THE ONE AND THE MULTIPLE - RECONSIDERING THE CONCEPT OF MONOTHEISM A METADISCIPLINARY APPROACH

The study revisits the concept of monotheism, by indicating toward a new horizon for the understanding of the term. „Monotheism‟ functioned mainly as an apologetic label in order to justify the (spiritual, doctrinal and/ or political) supremacy of the three Abrahamic religions, and to misjudge the surrounding traditions as heathen or pagan, primitive or inferior, polytheistic or idolatrous. Recent research unveiled evident monotheistic dimensions for cults and traditions generally considered to be polytheistic or non-theistic. My assumption is that the content of monotheism ca not be deduced or reduced to particular features stemming from its sole application within the framework of the three „monotheistic‟ traditions, but it needs to be reconfigured methodologically, and liberated from ideological contaminations. The study is performed in a framework established by the correlation between the One and the Multiple considered in philosophical terms. The assumption is that the understanding of monotheism is shaped and reshaped according to each tradition‟s particular way of pointing to (or addressing) „the One‟. Scientific perspectives pertaining to Theoretical Physics are recalled in order to re-contextualize specific issues referring to spatiotemporal continuity, multi-dimensional universe, causality or subject-object relationship. The study highlights the necessity to correlate the scholarly theories regarding religious experience or doctrines to nowadays scientific results approaching (the way we perceive) reality, and proposes to instrumentalize the term „monotheism‟ in such a way that its employment will become legitimate.