Paganism

"Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume" etching from Charles Knight, Old England: A Pictorial Museum (1845)

17th century depiction of a pagan Germanic chieftain (Philipp Clüver 1616)

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller, rustic")^[1] is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world. The term has various different meanings, though, from a Western perspective, it has modern connotations of a faith that has polytheistic,^[2] spiritualist, animistic or shamanic practices, such as a folk religion, historical polytheistic or neopagan religion.

The term has been defined broadly, to encompass all of the religions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.^[3] The group so defined includes most of the Eastern religions, Native American religions and mythologies, 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.^[4]

The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Western monotheists,^[5] 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; however others criticise the use of these terms, claiming that these are only aspects that different faiths may share and do not denote the religions themselves.

Since the later 20th century, "Pagan" or "Paganism" has become widely used as a self-designation by adherents of Neopaganism.^[6] As such, various modern scholars have begun to apply the term to three separate groups of faiths: Historical Polytheism (such as Celtic polytheism and Norse paganism), Folk/ethnic/Indigenous religions (such as Chinese folk religion and African traditional religion), and Neo-paganism (such as Wicca and Germanic Neopaganism).

Etymology

Pagan

The term pagan is from the Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning "rural", "rustic" or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager."^[7] 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 closeness to nature of rural people, who may have been more resistant to the new ideas of Christianity than those who lived in major urban centers and were cut off from the cycles of nature and the forms of spirituality associated with them. 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") until a bit later on.
• (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)

Another fine point may be put upon this. Although in a general sense, 'pagus' refers to countryside and all of the above are true, there is a more specific Roman usage. The Roman city had not only physical walls and boundaries, but a spiritual boundary called the pomerium. This term is very ancient and derives from post (beyond) and murem (the wall). The wall in question is not a physical wall, but an imaginary sacred boundary denoted by stone cippi, or stakes marked as such. The pomerium began as a furrow plowed by Romulus on the Palatine Hill, and gradually expanded in fits and leaps as Rome itself expanded. However, not all real estate owned by the people and the state of Rome was within the pomerium or sacred city. For example, the Aventine Hill remained outside the pomerium for centuries, and contained the famous Temple of Diana, dedicated to the worship of deities not native to Rome but belonging to the Latin and Italian merchants who passed through the increasingly important commercial center that was Rome. Land belonging to the city of Rome, but not within the pomerium, was referred to as pagus. Thus, it undoubtedly was a term of disdain for some to use in referring to foreigners. Since the Christian god above all refused to make any accommodation with the deities native to Rome, the Christian god was utterly revulsive to patriotic and religious Romans. In fact, Christians were referred to as atheists for their lack of respect for the imperial and city cults, and their insistence on worshiping only one vague and powerless deity whose earthly incarnation perished as a common crucified criminal. It must have seemed a supreme irony, therefore, that when the Christians became the only authorized religion in the final days of the Western Empire, it was their turn to refer to their enemies as pagans--not only rustics, but those whose deities were not permitted within the (now no longer meaningful) pomerium.

The post-classical Latin paganismus gave rise to both paganism and to its synonym paynimry.^[8] Paynimry may be used of paganism, its practises, and pagans,^[9] as well as for the domain or realm of pagans.^[10]

"Peasant" is a cognate, via Old French paisent. ^[11]

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.^[12]

Less than twenty years after the last vestiges of paganism were crushed with great severity by the emperor Theodosius I^[13] 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.'^[14]

Heathen

Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno 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 haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.

Terminology

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. Although, in modern times it is not always used as a pejorative. "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 "epicurian" 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."^[15]

Christianity itself has been perceived at times as a form of paganism by followers of the other Abrahamic religions^[16][17]because of, for example, the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the celebration of pagan feast days,^[18] and other practices^[19] – through a process described as "baptising"^[20]or "christianization". Even between Christians there have been similar charges of paganism levelled, especially by Protestants,^[21][22] towards the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches for their veneration of the saints and images.

"Heathen" (Old English hæðen) 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, Franks) or 8th (Alamanni, Saxons) centuries on the continent, from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia and later still in Lithuania.^[23]

Classifications

Pagan subdivisions coined by Isaac Bonewits^[24]

• Paleopaganism: A retronym coined to contrast with "Neopaganism", denoting a Pagan culture that has not been disrupted by other cultures. The term applies to Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, pre-Migration period Germanic paganism as described by Tacitus, Celtic polytheism as described by Julius Caesar, and the Greek and Roman religion.
• 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 aboriginal Americans as well as Australian aboriginals, Viking Age Norse paganism. Influences include: Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and the many Afro-Diasporic faiths like Haitian Vodou, and Santería. Isaac Bonewits includes British Traditional Wicca in this subdivision.
• Neopaganism: A movement by modern people to revive nature-worshipping, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition may include anything on a sliding scale from Reconstructionism at one end to non-reconstructionist groups such as Neo-druidism and Wicca at the other.

Historical polytheism

Further information: Prehistoric religion and Polytheism

Bronze Age to Classical Antiquity

• Religions of the Ancient Near East
  • Ancient Egyptian religion
  • Ancient Semitic religion
• reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion
• Greco-Roman
  • Ancient Greek religion
  • Ancient Roman religion
  • Hellenistic religion
  • Roman imperial cult
  • Mystery cult
• Celtic polytheism
• Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
  • historical Vedic religion

Late Antiquity to High Middle Ages (as opposed to Abrahamic and Indian religions)

• Germanic paganism
• Slavic paganism
• Baltic paganism
• Finnish paganism
• Estonian paganism
• Incan paganism
• Aztec paganism

Contemporary ethnic religion

Shaman doctor of Kyzyl

A Kapsiki crab sorcerer of Rhumsiki

Main article: 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.

All world religions 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. Yazdânism (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., Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and other non-Roman churches.

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 New Guinea and other Pacific islands. Chinese folk religion is an umbrella term for uninstitutionalized folk traditions under a secular regime.

Africa

Main article: African traditional religion

Further information: Yoruba religion and Bwiti

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".

Australian and Oceanic

Further information: Polynesian mythology, Micronesian mythology, Melanesian mythology, and Australian Aboriginal mythology

Eurasia

Main article: Eurasian Indigenous Religions

Further information: Chinese folk religion, Shamanism in Siberia, Korean shamanism, and Bön

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 to the Kalasha people, inhabiting three valleys in the North-West Frontier Province of 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. the Mari-el republic within Russia is the last European Nation where I large percentage of the population has never been christianised and remains pagan. In Japan, polytheism survived in the form of Shintoism and Ryukyuan religion.

Central America

Main article: Maya religion

Further information: Mayan astrology

Mayan priests dancing around fire at a ceremony.

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 survivals in folklore

Further information: Folklore

Perchten procession in Klagenfurt, Austria, which is a remnant of a practice performed by the historical pagans of the area. Many elements of modern European culture and folklore originate among pagan beliefs and practises.

In addition, folklore that is not any longer perceived as holding any religious significance can in some instances be traced to pre-Christian or pre-Islamic origins. In Europe, this is particularly the case with the various customs of Carnival or Fasnacht and the Yule traditions surrounding Santa Claus/Sinterklaas. By contrast, the Christmas tree in spite of frequent association with Thor's Oak cannot be shown to be an innovation predating the Early Modern period.

Romanticism

Norwegian nationalistic postcard drawn by Andreas Bloch (1905) presenting a romanticized "Viking" image. The text translates to "freedom / equal(ity) / brotherhood / Norway('s) constitution / 1814."

Paganism re-surfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th century Romanticism, in particular in the context of the literary Celtic and Viking revivals, which portrayed historical Celtic and Germanic polytheists as noble savages.

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.^[25]

Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity co-incided with the rise of Romantic nationalism and the rise of the nation state in the context of the 1848 revolutions, leading to the creation of national epics and national myths for the various newly-formed states. Pagan or folkloristic topics were also common in the Musical nationalism of the period.

Neopaganism

A ceremony at the annual Prometheia festival of the Greek polytheistic group Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes, June 2006.

Main article: Neopaganism

Neopaganism includes reconstructed religions such as Hellenic polytheism, Celtic or Germanic reconstructionism as well as modern eclectic traditions such as Discordianism, or 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 Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið 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%).^[26]

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.

The term has also been used more narrowly,^[27][28][29] 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^[30][31] (though by no means all^[32][33]) Christians and other Westerners, contemporary paganism is a relatively smaller and more marginal numerical phenomenon. According to Encyclopedia Britannica estimates (as of 2005), adherents of Chinese folk religion account for some 6.3% of world population, and adherents of tribal religions ("ethnoreligionists") for another 4.0%. The number of adherents of neopaganism is insignificant in comparison, amounting to 0.02% of world population at the most, or some 0.4% of the "ethnoreligious" population.

See also

Notes

References

• Michael York, Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion NYU Press (2003), ISBN 0814797083.

Further Reading

• Jones, P. & Pennick, N., (1995) "A History of Pagan Europe". New York, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-7607-1210-7.

External links

• The Demise of Paganism by James J. O'Donnell