Catholic Word of the Day: HENOTHEISM, 01-26-10

CatholicReference.net ^ | 01-26-10 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

[Salvation]

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HENOTHEISM

Worship of one god in preference to others, while not denying a plurality of gods. In practice it means that one god is worshipped by an individual clan or nation to the exclusion of other deities belonging to other peoples. It is a form of polytheism in that even this one preferred deity is not recognized as the only true God.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

[Salvation]

I didn't know this one......

[Salvation]

Catholic Word of the Day – links will be provided later by another FReeper.

 

Monogamy	Sanctoral Cycle/Proper of the Saints	Prinknash
Gift of Knowledge	Nine Offices	Imputability
Thesis	Hypapante	Evangelist of Mary
Grace of God	Morality of Dancing	Priest
Henotheism

Catholic Word of the Day Ping!

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[Tax-chick]

Neither did I. I’ll have to teach it to the kids - we can actually use it when we’re studying ancient history!

[KarlInOhio]

Is the first commandment henotheistic rather than monotheistic? "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Did the original text state or imply that they existed or that they didn't exist and were merely creations of man?

[Salvation]

The Old Testament has stories about other gods, so we know they existed.

“I am the Lord, your God, you shalt have no other gods beside me.”

One example of the golden calf leaps into my mind when Moses came down the mountain. He was so angry that he smashed up everything.

[Straight Vermonter]

Earlier Catholic Words of the Day

Monogamy	Sanctoral Cycle / Proper of the Saints	Prinknash
Gift of Knowledge	Nine Offices	Imputability
Thesis	Hypapante	Evangelist of Mary
Grace of God	Morality of Dancing	Priest
Henotheism

[Godzilla]

Did the original text state or imply that they existed or that they didn't exist and were merely creations of man?

The broader scripture brought to this makes it clear that these other 'gods' were the inventions of man and not real 'gods'. However, God through this command was speaking on a level that would be understood to man - man who through his own lack of knowledge would consider in some aspects that these other 'gods' were real and that by worshiping them, they were taking away the worship owed to the real God.

[Godzilla]

This definition is most applicable today in mormonism.