This module offers an introduction to the phenomenon of western monotheism as discussed in current scholarship. It explores the concept in principle, its place in cultural memory, and various historical contexts in which forms of monotheism emerged and developed. Its aim is to provide an overview of a range of methods and discourses used in current discussions of the topic and to equip students with knowledge and skills to join one of the great debates in Religious Studies today. 

• know the religious traditions presented in this module, as they are studied in their various forms,
• describe in broad terms social, textual, intellectual, historical, theological, ritual and ethical institutions and aesthetic expressions of the religious traditions studied in this module,
• describe where appropriate the religions’ classical sources and their subsequent articulations by some interpreters of the traditions in different historical periods, and in different social or geographical settings
• understand, summarise, represent and interpret a range of both primary and secondary sources including materials from different disciplines,
• demonstrate an awareness of key themes, debates, and methods of the discipline and, where appropriate, related disciplines from, for example, the humanities or the social sciences,
•  analyse in writing and speaking the relevance of key topics addressed in this module within their current academic context.

Teaching:

• Lectures, to give necessary input in class setting
• Seminars, to allow for text based study, group discussion, and additional feedback

Learning:

• Participating actively in lectures, including by making notes
• Reading set literature and making additional notes
• Conducting additional research in the library and online
• Participating actively in seminars and discussions
• Communicating (electronically and otherwise)
• Writing short pieces and using them for seminar presentations
• Developing and completing essay projects
• Preparing exams 

Discipline Specific and Intellectual Skills:

• represent views other than the student’s own sensitively and intelligently with fairness and integrity, while as appropriate expressing their own identity without denigration of others, through critical engagement in a spirit of generosity, openness and empathy
• demonstrate ability to think critically and question existing orthodoxies and prejudices
• demonstrate with sensitivity awareness of the passion and claims to certainty that may arise in religious traditions, with their positive and negative effects
• demonstrate awareness and growing sophisticated understanding of the multifaceted complexity of religions, for example in the relationship between specifically religious beliefs, texts, practices and institutions, and wider social and cultural structures, norms, aesthetics and inspirations
• demonstrate intellectual flexibility through the practice of a variety of complementary methods of study, for example, philosophical, historical, systematic, dogmatic, phenomenological, linguistic, hermeneutical, empirical, speculative, social scientific, archaeological
• demonstrate awareness of and critical assessment of religious contributions to debate in the public arena about, for example, values, truth, beauty, identity, health, peace and justice
• demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how personal and communal identities and motivations are shaped by religion, how this has both constructive and destructive effects and how important such identities are

Key Skills (transferable Skills):

• communicate information, ideas, principles and theories by appropriate written, oral, and visual means and develop an argument by a variety of means, for example in essays of various lengths and dissertations which are clearly and effectively organised and presented
• identify, gather, analyse and discuss primary data and source material, whether through textual studies or fieldwork
• to attend to, reproduce accurately, and reflect on the ideas and arguments of others
• engage with empathy, integrity and critical reflection with the convictions and behaviours of others
• work collaboratively as a member of a team or group in a way that allows each individual’s talents to be utilised effectively
• undertake independent study (including time management) and reflect on one’s strength and weaknesses as a learner
• use library resources to identify source material, compile bibliographies, inform research and enhance presentations
• use IT and computer skills for data capture, to identify source material and support research and presentations
• show independence in thought and critical self-awareness about one’s own beliefs, commitments, and prejudices 

A two hour examination worth 70%, a 2,000 word assignement worth 20% and a 15 minute presentation worth 20%.

• Introduction; methodological considerations
• Mnemohistory and the memory of Moses the Egyptian
• The European enlightenment and Freud’s Moses
• Thinking the One in Ancient Egypt: The Amarna experience
• Monotheism and cosmotheism in other ancient religions
• Polytheism in ancient Judaism
• Philosophical monotheism
• Christian monotheism
• Monotheism in Late Antiquity
• Islam

ESSENTIAL READING

Assmann, J. 1997. Moses the Egyptian. The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Press

FURTHER READING

Assmann, J. 1995. Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun and the

Crisis of Polytheism. London and New York: Kegan Paul International.

Assmann, J. 2006. Religion and Cultural Memory. Ten Essays. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Assmann, J. 2008. Of God and Gods. Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism.

Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press

Athanassiadi, P. et al. (eds.) 1999. Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon (especially chapters 1-3).

Fowden, G. 1993. Empire to Commonwealth. Consequences of Monotheism in Late

Antiquity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Hornung, E. 1999. Akhenaten and the Religion of Light. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press

Mitchell, St. and Van Nuffelen, P. (eds) 2010. One God. Pagan Monotheism in the

 Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Stuckenbruck, L. T. and W. E. S. North (eds.) 2004. Early Jewish and ChristianMonotheism. London: T&T Clark (especially part 1).

Swain, S. and M. Edwards (eds.) 2003. Approaching Late Antiquity. The Transfor-mation from Early to Late Empire. Oxford: Clarendon (chapter 9)