The Babylonian Captivity and the Rise of Monotheism

Judaism is not exceptional when compared to other religions when it was created. What makes it stand apart from the rest of the ancient Near East is that it is the first monotheistic one. This development happened during the Babylonian exile. Judaism adopted monotheism because of the exile, and monotheism saved the religion during the diaspora, as well as through centuries of domination by civilizations worshipping pagan gods. By looking at the Hebrew Bible and other ancient religious texts, as well as secondary scholarship about the evolution of Jewish texts and archaeological evidence, I am examining the circumstances in which monotheism emerged.