Henotheism
worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities
Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities that may be worshipped. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) used it to depict primitive monotheism among ancient Greeks.
Max Müller (1823–1900), a German-British philologist and orientalist, brought the term into wider usage in his scholarship on the Indian religions, particularly Hinduism, whose scriptures mention and praise numerous deities as if they are one ultimate unitary divine essence. Müller made the term central to his criticism of Western theological and religious exceptionalism (relative to Eastern religions), focusing on a cultural dogma which held "monotheism" to be both fundamentally well-defined and inherently superior to differing concepts of God.
Definition and terminology
Friedrich Schelling coined the German term Henotheismus from Greek ἕν (hén) 'one' and German Theismus 'theism' (which comes from Greek θεός (theós) 'god'). The term refers to a form of theism focused on a single god. Related terms are monolatry and kathenotheism. The latter term is an extension of "henotheism", from καθ' ἕνα θεόν (kath' hena theon) '"one god at a time"'. Henotheism refers to a pluralistic theology wherein different deities are viewed to be of a unitary, equivalent divine essence. Another term related to henotheism is "equitheism", referring to the belief that all gods are equal.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Henotheism” is worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henotheism, worship and single, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q150395. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1775, 1854, 1784 and 1868.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henotheism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.