Pleas for religious tolerance from traditionalists such as the senator Symmachus (d. 402) were rejected, and Christian monotheism became a feature of imperial domination.

Indeed, in 'works, from Totem and Taboo (1912-1913a) to Moses and Monotheism (1939a), Freud analyzed the events that presided over the foundation and modification of social links, the advent of civilization, and the rise of its current discontents'; while James Strachey described "The Future of an Illusion" (1927) as 'the first of a number of sociological works to which Freud devoted most of his remaining years'.

The book was inspired by Freud's "Moses and Monotheism" and explored the possibility that Pharaoh Akhenaton was the legendary Oedipus.

The word "mappila" is derived from the words 'maha' and 'pilla' . The Mappilas are believed to be the earliest known Indian Muslim community, having existed since the 8th century CE, when Arab merchants who had long been trading with the Chera kingdom settled in Kerala. They follow the preachings of monotheism by Muhammad in Arabia, especially the UAE and other Gulf countries.

Albright was not, however, a biblical literalist; his "Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan", for example, putting forward the view that the religion of the Israelites had evolved from polytheism to a monotheism that saw God acting in history—a view fully in accordance with the documentary hypothesis and the mainstream opinions of the preceding two centuries of biblical criticism.

Its purpose was to elevate Hebrew monotheism over Babylonian polytheism.

The book included transcriptions of the text in Pahlavi and in Pazand, a glossary, and his extensive annotations, e.g., on the comparative theology of this polemical work, which consciously employs reason to criticize the monotheism of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.