influence of the religions surrounding Israel, in light of the “tendencies converging toward
monarchy in the world of the gods,” tendencies that can already be discerned in Syria, Palestine,
and Canaan, at least among the “intellectual elite,” or in light of the “monotheizing ideas” that
penetrated Canaan from Babylonia and perhaps also from Egypt.95 So, by way of a history-of-
religions approach, the theory arises that from very ancient times polytheism rested on a more or
less conscious monotheism, somewhat analogously to the way in which, according to Haeckel,
the origin of life needs no explanation because it is nothing new, but something in principle
inherent already in the inorganic world and in fact in all atoms.
Thus scholars shift from one extreme position to another. Nevertheless, the latter view has an
advantage over the former: it is not compelled by a principle—by a preconceived idea of
development—either to deny the presence of monotheism in the earlier parts of the Old
Testament or for that reason to shift it to a much later time. Indeed, Scripture is monotheistic—
not only in its later, but also in its earlier parts. Though yhwh’s interaction with humans is
described in very dramatic, graphic, and anthropomorphic language, yhwh is nevertheless the
Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of humankind, the Judge of all the earth. He destroys the
human race in the flood, is present and active in all parts of the world, divides humankind over
the earth, and by calling Abraham prepares for his election of Israel.96 Even though there is
certainly a kind of progression in revelation and development in its ideas, the entire Old
Testament, with its teaching of the unity of the world and of the human race, the election of, and
covenant with, Israel, and its teaching of the religion and morality described in the law, is based
from beginning to end on the oneness of God. yhwh is the Creator of the world (Gen. 1 and 2), the
Owner and Judge of the whole earth (Gen. 14:19, 22; 18:25), the only Lord (Deut. 6:4), who will
tolerate no other gods before him (Exod. 20:3). Besides him there is no other god (Deut. 4:35; 32:39;
Ps. 18:31; 83:18; Isa. 43:10; 44:6; 45:5ff.; etc.), and the gods of the Gentiles are idols, nongods, dead
gods, lies and deception, not Elohim but elilim [worthless gods] (Deut. 32:21; Ps. 96:5–6; Isa. 41:29;
44:9, 20; Jer. 2:5, 11; 10:15; 16:19; 51:17–18; Dan. 5:23; Hab. 2:18–19; etc.) and insofar as real powers
are worshiped as idols, they are considered demonic (Ps. 106:37; 1 Cor. 10:20). In the New
Testament this singularity of God becomes even clearer in the person of Christ (John 17:3; Acts
17:24; Rom. 3:30; 1 Cor. 8:5–6; Eph. 4:5–6; 1 Tim. 2:5).
With this confession of the only true God the Christian church made its debut in the Gentile
world. Though in that world official religion had in many cases become a target of ridicule for the
intellectual elite, polytheism was still enormously influential in the political and social life of the
people and continued to be so also in the worldview of those who took a philosophical position
or sought to elevate themselves above popular religion by adopting some kind of religious
syncretism. Hence, from the very beginning the Christian church saw itself involved in a serious
conflict, and in waging this battle its spokesmen employed not only defensive but also offensive
means. Feeling strong in their confessional position, Christian thinkers proved the uniqueness of
God not only by appealing to Scripture but also by deriving arguments for the truth they
proclaimed from every domain of human knowledge. They appealed to the witness of the human
