The doctrine that there is only one God, who is creator of heaven and earth, who revealed the Torah to Israel, and who, at the end of time, will redeem those that accept his dominion. Judaism is a religion of ethical mono-theism, meaning, the one and only God is not only all powerful but also just and merciful. The will of this one, unique God, made manifest through the Torah, governs. Further, God’s will, for both private life and public activity, is rational. In place of fate or impersonal destiny, chance, or simply irrational, inexplicable chaos, God’s plan and purpose everywhere come to realization. So Judaism identifies God’s will as the active and causative force in the lives of individuals and nations. Monotheism is not a matter of arithmetic—one God against many gods. Rather, the Lord, who made Himself known in the Torah, is the one and only God of all the world.
How do monotheism and polytheism differ? A religion of numerous gods finds many solutions to one problem, a religion of only one God presents one solution to many problems. Life is seldom fair. Rules rarely work. To explain the reason why, polytheisms adduce multiple causes of chaos, a god per anomaly. Diverse gods do various things, so that ordinarily outcomes conflict. Monotheism, by nature, explains many things in a single way. One God rules. Life is meant to be fair, and just rules are supposed to describe what is ordinary, all in the name of that one and only God. So, in monotheism, a simple logic governs to limit ways of making sense of things. But that logic contains its own dialectics. If one true God has done everything, then, since He is God all-powerful and omniscient, all things are credited to, and blamed on, Him. In that case He can be either good or bad, just or unjust—but not both. Responding to the generative dialectics of monotheism, Judaism systematically reveals the justice of the one and only God of all creation. God is not only God but also good.
The four principles of Judaism’s monotheist theology of a merciful, just God are these:
1
God formed creation in accord with a plan, which the Torah reveals. World order can be shown by the facts of nature and society set forth in that plan to conform to a pattern of reason based upon justice. Those who possess the Torah—ISRAEL—know God and those who do not—the gentiles—reject him in favor of idols. What happens to each of the two sectors of humanity, respectively, responds to their relationship with God. Israel in the present age is subordinate to the nations, because God has designated the gentiles as the medium for penalizing Israel’s rebellion, meaning through Israel’s subordination and exile to provoke Israel to repent. Private life, as much as the public order, conforms to the principle that God rules justly in a creation of perfection and stasis.
2
The perfection of creation, realized in the rule of exact justice, is signified by the timelessness of the world of human affairs, their conformity to a few enduring paradigms that transcend change (theology of history). No present, past, or future marks time, but only the recapitulation of those patterns. Perfection is further embodied in the unchanging relationships of the social commonwealth (theology of political economy), which assure that scarce resources, once allocated, remain in stasis. A further indication of perfection lies in the complementarity of the components of creation, on the one side, and, finally, the correspondence between God and man, in God’s image (theological anthropology), on the other.
3
Israel’s condition, public and personal, marks flaws in creation. What disrupts perfection is the sole power capable of standing on its own against God’s power, and that is human will. What humans control and God cannot coerce is the human capacity to form intention and therefore choose either arrogantly to defy, or humbly to love, God. Because humans defy God, the sin that results from their rebellion flaws creation and disrupts world order (theological theodicy). The paradigm of the rebellion of Adam in Eden prevails, the act of arrogant rebellion leading to exile from Eden thus accounting for the condition of humanity. But, as in the original transaction of alienation and consequent exile, God retains the power to encourage repentance through punishing human arrogance. In mercy, moreover, God exercises the power to respond to repentance with forgiveness, that is, a change of attitude evoking a counterpart change. Since, commanding its own will, humanity also has the power to initiate the process of reconciliation with God, through repentance, an act of humility, humans may restore the perfection of that order that through arrogance they have marred.
4
God will ultimately restore that perfection that embodied His plan for creation. In the work of restoration death that comes about by reason of sin will die, the dead will be raised and judged for their deeds in this life, and most of them, having been justified, will go on to eternal life in the world to come. The paradigm of man restored to Eden is realized in Israel’s return to the Land of Israel. In that world or age to come, however, that sector of humanity that through the Torah knows God will encompass all of humanity. Idolators will perish, and humanity that comprises Israel at the end will know the one, true God and spend eternity in his light.
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