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The Concept of the Divine
1 The ranges of the absolute are the records of the various ways in which the absolute is perceived, conditioned by a wide variety of historical factors.
2 Polytheism and monotheism are absolute structural opposites in their relationship with fundamental aspects of reality, not mere quantitative variations. I will clarify this opposition in the course of this work.
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Contrast between Mesopotamian and Biblical Conceptions
3 The real contrast lies in the possibility of indefinite accumulations on the one hand, and on the other in the total impossibility of any quantification. Rather than the one, monotheism would be better defined as the zero in contrast with polytheism’s many to indicate the impossibility of multiplicative or divisive fragmentation which comprises a total structural difference from polytheism’s ever-expanding limits.
4 In the polytheistic conception, the absolute is, in effect, the sum of the relative, and therefore a multifaceted reality that is based on an indefinite progression that is inclusive of everything. In monotheism, on the other hand, the absolute exists beyond the relative.
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Concepts of Divinities
5 Mesopotamian divinities are immortal and universal (indefinitely extended within but limited by space and time, having a beginning and end and subject to progress) while the monotheistic god is eternal and infinite (existing outside the limits of time and space respectively).
6 Polytheistic gods are iconic: they represent only a single isolated attribute such as wisdom or justice, while the monotheistic god is anthropomorphic, uniting the sum of such attributes into one character.
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Holiness, the Sacred, and Creation
7 In polytheism, holiness (the concretization of the absolute) is attributed to entities that limit each other with a series of conflicts and sacredness is seen as ascent through human effort. In the biblical mindset, holiness is seen as unlimited and sacredness descends from the holy to the human sphere.
8 In polytheism, the distinction between the planes of nature and of the divine are fluid, a diffused transcendence, while in monotheism there is a real ontological abyss between the two spheres, which we can define as a focused transcendence, best seen in the concept of creation.
9 Mesopotamian polytheism conceives of becoming as an indefinite progression or evolution where there is no intervention by an absolute subject. In biblical monotheism, every encounter of the absolute with becoming is an absolute event, in which the non-time and time, the eternal and the temporal, encounter each other, because events are sparked by an absolute subject.