Did monotheistic religions besides Judaism influenced Christianity?

by [deleted]

Did Zoroastrianism, or the various monotheistic sun god religions like those favored by Akhenaten and Elagabalus influence Christianity?

gingerkid1234

Zoroastrianism may have indirectly through Judaism. This part of an old AMA may be of use. There are also elements of Zoroastrian influence that didn't survive long-term in Judaism, but still were around when Christianity came on the scene. Things like a sense of dualism (God diametrically opposed to the Devil) may've been from Zoroastrianism, but survived better in Christianity than in the forms of Judaism that lasted through antiquity. Probably the biggest thing is a apocalyptic view of escatology--the notion of an impending end of time.

For Sun religions, there's not much evidence. Influence of Ahkenaten's monotheism (or maybe monolatry) is very far removed from Christianity--that was repressed over a thousand years before Christianity started up. While I've heard claims that Akhenaten influenced the monotheism of Judaism, there's nothing solid backing it up. I don't know enough to comment on Elagabalus, but I'm skeptical, mostly because these claims usually originate from the movie Zeitgeist, which is riddled with factual errors.