Notes - Rise of Monotheism - Zoroastrianism and Judaism

1. "One person of
integrity can make
a difference."
Elie Wiesel

2. THE RISE OF MONOTHEISM
 The movement towards a distinctive monotheistic
religious tradition with a distinct emphasis on ethical
values emerged in the Middle East
 It found expression in Zoroastrianism and in
Judaism
 While these religions did not spread widely, the
principle of monotheism influenced the
development of Christianity and Islam

4. ZOROASTRIANISM
 Arose during the height of the Persian Empire
 A Persian prophet, Zarathustra (Zoroaster to the
Greeks), in possibly the sixth or seventh century
BCE preached a new religion
 His ideas received state support during the
Achaemenid dynasty (558-330 BCE)
 Zarathustra had been appalled by the violence of
recurring cattle raids
 He offered a new worldview

6.  According to Zarathustra, a single, unique god,
Ahura Mazda, ruled the world and was the source
of all truth, light, and goodness
-But Ahura Mazda was in a cosmic struggle with the
forces of evil
-Evil was embodied in the supernatural figure of
Angra Mainyu
-Ahura Mazda would eventually triumph when a
final Savior would arrive and restore the world to its
earlier purity and peace
-At the day of judgment, those who had joined with
Ahura Mazda would be granted new resurrected
bodies and eternal life in Paradise
-Those who sided with evil were condemned to
everlasting punishment

8.  Zoroastrianism was accepted within the Persian
heartland and found some followers in Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and Anatolia
 But it was never a missionary religion
 The faith was weakened by Alexander the Great’s
invasion of Persia but it survived and flourished
again during the Parthian (247 BCE-224 CE) and
Sassanid (224-651 CE) dynasties
 However, the arrival of Islam led to the final decline
of Zoroastrianism in Persia
 A few believers fled to India where they became
known as Parsis (Persians) and continue to
practice their faith to the present times

10.  Like Buddhism, Zoroastrianism vanished from its
place of origin but unlike Buddhism, it did not
spread in a recognizable form
 But the presence of Jews in the Persian Empire led
to an exposure to Zoroastrian ideas
-Conflict between good and evil
-Idea of a last judgment and resurrected bodies
-Belief in the final defeat of evil
-The arrival of a savior (Messiah)
-The remaking of the world at the end of time

12. JUDAISM
 Judaism developed among the Hebrews
 According to Hebrew tradition, the prophet
Abraham, led his people from Mesopotamia to
Palestine
 Over time, a portion of the Hebrews moved to
Egypt where they were enslaved but then
miraculously escaped to rejoin their kin in Palestine
 By around 1000 BCE, the Hebrews established a
small state that soon split into a northern kingdom
called Israel and a southern state of Judah.

14.  Israel was conquered by Assyria in 722 BCE and
many of its inhabitants were deported to other
regions
 In 586 BCE, the kingdom of Judah came under
Babylonian control and its elite class was shipped
off to exile
 In Babylon, these exiles, now calling themselves
Jews, retained their cultural identity and later were
able to return to their homeland
-Identity lay in unique religious ideas
-Through religion as opposed to empire-building,
the Jewish people influenced world history

16.  Jews believed their god, called Yahweh, was a
powerful and jealous god who demanded exclusive
loyalty
(“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” – The
First of the Ten Commandments, moral and ethical
rules of Judaism)
 A difficult commandment because as Jews turned
from pastoralism to agriculture were attracted to the
fertility gods of neighboring peoples
 But over time, monotheism triumphed
 Came to believe in a covenant with Yahweh
-In return for sole devotion and obedience, Yahweh
would consider the Jews his chosen people,
favoring them in battle, causing them to grow in
numbers, and bringing them prosperity and
blessings

18.  Increasingly Yahweh was seen as a lofty,
transcendent deity of utter holiness and purity, set
far above the world of nature, which he created
 But people could communicate actively with
Yahweh unlike the ultimate reality found in Daoism
or Hinduism
 In addition, Yahweh was transformed from a god of
war to a god of social justice and compassion for
the poor and marginalized, especially in the
pronouncements of the Jewish prophets such as
Amos and Isaiah

20.  The Jews had developed a distinctive conception of
the divine – singular, transcendent, personal,
separate from nature, engaged in history, and
demanding social justice and moral righteousness
above sacrifices and rituals
 These ideas sustained a separate Jewish identity in
both ancient and modern times
 This understanding of God provided the foundation
on which both Christianity and Islam were built

22. STRAYER QUESTIONS
 What aspects of Zoroastrianism and Judaism
subsequently found a place in Christianity and
Islam?
 What was distinctive about the Jewish religious
tradition?