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Week 8 Judaism has a Zoroastrian religious tradition incorporated in it, which we now refer to as theological dualism. Ancient Persians believed that the essence of worlds dynamics is defined by never-ending confrontation between two equally powerful deities Ahura Mazda and Angra Many. These two Gods were strongly associated with light and darkness, which corresponded to their struggle in the realm of ethics. Even though that Judaism is clearly a monotheistic religion, it provides ground for the people to doubt some of its most basic principles, because it is affected by theological dualism. In Judaism, Satan challenges God in all of his undertakings and, even though that his actions are described as wrong, people have a hard time believing in Satan as an embodiment of evil, because his resistance to God can be thought of in terms of resistance against spiritual tyranny. This is why, the development of Judaic religious dogma, led to a situation when God began to be presented as being both: good and evil deity at the same time.
In later Judaic tradition, God is described as Jewish tribal deity, which is essentially evil, as it encourages Jews to think of themselves as chosen people, while referring to everybody else as goyim's, which literally translates as cattle. Nevertheless, the early versions of Judaism cannot be thought of as being based on solid monotheistic ground, because of Zoroastrian influences. We can say that, even though that early Judaism was monotheist; its essence clearly derived out of ancient religious traditions, such as Zoroastrianism. Throughout the centuries, Jews used to adjust their religious dogma, in order for it to be consistent with their psychology, which was defined by their ethnic seclusion. However, even in modern Judaism, Zoroastrian motives are clearly identifiable. For example, Talmud refers to God as Elohim, which is actually translated as gods.
Even though that God is associated with good, there are no moral motivations for this. Satan acts exactly as God does, his evilness come as a result of the fact that he is less powerful. Therefore, we can say that early Judaism is nothing but a version of Zoroastrianism, which is being specifically adapted to Jewish mindset.
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Research essay sample on Theological Dualism Religious Dogma God
