Monotheism

Monotheism — the belief in a single, all-powerful God — is one of the most influential ideas in human history. While earlier traditions had elevated particular gods above others (henotheism), the uncompromising insistence on a single God who created and governs the universe appears to have emerged first among the ancient Israelites, probably reaching its mature form during and after the Babylonian Exile (586–539 BCE).

The development of monotheism was gradual. Early Israelite religion acknowledged the existence of other gods while insisting that Yahweh alone should be worshipped. The prophetic tradition — Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah — pushed toward a more exclusive claim: not just that Yahweh was the greatest god, but that he was the only God. The experience of exile in Babylon paradoxically strengthened this conviction, as Israelite thinkers argued that their God transcended any particular temple, territory, or political arrangement.

From its Israelite origins, monotheism spread through three world religions. Christianity carried the concept throughout the Roman Empire and eventually to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Islam, emerging in 7th-century Arabia, brought a particularly emphatic monotheism (tawhid) to the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. Zoroastrianism, with its near-monotheistic dualism, may have influenced all three traditions. Today, roughly 55% of the world's population identifies with one of the Abrahamic monotheistic faiths.