Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire
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| + | The '''[[Religion in ancient Rome|Greco-Roman religion]]''' at the time of the [[Constantinian shift]] mostly consisted of three main currents, | ||
| + | *[[Religion in ancient Rome|Greco-Roman Polytheism]], | ||
| + | *the official [[Roman imperial cult]], | ||
| + | *various [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Mystery religion]]s. | ||
| - | This article provides an overview of the relations between [[Christianity]] and its [[Christians|adherents]] with [[Paganism|Pagan religions]] and their [[Pagans|adherents]] from the early Christian era. | + | [[Early Christianity|Christianity]] grew gradually in Rome and the Roman empire over the 1st to 4th centuries, until it became the official state religion with the [[Theodosian decrees]] of 389-391. Hellenistic polytheistic traditions survived in some pockets of Greece into the 9th century. The [[Neoplatonic]] ''[[Plato's Academy|Academy]]'' was shut down by [[Justinian I]] in [[529]], a date sometimes taken to mark the end of [[Classical Antiquity]]. |
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| - | [[Early Christianity]] developed in an era of the Roman Empire during which many religions were practiced, that are, due to the lack of a better term, labeled [[Paganism]]. | + | |
| - | "Paganism" in spite of its etymological meaning of "rural" in the context of [[early Christianity]] has a number of distinct meanings. It refers to the [[Hellenistic religions|Greco-Roman religions]] of the [[Roman Empire]] period, including the [[Roman imperial cult]], the various [[mystery religions]] as well as philosophic [[monotheistic]] religions such as [[Neoplatonism]] and [[Gnosticism]] as well as the "barbarian" [[tribal religions]] practiced on the fringes of the Empire. From the point of view of the early Christians these religions all qualified as "ethnic" (or "gentile", ''ethnikos'', ''gentilis'', the term translating ''[[goyim]]'', later rendered as ''paganus'') in contrast with [[Judaism]]. Since the [[Council of Jerusalem]], the Christian apostles accepted both [[Jewish Christians|Jewish]] and [[gentile Christians|pagan converts]], and there was a precarious balance between the [[Judaizers]], insisting on the obedience to the Torah Laws by all Christians, on one hand, and [[Pauline Christianity]], developed in the gentile missionary context, on the other. | + | |
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| - | Christianity during the [[Middle Ages]] stood in opposition to the "pagan" [[ethnic religion]]s of the peoples outside the former Roman Empire, i.e. [[Germanic paganism]], [[Slavic paganism]] etc. | + | |
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| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Christian debate on persecution and toleration]] | + | * [[Hellenistic religion]] |
| - | *[[Christian views on magic]] | + | * [[Roman imperial cult]] |
| - | *[[Christianity and other religions]] | + | * [[Mithraism]] |
| - | *[[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity]] | + | * [[Hellenistic Judaism]] |
| - | *[[Constantine I and Christianity]] | + | * [[Christianity and paganism]] |
| - | *[[Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism]] | + | * [[Neoplatonism and Christianity]] |
| - | *[[Germanic Christianity]] | + | * [[Pseudo-Dionysius]] |
| - | *[[History of early Christianity]] | + | * [[Damascius]] |
| - | *[[Jesus Christ in comparative mythology]] | + | * [[Early Christianity]] |
| - | *[[Neoplatonism and Christianity]] | + | * [[Constantinian shift]] |
| - | *[[Orthopraxy]] | + | * [[Late Antiquity]] |
| - | *[[Persecution of Christians]] | + | * [[Christianization]] |
| - | *[[Virtuous pagan]] | + | * [[Historical persecution by Christians]] |
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Revision as of 11:59, 11 July 2010
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The Greco-Roman religion at the time of the Constantinian shift mostly consisted of three main currents,
- Greco-Roman Polytheism,
- the official Roman imperial cult,
- various Mystery religions.
Christianity grew gradually in Rome and the Roman empire over the 1st to 4th centuries, until it became the official state religion with the Theodosian decrees of 389-391. Hellenistic polytheistic traditions survived in some pockets of Greece into the 9th century. The Neoplatonic Academy was shut down by Justinian I in 529, a date sometimes taken to mark the end of Classical Antiquity.
See also
- Hellenistic religion
- Roman imperial cult
- Mithraism
- Hellenistic Judaism
- Christianity and paganism
- Neoplatonism and Christianity
- Pseudo-Dionysius
- Damascius
- Early Christianity
- Constantinian shift
- Late Antiquity
- Christianization
- Historical persecution by Christians
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
