David and Jasmine wrote:
As Caroline says - antique paganism is a lot more freeform and improvised
(and I'd say vibrant) than is realised
- especially during the time of crisis when
the formal structures of control are dissolving, from colonial
oppression of priestly structures -
and the resistance to Christian fanaticism. It's a pattern repeated many
times in the ancient world -
but is particularly relevant in the case of "Paganism" - for example the
ideas of Iamblicus/Neo-Platonism -
which is a direct response to Christian polemic and is
a synthesis of Babylonian, Greek and Egyptian magical religion into a
form that probably never existed before.
I found David Frankfurter "Religion in Roman Egypt" such a good source
on this -
which is afterall to roots of what many neo-pagans now practice.
"Love and do what you will"
Mogg
> I would have thought that the Paganism of antiquity was centrally
> fixated on issues of the law and tradition and deity evolved in very
> specific contexts and all kinds of customs and traditions governed its
> application. They are not the enlightenment empirical history we have
> today but they were closely governed by social hierarchy and
> tradition. The idea of just making stuff up out of context on pop
> culture seems very much a post enlightenment construction or at least
> a product of the romantic irony. I really like though simply taking
> the option a close friend of mine put forward, "If you are making a
> historical claim use a historical argument, if you are making a
> philosophical, spiritual or religious claim use a philosophical,
> spiritual or religious argument". Given that most of the time people
> in the modern world legitimate belief through claims to historicity on
> empirical terms the empirical argument is some what central. Again I
> think its best to proceed with eyes open as to what you are doing and
> engage in introspection and critique. I would argue that the people's
> of antiquity outside of the temple religions however simply lived it
> as part of daily life in a particular historical, cultural and
> traditional context (such as who is able to govern the transmission of
> religious materials) which is one of the many reasons why I think the
> Pagan revival is quite different to the Paganism of antiquity
> Cheers
> David
>
>
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