The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Moon and religion, the S 299

the whole universe has one origin, one rule, and one center of meaning. Things do not work just by impersonal fate or laws of science, but ultimately by the personal will of a supreme intelligence. To many people this thought is very reassuring. Per sonal monotheism also says that people can have a close relationship with this personal God, as one would with another person, through loving PRAYER and service. Monotheisms tend to see God as male, or to use masculine language for God. Monotheism also most often says that the per sonal God is the Creator of the universe. If God is in control of the cosmos through his personal will, at some point he must have started the pro cess through a personal act of creation. Further, if the universe began at some definite point, it pre sumably will end at some point in time, or rather at the end of time. This means that monotheistic religions usually take history seriously. They say it began through God’s creation and will end when his plan is completed, at a last judgment, and with the beginning of a paradisal world. Personal monotheism also has God working in the world, in history, toward the accomplishment of his purpose. If God is personal, and can act freely in accordance with his will, it would be surprising if, having made the world, he did nothing to help it keep on track as it moves to the fulfillment of the divine plan. Thus monotheistic religions generally say that God has indeed revealed himself within human history, through sending prophets and sav iors, through sacred scriptures, through MIRACLES and the divine guidance of his SAINTS and the true religion. But because God respects the men and women he has made, these signs are not such as to override human freedom. Monotheistic religions have then tended to emphasize God’s sovereignty, God’s will, and God’s action in history, and also human response through individual faith.

example, the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, was very interested in Buddhist techniques of medita tion. By the beginning of the twenty-first century several Catholic monks and nuns had also taken initiation as Zen teachers. A few Protestants became interested in monas ticism during the 19th century; that interest con tinued into the 20th century. A good example of Protestant monasticism is the community of Taize, France, founded in 1940. Further reading: Karl Suso Frank, With Greater Liberty: A Short History of Christian Monasticism and Religious Orders (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1993); Kim Gutschow, Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004); Tim Vivian, trans., Journeying into God: Seven Early Monastic Lives (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1996). monotheism Belief in one personal G OD . It may be contrasted with POLYTHEISM , or belief in many gods, and with monism, usually taken to mean that everything is really part of one impersonal absolute, like the BRAHMAN of Advaita V EDANTA Hinduism. The three great Western religions, J UDAISM , C HRISTIANITY , and I SLAM , see themselves as tradi tionally monotheistic. They all stem ultimately from the faith of A BRAHAM and from the religion of ancient Israel. Another very important monotheist religion is Z OROASTRIANISM , the FAITH of ancient Iran, which may have influenced the Western monothe isms. It should also be pointed out that Hindu devo tion to one of the great gods or GODDESSES , such as V ISHNU , S IVA , or D EVI , is generally actually mono theism of that deity, for though the worshipper may grant that the god may be worshipped under other names, it is honored as the one supreme sus tainer of the universe. Another religion of India, S IKHISM , is definitely monotheistic. Monotheistic religion has a different character from polytheism or monism. By emphasizing one God, monotheism says that, despite appearances,

Moon and religion, the The religious signifi cance and symbolism of the moon. The Moon and the Sun have both had an important role in religion as astronomical bodies with mythological