Virtuous pagan
Virtuous pagan is a concept in
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Romans 2:12–16
Certain
We have been taught that Christ is the First-born of God, and we have suggested above that He is the logos of whom every race of men and women were partakers. And they who lived with the logos are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and people like them."[3]
Francis A. Sullivan believes that early Christian writers "did not preclude virtuous pagans from possibly attaining salvation", but he "agrees that it is possible that the patristic Fathers, had they been asked directly, may have denied that pagans and Jews could become partakers of eternal life."[4]
Prominent examples of virtuous pagans are
"Virtuous paganism" became relevant to
Tolkien was "rather disturbed by [an
Nazi leadership a few years later. Nevertheless it did provide an image of heroic virtue which could exist, and could be admired, outside the Christian framework. In some respects (as you can see in his 1936 Beowulf lecture, see Essays, 24–25) the Old Norse 'theory of courage' might even be regarded as ethically superior to the Classical if not to the Christian world-view, in that it demanded commitment to virtue without any offer of lasting reward. ... He also felt that Old Norse mythology provided a model for what one might call 'virtuous paganism,' which was heathen; conscious of its own inadequacy, and so ripe for conversion; but not yet sunk into despair and disillusionment like so much of 20th-century post-Christian literature; a mythology which was in its way light-hearted."[5]
See also
- Christianity and Paganism
- Crypto-paganism § In the Middle Ages
- Danel
- Fate of the unlearned
- Hanif
- Nine Worthies
- Noble savage
- Original Monotheism
References
- ISBN 9780567085184.
Rather did he hold the position stated in the Apocalypse of Sedrach: 'there are nations which have no law, yet fulfill the law; they are not baptized, but my divine Spirit enters them and they are converted to my baptism, and I receive them with my righteous ones in the bosom of Abraham. [There were rabbis who taught that righteous heathen would be saved: t. Sanh. 13.2; b. Sanh. 105a. Recall also Paul's thoughts in Rom 2.14-16: Gentiles who do the law written on their hearts may have good consciences on the last day.] The context, however, does not explicitly teach two judgements; and we are not persuaded that 'the least' are to be identified with Christians (see below). Further, we have little doubt before Matthew, the scene concerned all humanity. At the same time, 25.31-46 may very well imply that Matthew thought salvation possible for those outside the church. We are reminded of Karl Rahner's so-called 'anonymous Christian'.
- ISBN 978-1-5104-3258-1.
- ISBN 978-0-8091-0472-7., p. 55.
- ISBN 978-90-04-32684-2 – via Google Books.
- ^ Shippey, Tom. "Tolkien and Iceland: The Philology of Envy". Roots and Branches. pp. 191–192. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007.
Further reading
- Vitto, Cindy L. (1989). "The Virtuous Pagan: In Middle English Literature". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 79 (5): 1–100. JSTOR 1006545.
- Cindy L. Vitto, The Virtuous Pagan: In Middle English literature, DIANE Publishing, 1989, ISBN 978-0-87169-795-0.
- Cindy L. Vitto, The Virtuous Pagan: In Middle English literature, DIANE Publishing, 1989,
- Irwin, T. H (1999). "Splendid Vices?". Medieval Philosophy & Theology. 8 (2): 105–27. .