henotheism \HEN-uh-thee-iz-um\ noun
: the worship of one god without denying the existence of other gods
Example sentence:
During certain periods of Egyptian history, the pharaohs and their subjects practiced henotheism.
Did you know?
"Henotheism" comes to us from the German word "Henotheismus," which in turn is derived from Greek "hen-" ("one") and "theos" ("god"). Someone who engages in henotheism worships one god but does not deny that there are others. Max Müller, a respected 19th-century scholar, is credited with promoting the word "henotheism" as a counterpart to "polytheism" ("belief in or worship of more than one god") and "monotheism" ("the doctrine or belief that there is but one God"). Müller also used the related word "kathenotheism," from Greek "kath' hena" ("one at a time"), for the worship of several gods successively.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
4 comments:
I forgot to say that the above text was taken from the Merriam-Webster word of the day email bulletins
l think if did worship god, which l dont, l would most likely take the latter word.
for if l were to study god and or the bible, l wouldnt stop there, l would have to know what all the religions and phylosophies say...
thanks for the words today meredith.
Interesting words! Of course we could add:
Kane'notheism: The worship of no gods, although, I guess one could believe in them!
(Greek, kane'nas: none)
Outeno'theism: the worship of not even one god!
(Greek, ou'te e'nas: not even one)
Me'rikotheism: the worship of some gods and not others...
(Greek, merikos': some)
Ka'poiotheism: the worship of one specific god (amongst others).
(Greek, ka'poios: someone).
Take your pick! :-)
"Kane'notheism: The worship of no gods, although, I guess one could believe in them!"
In some of Terry Pratchett's novels some of the characters have the opinion that they don't believe in the gods, but they are not sure if the gods know that.
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