Paganism (or "Heathenism") is a
catch-all term which has come to (by extension from its original
classical meaning of a non-Christian
religion) bundle together a very broad set of potentially mutually
incompatible religious beliefs and practices, usually, but not
necessarily, characterized by
polytheism and less commonly
animism.
It is the current popular fashion to insist that many pagan religions
are based on
nature,
which presupposes a universal division between "nature" and "not
nature" that might not actually apply to all cultures and religions.
Paganism predates modern
monotheism, although its origins are lost in
prehistory. Ancient paganism tended in many cases to be a
deification of the political process, with "state divinities" assigned
to various localities (Athena
in Athens,
for example). 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.
The term has historically been used as a
pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as
Judaism,
Christianity and
Islam)
to indicate a person who doesn't believe 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 of the established political
framework of the Christian Church. It has more recently been used
admiringly by those who believe the monotheistic religions to be
confining or colourless.
In another sense, as used by modern practitioners, paganism is a
polytheistic,
panentheistic or
pantheistic often nature-based religious practice. This includes
reconstructed religions such as
Hellenismos,
Asatru
as well as more recently founded religions such as
Wicca,
and these are normally categorised as "Neopaganism".
Although Neopagans often refer to themselves simply as "Pagan", for
purposes of clarity this article will focus on the ancient religion,
while Neopaganism is discussed in its own article.
This also includes religions such as
Forn
Sed and
Romuva
that claim to revive an ancient religion rather than reconstruct it,
though in general the difference is not absolutely fixed.
Practitioners of these tend to object to the term "Neopaganism" for
their religion as they consider what they are doing not to be a new
thing.
Origins and meanings of the term
The
Latin word paganus is an adjective meaning "rural",
"rustic" or "of the country" and in the 4th century AD had developed a
negative connotation of "rustically unsophisticated" ie "country
bumpkin" in line with Classical civilization's high valuation on urban
life. In the 5th century as Christianity began to take hold in the
cities for example in ancient
Gaul the
phagani, were as yet untouched by this new religion, and so
the negative
connotation of the word combined with the religious difference to
give the then-new meaning to the word pagan.
Christianity also became a major religion in the Roman army. Here
"pagani" has meanings of non-combatant, pacifist, with attendant
derision. From the widespread popularity of Christianity among slaves,
the most numerous class in the Roman Empire, by contrast "pagani"
acquired
connotations of "uppity", "dissident" and so on to "heretic."
Certain scholarly fashions from the medieval period onwards,
attempted to assert the value of sophisticated Pagans such as
Aristotle and Plato and Ovid. This had some influence among upper
class educated people but did little to counter a more general
prejudice.
External link
- James J. O'Donnell, "The
Demise of Paganism (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/demise.html),"
Traditio 35(1979), 45-88
Anthropological terms for Pagan
- Paleo-Paganism: A Pagan culture that has not been disrupted by
other civilizations or other cultures. This does not include any
known cultures. Indeed, this absolutely, by definition, cannot
include any sort of living culture, since all cultures have been
"disrupted" by their neighbors to some extent or another.
- Meso-Paganism: A group, which is, or has been, influenced by a
conquering culture, but has been able to maintain an independence of
religious practices. This includes Native Americans and Australian
Aborigine Bushmen.
- Syncreto-Paganism: A culture, which has been conquered but
adopts and merges the conquering culture's religious practices
with their own. This includes
Haitian
Vodou, and
Santerķa.
- Neo-Paganism: An attempt to by modern people to reconnect with
nature, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual
paths. This definition includes
Asatru
and Neo-Druidism.
This system of classification completely leaves out any possibility
of classifying
Hindu
religions or
Shinto
as "paganism". Likewise, it would exclude the state religion of the
pre-Christian
Roman Empire.
See also
