Home > Philosophy Religion > Religious Beets paganism religion Berit @ cto < shore Feedback ‘iiten by Ethan vl White Fac-cheches by The Editors of Encylopedia Brtanica Last Updated: un 21,2028 Arle Hoy = Table of Contents Listen to article 8 minutes Recent News Jun. 21,2025, 1242 PM ET (AP) All hil the rising sun! Stonehenge welcomes 8,000 visitors for the summer solstice Around 8,000 revelers gathered around a prehistoric stone rele on a plan in southern England express ther devotion tthe un, oro have sme communal fin paganism, Christian term used to designate those religions that do not worship the God of Abraham, the figure central to both Christianity and to other Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Islam. Christians have used the terms paganism and pagan, which typically arty pejorative Mithras slaying the bull See all mediainctions between themselves and those who connotations, to draw clear dis they believe are worshiping false gods. Related Toples: Wieea «religion + ‘Throughout most of the history of Christianity, few if any of those labeled pagan have adopted this label for themselves. However, since at least the first half of the 2oth century, the term has been reappropriated as a self designation by a family of related new religions. Often called modern "agan groups, they are inspired by the religions of Europe, North Afric See ll related content ~ and West Asia that were Pagan or: rendered extinet by the spread of Christianity and the other Abrahamic traditions. celibacy: Pagan religions of the ancient Mediterranean History of paganism Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire during the first century cE. A monothei whom it identified as the God of Abraham, a deity also venerated in Judaism, Most other traditions in the empire were polytheistic, believing in a range of gods and goddesses. For Christians these polytheistic traditions were idolatrous, devoted to deities who were in fact demons. ‘This outlook made it difficult for many Christians to seek peaceful coexistence with these non-Abrahamie religions. religion, it maintained that there was only one true God, spread of Christianity Surviving sources indicate that Christians were referring to those not ‘worshiping the God of Abraham with the Latin term pagani by at leastthe qth century, although it is likely that this usage had arisen earlier. In Latin usage, a paganus was an individual who lived in a rural distriet, or ‘pagus, rather than in a town. The exact reasons for how this eame to designate someone who was neither a Christian nor a Jew are unclear, although historians and classicists have made several proposals. One possibility is that the term pagani, meaning “people of the place,” came to denote those who maintained the worship of the traditional deities of, their locality, while Christians came to be referred to as alieni, meaning “people from elsewhere.” A second possibility arises from an alternative meaning of the term paganus, that of “civilian,” which was apparent by the late 2nd or grd century. This alternative meaning of the term was probably coined by soldiers of the Roman army, who were often Pompei: wall paintin stationed in rural areas distant from Rome itself, Early Christians Ps panung conceived of themselves as miles Christi, or “soldiers of Christ,” and thus ie joined their religious movement. may have adopted the of “civilian” for those who had not Beyond Latin, there were other terms used by Christians in a largely synonymous fashion. Greck was widely spoken in eastern parts of the empire, and there the terms ethné and ethnikoi, “foreigners function, being replaced largely by the term Hellénes, “Greeks,” by the early 4th century. In translating the Gospel of Mark from Greek into Gothic during the ath century, the Christian bishop Ulfilas (c. 311-82) developed the term haibno as a counterpart for Hellénis, “gentile woman.” Variants of haipno subsequently came to be served a similar widely used in other Germani ages, notably including the Old English haepen, from which derives the Modern English term heathen. An often repeated argument is that this term pertains to things being “of the heath”—it is possible that Ulflas was deliberately evoking the sense of rurality that he believed was embodied in the Latin term pagan. The Latin term gentilis (Modern English: “gentile”) also appeared in Christian sources tocharacterize those who did not worship the God of Abraham, a usage distinct from the term’s currently accepted. definition of “non-Jewish.” ‘Terms like pagan served to create a clear binary division between the Christians, who saw themselves as possessing theological truth, and all those whom they thought lived in error. Nevertheless, while the term ing the God of Abraham, its use could be flexible, The paganism was primarily leveled against those not wors ‘term was, for instance, used amid sectarian conflict between different Christians themselves. Emerging from the uurch of being pagan because Reformation of the 16th century, many Protestants accused the Roman Catholic of its veneration of saints and elaborate rituals. Lf ‘The ath to 19th centuries saw Christian Europeans expand into new areas across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. In these lands they encountered a huge variety of religious traditions not devoted to the God of Abraham and which again they often labeled pagan or heathen. The varied traditions of the Indian subcontinent, today typically called Hinduism, were for instance labeled “Hindoo paganism” by 19th-century British writers. Across the world Christian missionary efforts were often launched to convert these non-Abrahamic peoples, with varying degrees of success.Changes were evident by the latter half of the 20th century. Growing concerns about Eurocentrism and racial prejudice, coupled with the promotion of e: sm and the interfaith movement, contributed to a declining use of the terms paganism and pagan among many Christians. It has nevertheless not disappeared altogether from the Christian lexicon. These terms can still be found in use among certain Christian groups that have little desire for cordial relationships with non-Abrahamic religions. Modern Paganisms In Europe the idea that there was some worth to the largely polytheistic religions that Christianity had supplanted gained traction due to the influence of Renaissance humanism. Emerging in 14th-eentury Italy, the Renaissance humanists were in awe of the Classical societies of Greece and Rome and encouraged the incorporation of Classical deities into the artwork of the period. The positive reassessment of pre-Christian religions from elsewhere in Europe followed as a result of the Romantic movement and growing cultural nationalism during the 18th and 19th centuries. From Ireland to Russia pre-Christian mythologies were Paganism increasingly embraced in art, poetry, and literature. By the end of the 19th century, some writers were even adopting the term pagan to describe themselves and their work, or were labeled pagans or neo-pagans by theit crities. New religions venerating deities drawn from these extinct pre-Christian traditions first appeared in Europe during the opening decades of the 20th century, gaining greater visibility in the 1960s. The most popular of these ‘was Wicca, which emerged in England before spreading to the United States. Others include Druidry, which took its identity from the Iron Age ritual specialists of Western Europe, and Heathenry, which was modeled on the pre-Christian religions of communities that spoke Germanic languages like Old Norse. Collectively, these groupscame to be called Neo-Pagan or modern Pagan, a deliberate reappropriation of the Christian term, Not all of these new religions were altogether happy with this term given its pejorative origins; in Central and Eastern Europe in particular, many modern Pagan groups chose to call their traditions “Native Faith” rather than “Paganism.” These new religions eventually attracted scholarly attention, and by the 21st century a common scholarly convention was to distinguish modern Pagan groups with a capital letter, differentiating them from the Christian concept that usually lacks capitalization, ro than Doyle White orthodox religious doctrine Print cio << Share FA reedhack che by The tors of Encclananda Banna Table of Contents Listen to article 2 minutes modern Paganismorthodox, (from Greek orthodoxos, “of the right opinion”), true doctrine JJdoctrines and their 4 align and its adherents as opposed to heterodox or here! adherents. The word was first used in early qth-century Christianity by the Greek Fathers. Because almost every Christian group believes that it holds See al related content ~ the true faith (though not necessarily exclusively), the meaning of “orthodox” in a particular instance can be correctly determined only after, examination of the context in which it appears. It forms part of the official title of the Greek-speaking chureh (Eastern Orthodox Chureh) and those in communion with it (Russian Orthodox Church). Also including orthodox as part of their titles are some of the smaller Eastern churches, which separated from the rest of Christendom in the 5th century as a result of the Monophysite controversy concerning the question of two natures in Christ. ‘Within Judaism, Orthodox Judaism represents a form of religious belief and practice that adheres most strictly to ancient tradition, Orthodox Judaism, consequently, rejects the view held by modern Reform Judaism that the Bible and other sacred Jewish writings contain not only eternally valid mo! | principles but also historically and culturally conditioned interpretations of the Law that may be legitimately abandoned. For Orthodox Jews, therefore, the Law is immutably fixed and remains the sole norm of religious observance. Strictly speaking, the term Orthodox does not refer to doctrinal affirmations but to the observance of Torah, the Law. ‘The term is also used to distinguish true Islamic doctrine from heretical teachings, such as those of the Mu'tazilites. Orthodox is also applied to a certain type of Protestantism that was dominant in Europe in the 17th century; it has also been used to refer to theologically and biblically conservative Christians. The term evangelical orthodoxyis commonly applied to Protestant Christianity that insists on the full or literal authority and inerrancy of the Bible. In a nonreligious sense, the accepted views held by any unified body of opinion or in any field of study are referred to as orthodox, [ener]