henotheism

Noun

henotheism (countable and uncountable, plural henotheisms)

1. Belief in or worship of one deity without denying the existence of other deities.
   • There is one kind of oneness which does not exclude the idea of plurality; there is another which does. […] If, therefore, an expression had been given to that primitive intuition of the Deity, which is the mainspring of all later religion, it would have been—'There is a God,' but not yet 'There is...1867, [Friedrich] Max Müller, “Semitic Monotheism”, in Chips from a German Workshop, volume I (Essays on the Science of Religion), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 353–354
   • [T]he form of worship presented to us in these most ancient documents [the Hindu Rigveda] of the Aryan people is what Professor Maxmüller [i.e., Max Müller] calls Henotheism, viz., the deity invoked for the time being is regarded as supreme, is extolled above the rest and is made the recipient of...1898, Shamsul Ulama, Syed Ali Bilgrami, “Introduction”, in A Short Guide to the Cave Temples of Elura. With an Introduction, Madras: Reprinted by H. Plumbe, at the Lawrence Asylum Press, →OCLC, page 3