[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> In a message dated 99-09-27 10:59:21 EDT, you write:
>
> << but one must also ask why the ruling invaders adopted xnty. >>
>
> Isn't it possible that christianity was adopted by the soldiers along the
> frontier in a confraternal way, i.e. a burial society (guaranteed funeral and
> burial with an added stipulation that your widow and children will be cared
> for)? In which case as the Germans took over the task of manning the Roman
> army they adopted christianity.
There's been scholarly interest in Mithraism for some time.
Mithraism was a religion that spread west across the Roman
Empire, probably from somewhere in eastern Anatolia. It was
*extremely* popular in the Roman military, and had many
features of Christianity: the greatest difference between
Christianity and it was, according to Franz Cumont (The
Mysteries of Mithra), that Mithraism excluded women.
Elizabeth Whitaker
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