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HIEU: Evaluative Essay 1
By:
Faith A. Pedroza
October 17,
2020
All throughout ancient civilizations, polytheism was the most prominent of the faiths.
Later on, monotheism emerges and takes popularity amongst the people and becomes the sole
religious practice of many. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam spread rapidly through ancient
civilizations and westward, with popularity amongst many people. With the introduction of a
monotheistic religion, and the devotion of their followers, polytheism gradually died out. But
why would polytheism have died out if it was such a staple to their culture and foundation of
their everyday beliefs? Polytheism and even henotheism had a negative influence on the peoples
of their civilizations, but monotheism and the introduction of God was a means of relief for these
ancient civilizations.
Religion in Egypt was the basis for political, social, and economical progress. Much
different from Greece, logic and religion were separate from each other. Egyptians had a
bastardized view of divine kingship, and the degree of divinity Pharaohs were seen with was
extreme because they were actually seen as gods. According to the account of Exodus, the
pharaohs became concerned with the amount and strength of the Israelites present in Egypt, "So
they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and
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Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh." (Exodus 1:11). The Israelites were persecuted and were
forced to flee and free themselves from Egypt. Post exodus, the decline of ancient egyptian
religion is attributed to the return and spread of Christianity throughout the region due to the
strength of influence from Greek hellenization.
Greek religion was originally a mixture of beliefs and “cults'' of gods and goddesses, and
had no prophets like the hebrews. Similar to Ra of Egypt, Zeus was the chief deity and
interestingly enough, greek religion was solidified and based off of Homer’s epics which are
classified as fictional works of literature. Homer’s epics though, were easy for people to identify
with, which is why Greco-Roman polytheism did well to start. Greece introduced democracy and
ethical monotheism, emphasizing freedom, rational and individual thought, and the value of free
citizenship. In contrast to Egypt, an absolute king or tyrant was considered loathsome and
invoked the feelings of distaste and abhorrence. Polytheism and henotheism was seen as a means
for an abuse of power and cruelty. Christianity was spread to Greece by the apostle Paul, who
came after Jesus, “By establishing Christianity’s independence from Judaism and its practices,
Paul made the new religion attractive to the Greco-Roman world. Originating in the first century,
Christianity took firm root in the second, grew extensively in the third, and became the official
religion of the Roman Empire at the end of the fourth century” (Perry 8-2). Christianity became
more relatable for those who weren’t nobles or aristocrats, and those who were struggling and
whose prayers weren’t being answered by their gods, “Christianity addressed itself to this
deficiency in the Greco-Roman outlook. Particularly those who were poor, oppressed, or
enslaved were attracted to the personality, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, his love for all,
and his concern for suffering humanity. They found spiritual sustenance in a religion that offered
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a hand in love and taught that a person need not be well-born, rich, educated, or talented to be
worthy, that God draws no distinction between the lowly poor and enslaved and the mightiest
aristocrats'' (Perry 8-2a). Christianity was seen as a means of relief, relatability, and admirability
for the people of the Greco-Roman empire, which is why it grew so much popularity amongst all
people. From this, the Greeks developed Hellenistic Judaism, combining the jewish faith with
elements of their culture.
Hebrew monotheism was presumed to have stemmed from the egyptain Pharaoh Akhenaton,
who, during his rule, abruptly introduced his own monotheistic religion and beliefs. At the time,
polytheism was the prominent religious practice and this introduction was not taken kindly by
the people of Egypt. It is argued that this is where hebrew monotheism originated but has been
debunked due to the lack of evidence as well as the dissimilarities. The textbook editor argues
that, “Moses’ religion was not pure monotheism because it did not rule out the existence of other
gods. According to this view, not until the prophets, centuries later, did the Hebrews explicitly
deny that other gods existed and proclaim that Yahweh stood alone” (Perry 2-2). Despite this
argument, the fact that it is stated that polytheism gradually withered was because of the
strictness of devotion to only one God proves this argument to be incorrect as well.
During Greeks expansion of influence, Jewish scholars admired Greek learning and began
to express jewish religious ideas in philosophical terms. Much like Greece and unlike Egypt, the
Jews associated religion with reason. Because of hellenization and the expansion of greek
ideology and culture, greek words began to enter the hebrew language. Although, many Jews
rejected Greek learning because of their traditional faith and doctrinal values. This implies that
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most traditional jews had nothing to gain or learn from the Greeks other than their educational
teachings, already having a deep rooted love and passion for the very religion they were
persecuted for. Witnessing that same faith develop in the place they fled from, replacing the old,
indifferent, fanciful gods with a God who is absolute, yet, all-loving, accepting, and true.
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Bibliography
Perry, Marvin. Story. In Perry's Western Civilization, 11e:2–2-8–2. 1st ed. Cengage
Learning , 2015. Accessed October 19, 2020.
https://ng.cengage.com/static/nb/ui/evo/index.html?
deploymentId=4870501721620732569158859&eISBN=9781305402577&id=980203822&
snapshotId=2062545&.
