Abstract
The question about a monotheistic ethic must begin with - and its answer must then test - the assumption that monotheism is the key factor that shapes the religion's ethic. To identify what is distinctive about a monotheistic ethic, it is important both to define monotheism in theory and also to examine how it shapes, informs, motivates, and characterizes ethical attitudes and practices in discrete traditions and communities. This chapter offers some preliminary considerations of the terms "religion," "monotheism," and "ethics" and reviews recent comparative data and scholarship that may contribute to the inquiry. These materials may help to identify possible parameters and potential pitfalls of this inquiry. Religions postulate an objective, true, and humanly unalterable cosmic order of existence, which establishes the prerequisites of human experience and proper human attitudes and action. Keywords:ethics; monotheism; religion