Paganism
Paganism (from
During and after the
Contemporary knowledge of old pagan religions and beliefs comes from several sources, including anthropological field research records, the evidence of archaeological artifacts, and the historical accounts of ancient writers regarding cultures known to Classical antiquity. Most modern pagan religions existing today express a worldview that is pantheistic, panentheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, but some are monotheistic.[11][12][13]
Nomenclature and etymology
Pagan
It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century, people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised. The notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition. As such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense.
— Owen Davies, Paganism: A Very Short Introduction, 2011[8]
The term pagan derives from
The adoption of paganus by the Latin Christians as an all-embracing, pejorative term for polytheists represents an unforeseen and singularly long-lasting victory, within a religious group, of a word of Latin slang originally devoid of religious meaning. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church. Elsewhere, Hellene or gentile (ethnikos) remained the word for pagan; and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace.
— Peter Brown, Late Antiquity, 1999[15]
Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via
Apud hunc [Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles fidelis.[17] | With Him [Christ] the faithful citizen is a soldier, just as the faithful soldier is a citizen.[18] |
Paganus acquired its religious connotations by the mid-4th century.
The term pagan was not attested in the English language until the 17th century.
Hellene
In the Latin-speaking
This was influenced by Christianity's early members, who were
The usage of Hellene as a religious term was initially part of an exclusively Christian nomenclature, but some Pagans began to defiantly call themselves Hellenes. Other pagans even preferred the narrow meaning of the word from a broad cultural sphere to a more specific religious grouping. However, there were many Christians and pagans alike who strongly objected to the evolution of the terminology. The influential
The growing religious stigmatization of Hellenism had a chilling effect on Hellenic culture by the late 4th century.[26]
By late antiquity, however, it was possible to speak Greek as a primary language while not conceiving of oneself as a Hellene.
Heathen
Heathen comes from Old English hæðen (not Christian or Jewish); cf. Old Norse heiðinn. This meaning for the term originated from Gothic haiþno (gentile woman) being used to translate Hellene[32] in Wulfila's Bible, the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language. This may have been influenced by the Greek and Latin terminology of the time used for pagans. If so, it may be derived from Gothic haiþi (dwelling on the heath). However, this is not attested. It may even be a borrowing of Greek ἔθνος (ethnos) via Armenian hethanos.[33]
The term has recently been revived in the forms
Definition
It is perhaps misleading even to say that there was such a religion as paganism at the beginning of [the Common Era] ... It might be less confusing to say that the pagans, before their competition with Christianity, had no religion at all in the sense in which that word is normally used today. They had no tradition of discourse about ritual or religious matters (apart from philosophical debate or antiquarian treatise), no organized system of beliefs to which they were asked to commit themselves, no authority-structure peculiar to the religious area, above all no commitment to a particular group of people or set of ideas other than their family and political context. If this is the right view of pagan life, it follows that we should look on paganism quite simply as a religion invented in the course of the second to third centuries AD, in competition and interaction with Christians, Jews and others.
— J A North 1992, 187–88, [34]
Defining paganism is complex and problematic. Understanding the context of its associated terminology is important.
Referring to paganism as a pre-Christian indigenous religion is equally untenable. Not all historical pagan traditions were pre-Christian or indigenous to their places of worship.[35]
Owing to the history of its nomenclature, paganism traditionally encompasses the collective pre- and non-Christian cultures in and around the
Perception
Paganism came to be equated by Christians with a sense of hedonism, representing those who are sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent, unconcerned with the future, and uninterested in more mainstream religions. Pagans were usually described in terms of this worldly
Ethnocentrism
Recently, the
History
Prehistoric
Bronze Age to Early Iron Age
Ancient history
Classical antiquity
Ludwig Feuerbach defined the paganism of classical antiquity, which he termed Heidentum ('heathenry') as "the unity of religion and politics, of spirit and nature, of god and man",[48] qualified by the observation that man in the pagan view is always defined by ethnicity, i.e., As a result, every pagan tradition is also a national tradition. Modern historians define paganism instead as the aggregate of cult acts, set within a civic rather than a national context, without a written creed or sense of orthodoxy.[49]
Late Antiquity and Christianization
The developments in the religious thought of the far-flung
Postclassical history
The medieval church accused sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians and Cathars of participating in pagan fertility rites.[56]
Islam in Arabia
Arab paganism gradually disappeared during
Modern history
Early Modern Renaissance
Interest in pagan traditions was first revived during the
Late Modern Romanticism
Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.— William Wordsworth, "The World Is Too Much with Us", lines 9–14
Paganism resurfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th-century
The 19th century also saw much scholarly interest in the reconstruction of pagan mythology from folklore or fairy tales. This was notably attempted by the Brothers Grimm, especially Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology, and Elias Lönnrot with the compilation of the Kalevala. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian Alexander Afanasyev, the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and the Englishman Joseph Jacobs.[68]
Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity coincided with the rise of
Modern paganism
However, there often exists a distinction or separation between some polytheistic reconstructionists such as Hellenism and revivalist neopagans like Wiccans. The divide is over numerous issues such as the importance of accurate orthopraxy according to ancient sources available, the use and concept of magic, which calendar to use and which holidays to observe, as well as the use of the term pagan itself.[69][70][71]
In 1717
There are a number of neopagan authors who have examined the relation of the 20th-century movements of polytheistic revival with historical polytheism on one hand and contemporary traditions of folk religion on the other. Isaac Bonewits introduced a terminology to make this distinction.[74]
- Neopaganism
- The overarching contemporary pagan revival movement which focuses on nature-revering/living, pre-Christian religions and/or other nature-based spiritual paths, and frequently incorporating contemporary liberal values[citation needed]. This definition may include groups such as Wicca, Neo-Druidism, Heathenry, and Slavic Native Faith.
- Paleopaganism
- A Celtic polytheism as described by Julius Caesar.
- Mesopaganism
- A group, which is, or has been, significantly influenced by monotheistic, dualistic, or nontheistic worldviews, but has been able to maintain an independence of religious practices. This group includes British Traditional Wiccain this subdivision.
Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick in their A History of Pagan Europe (1995) classify pagan religions as characterized by the following traits:
- Polytheism: Pagan religions recognise a plurality of divine beings, which may or may not be considered aspects of an underlying unity (the soft and hard polytheism distinction).
- dualistic cosmology.
In modern times, Heathen and Heathenry are increasingly used to refer to those branches of modern paganism inspired by the pre-Christian religions of the Germanic, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon peoples.[76]
In
Ethnic religions of pre-Christian Europe
- Proto-Indo-European mythology
- Albanian mythology
- Baltic mythology
- Basque mythology
- Celtic polytheism
- Etruscan mythology
- Finnic mythologies
- Germanic paganism
- Ancient Greek religion
- Minoan religion
- Mari religion
- Norse mythology
- Religion in ancient Rome
- Sámi shamanism
- Slavic paganism
- Thracian religion
See also
- Animism
- Crypto-paganism
- Dayawism
- Dharmic religions
- East Asian religions
- Eleusinian Mysteries
- Henotheism
- Jungian psychology
- Kemetism
- List of pagans
- List of modern pagan movements
- List of modern pagan temples
- List of religions and spiritual traditions
- Myth and ritual
- Naturalistic pantheism
- Nature worship
- Panentheism
- Polytheism
- Secular paganism
- Sentientism
- Totemism
- Virtuous pagan
- Worship of heavenly bodies
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-0-674-51173-6.
- ^ J. J. O'Donnell (1977), Paganus: Evolution and Use Archived 29 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Classical Folia, 31: 163–69.
- ^ Augustine, Divers. Quaest. 83.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-674-72520-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-162001-0.
- ISBN 978-1-317-08443-3.
- ISBN 978-0-19-162001-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0191620010.
- ^ Paganism, Oxford Dictionary (2014)
- ISBN 978-0199754670
- ISBN 0-19-514986-6.
- ISBN 90-04-10696-0.
- ^ a b Cameron 2011, pp. 28, 30.
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. "pagan (n.)". The Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ Peter Brown, in Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar, eds., Late Antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world, 1999, s.v. Pagan.
- ^ a b c d Cameron 2011, pp. 14–15.
- ^ De Corona Militis XI.V
- ^ Ante-Nicene Fathers III, De Corona XI
- ^ ""Theodosius I", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912".
- Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2003.
- ^ Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "ui alieni a civitate dei..pagani vocantur."
- ^ C. Mohrmann, Vigiliae Christianae 6 (1952) 9ff; Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989) Archived 25 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. II, "Chapter XXI: Persecution of Heresy, State of the Church. Part VII" (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of Paganism."
- ^ Eisenstadt, S.N. (1983). "Transcendental Visions – Other-Worldliness – and Its Transformations: Some More Comments on L. Dumont. Religion" 13:1–17, at p. 3.
- ^ Augustine, Confessions 1.14.23; Moatii, "Translation, Migration, and Communication", p. 112.
- ^ ISBN 978-0520065505.
- ^ a b Cameron 2011, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Simon Swain, "Defending Hellenism: Philostratus, in Honour of Apollonius", in Apologetics, p. 173.
- ^ Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State, p. 5.
- ^ Millar, A Greek Roman Empire, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Millar, A Greek Roman Empire, p. 98.
- ^ cf. Mark 7:26
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "heathen (n.)". The Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ Cameron 2011, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Davies 2011, Defining paganism.
- ^ Cameron 2011, p. 26.
- ^ Cameron 2011, pp. 27, 31.
- ^ Cameron 2011, p. 29.
- ^ Cameron 2011, p. 28.
- ^ Davies 2011, Chapter 1: The ancient world.
- ^ Antonio Virgili, Culti misterici ed orientali a Pompei, Roma, Gangemi, 2008
- ^ Heretics, G. K. Chesterton, 2007, Hendrickson Publishers Inc., p. 88
- ^ 'Hymn to Proserpine'
- S2CID 171686966.
- ^ Blumberg, Antonia (27 May 2016). "What Not To Say When You Meet Someone Who Is Pagan". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-7156-3754-8.
- ^ Kourbage, Melanie. "Kourbage on Petts, 'Pagan and Christian: Religious Change in Early Medieval Europe'". Humanities and Social Sciences Online. H-German. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ cf. the civil, natural and mythical theologies of Marcus Terentius Varro
- ^ A summary of the modern view is given in Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians 1989, pp. 31 ff.: "The modern emphasis on paganism's cult acts was also acknowledged by pagans themselves. It shaped the way they tried and tested Christians."
- ^ E. Kessler, Dionysian Monotheism in Nea Paphos, Cyprus "two monotheistic religions, Dionysian and Christian, existed contemporaneously in Nea Paphos during the 4th century C.E. [...] the particular iconography of Hermes and Dionysos in the panel of the Epiphany of Dionysos [...] represents the culmination of a Pagan iconographic tradition in which an infant divinity is seated on the lap of another divine figure; this Pagan motif was appropriated by early Christian artists and developed into the standardized icon of the Virgin and Child. Thus the mosaic helps to substantiate the existence of Pagan monotheism." [1]
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 6. 26. 1–2
- ^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 2. 34a
- ^ a b Wick, Peter (2004). "Jesus gegen Dionysos? Ein Beitrag zur Kontextualisierung des Johannesevangeliums". Biblica. 85 (2). Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute: 179–98. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
- ISBN 0567042804)
- ^ Powell, Barry B., Classical Myth Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998.
- ISBN 978-1-4408-2960-4. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ISBN 978-9960-899-55-8
- ISBN 1861796765. (online)
- ^ Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar (Free Version)[permanent dead link], p. 129
- ASIN B0007JAWMK.
- ISBN 9798694145923
- ISBN 978-81-261-2339-1
- ISBN 978-1-4400-8379-2.
- ISBN 978-1-8451-1314-8.
- ISBN 978-9960-897-28-8.
- ISBN 978-1-351-56179-2. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "It would be a great pleasure to make the comparison with what survives to us of ancient paganism in our old books, in order to have better [grasped] their spirit." Peter N. Miller, "History of Religion Becomes Ethnology: Some Evidence from Peiresc's Africa" Journal of the History of Ideas 67.4 (2006) 675–96.[2]
- ISBN 0-393-97636-X
- ^ "Hellenismos FAQ". The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "Pagans". Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
- ^ Arlea Anschütz, Stormerne Hunt (1997). "Call us Heathens!". Journal of the Pagan Federation. Archived from the original on 12 July 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
- ^ "Religions – Paganism: History of modern Paganism". BBC. 2 October 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Pagan beliefs: nature, druids and witches". BBC Religion & Ethics. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "Defining Paganism: Paleo-, Meso-, and Neo-" Archived 3 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine(Version 2.5.1) 1979, 2007 c.e., Isaac Bonewits
- ^ Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. p. 2. Routledge.
- ^ "Paganism: Heathenry". BBC – Religions. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ Statistics Iceland – Statistics >> Population >> Religious organisations Archived 9 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Odinic Rite of Australia". Retrieved 25 March 2015.
References
- OCLC 553365192.
- Davies, Owen (2011). Paganism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: ISBN 978-0191620010.
- Hua, Yih-Fen. book review to: Maria Effinger / Cornelia Logemann / Ulrich Pfisterer (eds): Götterbilder und Götzendiener in der Frühen Neuzeit. Europas Blick auf fremde Religionen. In: sehepunkte 13 (2013), Nr. 5 [15.05.2013], URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2013/05/21410.html. (Book review in English).
- Robert, P. & Scott, N. (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. New York, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-7607-1210-7.
- York, Michael (2003). Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion NYU Press, ISBN 0-8147-9708-3.