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Paganism
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Paganism
Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "an old country dweller, rustic") is a
term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of
spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of
historical and contemporary polytheistic religions in particular.
The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside
the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The
group so defined includes the Indian religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism), Native American religions and mythologies and Shinto as well as
non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not
include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural
currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of Pagan
traditions is the absence of proselytism, and the presence of a living
mythology which explains religious practice.[1]
The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and
as such has an inherent Christian or Abrahamic bias, and pejorative
connotations among Westerners,[2] comparable to heathen, and infidel,
mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, ethnologists avoid the
term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to
traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as
polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism.
Since the later 20th century, however, the words "pagan" or "paganism" have
become widely and openly used as a self-designation of adherents of
polytheistic reconstructionism and neo-paganism.[3]
Etymology
Pagan
The term pagan is from Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning
"rural", "rustic" or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean
"country dweller, villager." In colloquial use, it could mean much the same
as calling someone today a 'country bumpkin' or a 'hillbilly'.
The semantic development of post-classical Latin paganus in the sense
"non-Christian, heathen" is unclear. The dating of this sense is
controversial, but the 4th century seems most plausible. An earlier example
has been suggested in Tertullian De Corona Militis xi, "Apud hunc [sc.
Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis,"
but here the word paganus may be interpreted in the sense "civilian" rather
than "heathen". There are three main explanations of the development:
* (i) The older sense of classical Latin pāgānus is "of the country, rustic"
(also as noun). It has been argued that the transferred use reflects the
fact that the ancient idolatry lingered on in the rural villages and hamlets
after Christianity had been generally accepted in the towns and cities of
the Roman Empire; cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "Ex locorum agrestium
compitis et pagis pagani vocantur." From its earliest beginnings,
Christianity spread much more quickly in major urban areas (like Antioch,
Alexandria, Corinth, Rome) than in the countryside (in fact, the early
church was almost entirely urban), and soon the word for "country dweller"
became synonymous with someone who was "not a Christian," giving rise to the
modern meaning of "Pagan." This may, in part, have had to do with the
conservative nature of rural people, who may have been more resistant to the
new ideas of Christianity than those who lived in major urban centers.
However, it may have also resulted from early Christian missionaries
focusing their efforts within major population centers (e.g., St. Paul),
rather than throughout an expansive, yet sparsely populated, countryside
(hence, the Latin term suggesting "uneducated country folk").
* (ii) The more common meaning of classical Latin pāgānus is "civilian,
non-militant" (adjective and noun). Christians called themselves mīlitēs,
"enrolled soldiers" of Christ, members of his militant church, and applied
to non-Christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were "not enrolled
in the army".
* (iii) The sense "heathen" arose from an interpretation of paganus as
denoting a person who was outside a particular group or community, hence
"not of the city" or "rural"; cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "ui alieni a
civitate dei..pagani vocantur." See C. Mohrmann, Vigiliae Christianae 6
(1952) 9ff.
-- Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)
"Peasant" is a cognate, via Old French paisent. (Harry Thurston Peck,
Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquity, 1897; "pagus").
In their distant origins, these usages derived from pagus, "province,
countryside", cognate to Greek πάγος "rocky hill", and, even earlier,
"something stuck in the ground", as a landmark: the Proto-Indo-European root
*pag- means "fixed" and is also the source of the words page, pale (stake),
and pole, as well as pact and peace.
While pagan is attested in English from the 14th century, there is no
evidence that the term paganism was in use in English before the 17th
century. The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of
paganism." The term was not a neologism, however, as paganismus was already
used by Augustine.
Less than twenty years after the last vestiges of paganism were crushed with
great severity by the emperor Theodosius I[4] Rome was seized by Alaric in
410. This led to murmuring that the gods of paganism had taken greater care
of the city than that of the Christian God, inspiring St Augustine to write
The City of God, alternative title "De Civitate Dei contra Paganos: The City
of God against the Pagans", in which he claimed that whilst the great 'city
of Man' had fallen, Christians were ultimately citizens of the 'city of
God.'[5]
Heathen
Heathen is from Old English hęšen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse
heišinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiži
"dwelling on the heath", appearing as haižno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile
woman," (translating the "Hellene" in Mark 7:26). This translation probably
influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of
its similarity to the Greek ethne, "gentile". It has even been suggested
that Gothic haiži is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from
Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.
Terminology
Common word usage
Both "pagan" and "heathen" have historically been used as a pejorative by
adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and
Islam) to indicate a disbeliever in their religion. "Paganism" is also
sometimes used to mean the lack of (an accepted monotheistic) religion, and
therefore sometimes means essentially the same as atheism. "Paganism"
frequently refers to the religions of classical antiquity, most notably
Greek mythology or Roman religion, and can be used neutrally or admiringly
by those who refer to those complexes of belief. However, until the rise of
Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western
civilization, "Paganism" was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox
beliefs falling outside the established political framework of the Christian
Church. "Pagan" came to be equated with a Christianized sense of "epicurean"
to signify a person who is sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent,
unconcerned with the future and uninterested in sophisticated religion. The
word was usually used in this worldly and stereotypical sense, particularly
among those who were drawing attention to what they perceived as being the
limitations of paganism, for example, as when G. K. Chesterton wrote: "The
pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his
civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue
to enjoy anything else." In sharp contrast Swinburne the poet would comment
on this same theme: "Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has
grown grey from thy breath; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on
the fullness of death." [6]
Christianity itself has been perceived at times as a form of paganism by
followers of the other Abrahamic religions[7][8]because of, for example, the
Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the celebration of pagan feast days[9],
and other practices [10] through a process described as "baptising" [11]or
"christianization". Even between Christians there have been similar charges
of paganism levelled, especially by Protestants[12],[13], towards the Roman
Catholic and Orthodox Churches for their veneration of the saints and
images.
Heathenry
"Heathen" (Old English hęšen) is a translation of paganus. The Germanic
tribes were distributed over Eastern and Central Europe by the 5th century,
and their dialects ceased to be mutually intelligible from around that time.
Christianization of the Germanic peoples took place from the 4th (Goths) to
the 6th (Anglo-Saxons, Alamanni) or 8th (Saxons) centuries on the continent,
and from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia.
Pagan classifications
Pagan subdivisions coined by Isaac Bonewits [5]
* Paleo-Paganism: A retronym coined to contrast with "neopaganism", denoting
a pagan culture that has not been disrupted by other cultures. The term
applies to Hinduism, Shinto, pre-Migration period Germanic paganism as
described by Tacitus, Celtic Polytheism as described by Julius Caesar, and
the Greek and Roman religion.
* Meso-Paganism: 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
aboriginal Americans as well as Australian aboriginals, Viking Age Norse
paganism. Influences include: Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy,
Spiritualism, as well as Sikhism, and the many Afro-Diasporic faiths like
Haitian Vodou, and Santerķa.
* Neo-Paganism: A movement by modern people to reconnect with nature,
pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This
definition may include anything on a sliding scale from reconstructionist to
New Age and non-reconstructionist groups such as Neo-Druidism and Wicca.
Historical polytheism
Bronze Age to Classical Antiquity (as opposed to Zoroastrianism, Judaism and
Indian religions)
* Religions of the Ancient Near East
o Ancient Egyptian religion
o Ancient Semitic religion
* reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion
* Graeco-Roman
o Ancient Greek religion
o Ancient Roman religion
o Hellenistic religion
o Roman imperial cult
o Mystery religion
* Celtic polytheism
Late Antiquity to High Middle Ages (as opposed to Abrahamic and Indian
religions)
* Germanic paganism
* Slavic paganism
* Baltic paganism
* Finnish paganism
Contemporary ethnic religion
There are many surviving traditions of ethnic religion. Organized ethnic
religions that achieved the status of a civil religion are Shinto, tied to
Japanese identity, and Judaism, tied to Jewish identity. In nationalist
definitions, Hinduism may be tied to Indian identity.
Uninstitutionalized folk religion is found mainly in rural and sparsely
populated areas. These include Animism, ancestor worship and Shamanism of
Asia, Africa, the Americas, as well as Papua and other Pacific islands.
Chinese folk religion is an umbrella term for uninstitutionalized folk
traditions under a secular regime.
All world religions, however, also include folk religious aspects, as
opposed to their theological or philosophical aspects, see folk
Christianity, or local institutions of revealed religions may become
strongly tied to ethnic identity, e.g. Yazdānism (Kurdish faiths descending
from Zoroastrianism), Tibetan Buddhism, or various Christian national
churches such as the Armenian Apostolic Church, the various Syriac churches,
and the various branches of the Orthodox Church, e.g., Anglican Orthodox,
Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and other non-Roman churches.
Africa
During the expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa, Islamic Fulbe (Fula)
labelled their non-Muslim neighbours, such as this Kapsiki diviner, Kirdi,
or "pagans".
Eurasia
Eurasian ethnic religions became largely extinct in the course of the Middle
Ages, first with Christianization in the West and the spread of Buddhism in
the East, and then with the Islamic conquests of Persia, Central and South
Asia. A notable survival of pre-Islamic traditions are the people of
Kafirstan, now shrunk tothe Kalasha people, inhabiting three valleys in the
NWFP, Pakistan. The 2002 census of the Russian Federation reports 123,423
people (0.23% of the population) as belonging to ethnic groups predominantly
adhering to "traditional beliefs", mostly in Siberia and the Russian Far
East. In Japan, there is the Ryukyuan religion.
Central America
In spite of five centuries of persecution Mayan paganism is alive and well
in Guatemala, and is experiencing a resurgence of interest among young
Mayans. Recent peace accords signed by the Guatemalan government have
provided funds to teach Mayan language and traditional religion in rural
schools.
Pagan revivals and new religious movements
Neo-paganism
Neopaganism includes reconstructed religions such as Hellenic, Celtic or
Germanic reconstructionism as well as modern eclectic traditions such as
Discordianism, and Wicca and its many offshoots.
Many of the "revivals", wicca and neo-druidism in particular, have their
roots in 19th century Romanticism and retain noticeable elements of
occultism or theosophy that were current then, setting them apart from
historical rural (paganus) folk religion. The Ķslenska Įsatrśarfélagiš is a
notable exception in that it was derived more or less directly from remnants
in rural folklore.
Neopaganism in the United States accounts for roughly a third of all
neopagans worldwide, and for some 0.2% of US population, figuring as the
sixth largest non-Christian denomination in the US, after Judaism (1.4%),
Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), Hinduism (0.3%) and Unitarian Universalism
(0.3%).[14]
Modern nature religion
Many current pagans in industrial societies base their beliefs and practices
on a connection to Nature, and a divinity within all living things, but this
may not hold true for all forms of Paganism, past or present. Some believe
that there are many deities, while some believe that the combined
subconscious spirit of all living things forms the universal deity.[citation
needed] Ancient Greek paganism, which tended in many cases to be a
deification of the local deity, as Athena in Athens, saw each local
emanation as an aspect of an Olympian deity during the Classical period and
then after Alexander to syncretize the deity with the political process,
with "state divinities" increasingly assigned to various localities, as Roma
personified Rome. Many ancient regimes would claim to be the representative
on earth of these gods, and would depend on more or less elaborate
bureaucracies of state-supported priests and scribes to lend public support
to their claims.
In one well-established sense, paganism is the belief in any
non-monotheistic religion, which would mean that the Pythagoreans of ancient
Greece would not be considered Pagan in that sense, since they were
monotheist, but not in the Abrahamic tradition. In an extreme sense, and
like the pejorative sense below, any belief, ritual or pastime not
sanctioned by a religion accepted as orthodox by those doing the describing,
such as Burning Man, Halloween, or even Christmas, can be described as
"pagan" by the person or people who object to them and the individuals who
choose to claim this title.
Demographics
Paganism has been previously defined broadly, to encompass many or most of
the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. If the Indian religions are included, then 50
percent of the worlds religions would be considered pagan.[15].
The term has also been used more narrowly,[16][17][18] however, to refer
only to religions outside the very large group of so-called Axial Age faiths
that encompass both the Abrahamic religions and the chief Indian religions.
Under this narrower definition, which differs from that historically used by
many[19][20] (though by no means all[21][22]) Christians and other
Westerners, contemporary paganism is a relatively smaller and more marginal
numerical phenomenon.
Notes and References
1. ^ "And it Harms No-one", A Pagan Manifesto, Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone,
1998.[1]
2. ^ "Pagan", Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Edition, 1911, retrieved 22 May
2007.[2]
3. ^ "A Basic Introduction to Paganism", BBC, retrieved 19 May 2007.[3]
4. ^ "Theodosius I", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912.[4]
5. ^ "The City of God", Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2003.
6. ^ 'Hymn to Proserpine'
7. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
8. ^ Shirk
9. ^ Christianised calendar
10. ^ Christianised rituals
11. ^ The Pope, The Emperor and the Persian Leader
12. ^ 'Philip Melanchthon 'Apologia Confessionis Augustanae'
13. ^ Jean Seznec 'The Survival of the Pagan Gods'
14. ^ ARIS 2001 figures.
15. ^ 1998 Cambridge Fact Finder
16. ^ http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm
17. ^ Eisenstadt, S.N., 1983, Transcendental Visions -- Other-Worldliness --
and Its Transformations: Some More Comments on L. Dumont. Religion13:1-17,
at p. 3.
18. ^ Michael York, Paganism as Root-Religion, The Pomegranate, 6:1 (2004),
pp. 11-18 (distinguishing the main streams of developed religion as gnostic,
dharmic, Abrahamic and pagan).
19. ^ Catholic Encyclopaedia (1917 edition) on paganism
20. ^ Hindu rites at a famous Catholic shrine shocks many Catholics
21. ^ David Scott, Christian Responses to Buddhism in Pre-Medieval Times,
Numen, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jul., 1985), pp. 88-100
22. ^ Audrius Beinorius, Buddhism in the Early European Imagination: A
Historical Perspective, ACTA ORIENTALIA VILNENSIA 6:2 (2005), pp. 722
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