Urmonotheismus

The term ' (German for "primeval monotheism") or "primitive monotheism'" expresses the hypothesis of a monotheistic Urreligion, from which polytheistic religions allegedly degenerated. This evolutionary view of religious development contrasts diametrically with another evolutionary view on the development of religious thought: the hypothesis that religion progressed from simple forms to complex: first pre-animism, then animism, totemism, polytheism, and finally monotheism.

==History== In 1898, Scottish anthropologist Andrew Lang proposed that the idea of a Supreme Being (the "High God" or "All Father") existed among some of the simplest of contemporary tribal societies prior to their contact with Western peoples, and that Urmonotheismus ("primitive monotheism") was the original religion of humankind. This concept of a primeval monotheistic religion has parallels in the works of the early Christian theologian Tertullian and rabbinic literature.