Paganism

Within a Christian context, Paganism (from Latin paganus) and Heathenry are catch-all terms which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion, as opposed to the Abrahamic religions. These beliefs, which are not necessarily compatible with each other, are usually characterized by polytheism and animism.

Terminology

"Paganism" vs. "pagan"

Although the etymology of pagan can be tracked and its antiquity is known, the term paganism, by contrast, appears not to have been widely used until much later, though paganismus is a term employed by Augustine. There is no evidence that the term is used 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."

Related Topics:
Augustine - ''OED'' - Edward Gibbon - ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire''

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It is possible that the various pagan practices were not seen as instances of a more general 'paganism' at all until the point when the term was used to blur distinctions between non-Christian beliefs and make of them one homogenous, primitive mass. The term paganism thus belongs in a colonial or missionary context, in which it is used to describe a state rather than an organized belief system.

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Common Word Usage

The term has 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 of the established political framework of the Christian Church. It has more recently (from the 19th century) been used admiringly by those who believe the monotheistic religions to be confining or colourless.

Related Topics:
Pejorative - Judaism - Christianity - Islam - Atheism - Classical antiquity - Greek mythology - Roman religion - Romanticism - Freedom of religion - Western civilization - Heterodox - 19th century

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"Pagan" came to be equated with a popular, 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 sense by those who were drawing attention to the limitations of paganism, as when G.K. Chesterton wrote:

Related Topics:
"epicurean" - G.K. Chesterton

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"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."

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Perhaps such usages reflect more light on Victorians than on the world of Antiquity.

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The word is also used as a generic derogatory term for an unruly (usually young) person.

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Heathenry

Old English hæðen refers to people who are neither Christians nor Jews. The term is used for Germanic paganism, or Germanic Pagan Reconstructonism. The term 'heathenry' can be used to denote both the ancient pagan religion of the Germanic peoples and modern reconstructed versions of that religion such as Ásatrú. The linguistic/anthropological term 'Germanic' refers to a group of Northern European tribes who at one point shared a common language, culture and religion. By the year 500 CE, the Germanic culture had spread out into the areas of Europe which were to become present day Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Holland, and England. By the year 700 CE, the various dialects of the common-Germanic language were becoming mutually unintelligible and evolving into German, Dutch, English, and the Scandinavian languages.

Related Topics:
Old English - Germanic paganism - Germanic Pagan Reconstructonism

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Heathenry, like all ancient European pagan religions, is polytheistic.

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Pagan classifications

Pagan subdivisions coined by Isaac Bonewits http://www.neopagan.net/PaganDefs.html

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• 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 Santería.
• Neo-Paganism: An attempt by modern people to reconnect with nature, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition includes such religions as Ásatrú, Neo-Druidism, and Wicca.

This system of classification completely leaves out any possibility of classifying Hindu religions or Shinto as "paganism", due to Hinduism and Shinto being the religions of dominant cultures (India and Japan). Likewise, it would exclude the state religion of the pre-Christian Roman Empire.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Shinto - Roman Empire

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These subdivisions are circulated on the Internet as 'anthropological' definitions of Paganism, but they do not derive from anthropology.

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