formed from the Greek roots henos—meaning one—and theos—meaning [Page 511]god—and refers to the choice that an individual or a group makes to worship a single god within the context of a society that believes in and accepts the existence of a pantheon of gods. Henotheism differs from monotheism, however, in that monotheism describes a system of belief in which there is only a single god. Henotheism, in contrast, describes the decision to worship one particular god to the exclusion of worshipping any other god or gods that are thought to be part of a pantheon. The concept of henotheism is thus relevant to both ancient religious traditions and the modern global religious landscape, as it particularly describes a system of religious beliefs wherein other gods are acknowledged as not only existing but also being worthy of worship. The term has been used to describe the religion of the ancient Egyptians as well as modern Hinduism in India. The term refers to this acknowledgment of the existence of other gods even while an individual chooses to follow and worship one god, perhaps because an individual feels that this particular god deserves to be worshipped more than the other gods, or by larger groups of people, because the god in question is tied to a local or national identity.

The concept has its origins in ancient Egypt and Hermeticism and can still be found today in modern Hinduism and Daoism. Henotheism is perhaps the best term for the religious choice of the historical figure of Abraham; it was only later in their history that the ancient Hebrews shifted their henotheistic worldview to a monolatrous worldview; monolatry acknowledges other gods who oppose or challenge the ascendancy of the one true God and therefore should not be worshipped in kind. (Monotheism for the Hebrews did not come until after the period of Babylonian captivity.) Henotheism likewise typified the religions of the ancient Greeks and Romans and was a common religious philosophy in the pre-Christian Roman Empire.

The term henotheism was created by F. Max Müller, who was attempting both to explain the characterizations of the gods in the Vedas and to criticize Western religious exceptionalism, which had long taken for granted that monotheism as a concept was so well defined as to obviate the need for any other explanation of expressions of belief beyond the dichotomy of monotheism and polytheism. Müller conceived of henotheism as the practice of monotheism within the context of a polytheistic society. In particular, he used the concept to illustrate the different conceptions of gods in the Vedas, who spring from the same Divine Power and are expressions of that power but who are not coeternal and who each have their own divine domain.