What Is Monotheism?

The goal of this paper is that of discussing the interconnections between some elements of Schelling’s Berlin lectures on mythology and revelation. In particular, I want to focus on Schelling’s reading of monotheism as exposed over the course of the first six lectures of the series concerning mythology. In Schelling’s own words, monotheism is ‹‹the first presupposition of the theogonical process››, and is ‹‹posited together with human essence itself››. Moreover, this concept ‹‹contains the law and, as it were, the keys of the theogonical dynamic›› . By theogonical process, Schelling indicates humanity’s development of increasingly deeper representations of the divine across history. Since the study of this process is the main theme of Schelling’s Berlin lectures, it is possible to claim that the exposition of the concept of monotheism lays the foundation of the whole of Schelling’s late philosophy. Accordingly to this understanding of the concept of monotheism as the heart of Schelling’s Berlin lectures, I will show how exactly this notion is connected to the theogonical process. In this regard, I will analyze how the …show more content…
Accordingly, as I will explain in details below, more refined religious representations do not only mark our increased awareness of God’s nature. Rather, they signal a higher degree of participation of humanity in the divine life. In this respect, I shall argue that Schelling understands interactions between God and human beings as those entertained between living beings, as the mortal and the divine dimension each partakes and is in communion with the life of the other. Accordingly, religious symbols are the products of this living relationship, and the fullness with which they embody the divine gives us a measure of the depth of humanity’s communion with the divine in a particular historical and social