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Monotheism

17 Episodes

Monotheism is the idea that only one god exists or that devotion rightly belongs to a single god alone, but the term also carries a long history as a contested analytical category shaped by later philosophical, theological, and political agendas.

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Why this topic matters

Monotheism is both a major theme in biblical interpretation and a case study in how inherited categories can distort ancient evidence. Conversations about the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, Paul, and later Christianity keep returning to whether “monotheism” actually describes the texts and communities under discussion or whether it imports later expectations into much older material.

For that reason, the topic is central to the show’s larger method. Episodes tagged monotheism often focus less on defending or rejecting a doctrine in the abstract and more on asking how the term functions rhetorically: as a boundary marker, a claim of superiority, or a way of smoothing over divine multiplicity in the texts. In that sense, monotheism is one of the clearest examples of the show’s data-over-dogma approach to biblical studies.

Quotes from the Data

“They're using this concept of monotheism as a value judgment and an identity marker.”

Dan McClellan Episode 59

“This category should not be used for the study of antiquity anymore.”

David Burnett Episode 59

“Monotheism isn't the rule that we're holding up. Monotheism is just an identity marker and a value judgment and we will just massage it into whatever context we need that value judgment and that identity marker.”

Dan McClellan Episode 59

“It's not there's only one that exists, it's you get one, right? I'm the one.”

Dan McClellan Episode 104

All episodes

Every episode currently tagged with Monotheism.