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Monotheism

Gurkhal

Auror
Definitely look at monotheistic religions other than Christianity. Off the top of my head I can think of Judaism, Islam, Baha'i, Rastafarianism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism. There's a lot of variety in there to start with, and once you have an idea of what you want your imagination is what will set the result apart from your source material.

I agree personally. My primary reason to focus on Christianity is because that was what OP talked about in his original post as wanting something close to the medieval church,by which I kind of assume that he meant the medieval Catholic church.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
Mithraism would be another one to look at.

I have a 'Saint Mithras' on the primary world. Originally a pagan sect, brought more or less intact into the 'True Church' under tortured theological justification. ('Mithras was sent to prepare the True Gods path among the heathen.') And yes, the inspiration for that came from real world quasi-history - the story that Constantine effectively combined dominant Christian sect with those of Mithras and Sol Invictus to form a new state religion.
 

Tom

Istar
I agree personally. My primary reason to focus on Christianity is because that was what OP talked about in his original post as wanting something close to the medieval church,by which I kind of assume that he meant the medieval Catholic church.
Different branches of Christianity might be worth a look at in that case. Personally I like drawing inspiration from Eastern Orthodoxy, especially during the Byzantine Empire. Also the Cathars. They were a weird, controversial little footnote in the history of Christianity.
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
Different branches of Christianity might be worth a look at in that case. Personally I like drawing inspiration from Eastern Orthodoxy, especially during the Byzantine Empire. Also the Cathars. They were a weird, controversial little footnote in the history of Christianity.

Excellent advice. The dominant religion in my fantasy world is based on Eastern Christianity. A mystery religion derived from Judaism also exists alongside it.
 
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ZLMeinecke

Acolyte
What I'm using in my story is two gods, the Divine Father and Divine Mother, and directly below are the patron saints of the dukedoms, all using a very Catholic styled foundation with a few tweaks to fit my system. There will be other minor 'blasphemous' religions, but I haven't decided quite how to flesh them out yet.
 

Bandicoot

Dreamer
I agree with some of the comments. Create a very different god. And a different Genesis. Play around with belief system, making changes as and when necessary. That way you can have your monotheism, without making it too much like this or that religion.
You can make the god female, male-female, non-gendered, young; you can give him/her/it different physical attributes - many heads, many hands/legs, several bodies... The world could have been created via a dream, a tear drop, raised from the cosmic sea. The possibilities are endless.
 

D. Gray Warrior

Troubadour
Depending on how you look at it, you could reasonably say that Hinduism is monotheistic. I’m far from an expert on that particular religion, but I have heard some say that the various gods are different manifestations of a single divine being.

Don’t quote me on that, and someone please correct me if I am wrong or misunderstanding something.
 
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