In early Christianity, paganism (from , ) collectively referred to the diverse religious practices of all people who were polytheists. More specifically, it denoted anyone who did not adhere to an Abrahamic religion in the Roman Empire. The term pagan was an exonym used by Christians to distinguish themselves from those deemed outside their faith, and very few self-identified with the label. The origin of the term's application to polytheism is debated, as it lacked a static or consistent meaning among early Christians.Davies, Owen (2011). Paganism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. .
Deriving from a Latin term that variably denoted a country-dweller, peasant, or civilian, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial compared to the urbanized Christian population or because they were not a soldier of Christ ().J. J. O'Donnell (1977), Paganus: Evolution and Use , Classical Folia, 31: 163–69.Augustine, Divers. Quaest. 83. In Christian thought, paganism broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry", in that traditional polytheism was believed or perceived to persist in rural areas. Terms synonymously used in Christian texts of the period include heathen, Hellene, and gentile. A strong indication of whether a person was pagan or Christian was their partaking in ritual sacrifice, which was an integral part of Greco-Roman religion.
During the Middle Ages, Christians generally applied the term "pagan" to any non-Christian group with the implication of belief in false gods; from the 15th to 19th centuries, the term pagan or heathen was used by Christian Europeans to describe a wide variety of non-Abrahamic religious beliefs encountered across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. In the 19th century, paganism was adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. In the 20th century, practitioners of modern paganism, modern pagan movements, and polytheistic reconstructionist increasingly self-identified as pagan. Modern pagan traditions often incorporate beliefs or practices (such as nature worship) that are different from those of the world's largest religions.Paganism, Oxford Dictionary (2014)Paganism , The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor (2010), Oxford University Press,
Contemporary knowledge of old pagan religions and beliefs comes from several sources, including anthropological field research, the evidence of archaeological artifacts, the philology of ancient language, and the historical accounts of ancient writers regarding cultures known to classical antiquity. Most modern pagan religions existing today express a worldview that is polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, or animistic, but some are monotheistic.
Etymology and nomenclature
Pagan
The term pagan derives from Late Latin , revived during the Renaissance. Itself deriving from classical Latin which originally meant 'region delimited by markers', had also come to mean 'of or relating to the countryside', 'country dweller', 'villager'; by extension, 'rustic', 'unlearned', 'yokel', 'bumpkin'; in Roman military jargon, 'non-combatant', 'civilian', 'unskilled soldier'. It is related to ('to fasten', 'to fix or affix') and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag- ('to fix' in the same sense):
Medieval writers often assumed that paganus as a religious term was a result of the conversion patterns during the Christianization of Europe, where people in towns and cities were converted more easily than those in remote regions, where old ways tended to remain. However, this idea has multiple problems. First, the word's usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centred on cities. The concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet fully acquired the meanings (of uncultured backwardness) used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans.
Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon (see above). Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). A good example of Christians still using paganus in a military context rather than a religious one is in Tertullian's De Corona Militis XI.V, where the Christian is referred to as paganus (civilian): Apud hunc [Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles fidelis.De Corona Militis XI.V With Him [Christ] the faithful citizen is a soldier, just as the faithful soldier is a citizen.Ante-Nicene Fathers III, De Corona XI
Paganus acquired its religious connotations by the mid-4th century. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to denote persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. Following the sack of Rome by the Visigoths just over fifteen years after the Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I, murmurs began to spread that the old gods had taken greater care of the city than the Christian God. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos ('The City of God against the Pagans'). In it, he contrasted the fallen "city of Man" with the "city of God", of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the foreign invaders were "not of the city" or "rural"."The City of God". Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2003.Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "ui alieni a civitate dei..pagani vocantur."C. Mohrmann, Vigiliae Christianae 6 (1952) 9ff; Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)
The term pagan was not attested in the English language until the 17th century.The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. II, "Chapter XXI: Persecution of Heresy, State of the Church. Part VII" (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of ." In addition to infidel and heretic, it was used as one of several pejorative Christian counterparts to goy ( / ) as used in Judaism, and to kafir (, 'unbeliever') and mushrik (, 'idolater') as in Islam.Eisenstadt, S.N. (1983). "Transcendental Visions – Other-Worldliness – and Its Transformations: Some More Comments on L. Dumont. Religion" 13:1–17, at p. 3.
Hellene
In the Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire of the newly Christianizing Roman Empire, Koine Greek became associated with the traditional polytheistic religion of Ancient Greece and was regarded as a foreign language (lingua peregrina) in the west.Augustine, Confessions 1.14.23; Moatii, "Translation, Migration, and Communication", p. 112. By the latter half of the 4th century in the Greek-speaking Eastern Empire, pagans were—paradoxically—most commonly called Hellenes (, lit. "Greeks") The word had almost entirely ceased being used in a cultural sense. It retained that meaning for roughly the first millennium of Christianity.
This was influenced by Christianity's early members, who were Jewish. The Jews of the time distinguished themselves from foreigners according to religion rather than ethno-cultural standards, and early Jewish Christians would have done the same. Since Hellenic culture was the dominant pagan culture in the Roman east, they referred to pagans as Hellenes. Christianity inherited Jewish terminology for non-Jews and adapted it to refer to non-Christians with whom they were in contact. This usage is recorded in the New Testament. In the Pauline epistles, Hellene is almost always juxtaposed with Hebrew regardless of actual ethnicity.
The usage of Hellene as a religious term was initially part of an exclusively Christian nomenclature, but some Pagans began to defiantly call themselves Hellenes. Other pagans even preferred the narrow meaning of the word from a broad cultural sphere to a more specific religious grouping. However, there were many Christians and pagans alike who strongly objected to the evolution of the terminology. The influential Archbishop of Constantinople Gregory of Nazianzus, for example, took offence at imperial efforts to suppress Hellenic culture (especially concerning spoken and written Greek) and he openly criticized the emperor.
The growing religious stigmatization of Hellenism had a chilling effect on Hellenic culture by the late 4th century.
By late antiquity, however, it was possible to speak Greek as a primary language while not conceiving of oneself as a Hellene.Simon Swain, "Defending Hellenism: Philostratus, in Honour of Apollonius", in Apologetics, p. 173. The long-established use of Greek both in and around the Eastern Roman Empire as a lingua franca ironically allowed it to instead become central in enabling the spread of Christianity—as indicated for example, by the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul.Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State, p. 5. In the first half of the 5th century, Greek was the standard language in which bishops communicated,Millar, A Greek Roman Empire, pp. 97–98. and the Acta Conciliorum ("Acts of the Church Councils") were recorded originally in Greek and then translated into other languages.Millar, A Greek Roman Empire, p. 98.
Heathen "Heathen" comes from (not Christian or Jewish); cf. Old Norse . This meaning for the term originated from Gothic (gentile woman) being used to translate Hellenecf. in Wulfila's Bible, the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language. This may have been influenced by the Greek and Latin terminology of the time used for pagans. If so, it may be derived from Gothic (dwelling on the heath). However, this is not attested. It may even be a borrowing of Greek () via Armenian .
The term has recently been revived in the forms "Heathenry" and "Heathenism" (often but not always capitalized), as alternative names for the modern Germanic pagan movement, adherents of which may self-identify as Heathens.
Definition
Defining paganism is very complex and problematic. Understanding the context of its associated terminology is important. Early Christians referred to the diverse array of cults around them as a single group for reasons of convenience and rhetoric. While paganism generally implies polytheism, the primary distinction between classical pagans and Christians was not one of monotheism versus polytheism, as not all pagans were strictly polytheist. Throughout history, many of them believed in a supreme deity; however, most such pagans believed in a class of subordinate gods/daimons—see henotheism—or divine emanations. To Christians, the most important distinction was whether or not someone worshipped the one true God. Those who did not (polytheist, monotheist, or atheist) were outsiders to the Church and thus considered pagan. Similarly, classical pagans would have found it peculiar to distinguish groups by the number of deities followers venerate. They would have considered the priestly colleges (such as the College of Pontiffs or Epulones) and cult practices more meaningful distinctions.
Referring to paganism as a pre-Christian indigenous religion is equally untenable. Not all historical pagan traditions were pre-Christian or indigenous to their places of worship.