One God - Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire (2010, pp.239., Cambridge University Press) by Stephen Mitchell and Peter Van Nuffelen is the conference volume of an international research which begun in July of 2006 with the Conference about Paganism and monotheism in the Roman Empire at the University of Exeter, UK following the famous work of Michael Frede and Polymnia Athanassiadi, Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity, 1999.
The two authors are the best experts in the field of this section of Roman Religion.The book answers some major questions, born as a dilemma at the conference and in the secular research: how should pagan monotheism be defined? what is the difference between pagan monotheism and judeo-christian monotheism? There is an other study of Mitchell about Theos Hypsistos, a kind of answer for Belayche (De la polys´emie des ´epicl`eses: Hypsistos dans le monde gr´eco-romain, 2005).
A short presentation of the book by the authors: "Graeco-Roman religion in its classic form was polytheistic; on the other hand, monotheistic ideas enjoyed wide currency in ancient philosophy. This contradiction provides a challenge for our understanding of ancient pagan religion. Certain forms of cult activity, including acclamations of 'one god' and the worship of theos hypsistos, the highest god, have sometimes been interpreted as evidence for pagan monotheism. This book discusses pagan monotheism in its philosophical and intellectual context, traces the evolution of new religious ideas in the time of the Roman empire, and evaluates the usefulness of the term 'monotheism' as a way of understanding these developments in later antiquity outside the context of Judaism and Christianity. In doing so, it establishes a new framework for understanding the relationship between polytheistic and monotheistic religious cultures between the first and fourth centuries AD."
Detailed presentation at Bryn Mawr: HERE
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