Concept

Paganism

Overview

In early Christianity, paganism (from Latin: paganus, lit. 'rustic') collectively referred to the diverse religious practices of all people who were pantheists. More specifically, it denoted anyone who did not adhere to an Abrahamic religion in the Roman Empire. Individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population or because they were not a soldier of Christ (miles Christi). Terms synonymously used in Christian texts of the period include heathen, Hellene, and gentile. A strong indication to distinguish whether a person was a pagan or a Christian was their partaking in ritual sacrifice, which was an integral part of Greco-Roman religion. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry" in Christian thought.

During and after the Middle Ages, Christians generally applied the term "pagan" to any non-Christian group with the implication of belief in false gods. The origin of the term's application to polytheism, however, is debated. 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, it came to be applied as a self-descriptor by practitioners of modern paganism, modern pagan movements, and polytheistic reconstructionists. Modern pagan traditions often incorporate beliefs or practices (such as nature worship) that are different from those of the world's largest religions.

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.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Paganism is discussed.

Of the chief god, Odin, we shall speak by and by. Mark at present so much; what the essence of Scandinavian and indeed of all Paganism is: a recognition of the forces of Nature as godlike, stupendous, personal Agencies,--as Gods and Demons. Not inconceivable to us. It is the infant Thought of man opening itself, with awe and wonder, on this ever-stupendous Universe. To me there is in the Norse system something very…
Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; names the idea
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Sæmund, one of the early Christian Priests there, who perhaps had a lingering fondness for Paganism, collected certain of their old Pagan songs, just about becoming obsolete then,--Poems or Chants of a mythic, prophetic, mostly all of a religious character: that is what Norse critics call the _Elder_ or Poetic _Edda_. _Edda_, a word of uncertain etymology, is thought to signify _Ancestress_. Snorro Sturleson, an…
Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, and
a chapter is titled for it; opens on it; names the idea
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We, on the other hand, cannot express either of these ideas by one word. This worship, then, which in Greek is called λατρεία, and in Latin "servitus" [service], but the service due to God only; this worship, which in Greek is called θρησκεία, and in Latin "religio," but the religion by which we are bound to God only; this worship, which they call θεοσέβεια, but which we cannot express in one word, but call it the…
of Hippo Augustine, The City of God, Volume I
states what it is; author linked in the graph
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Siberia, as far as China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they were utter strangers to all kind of religion. Perry, the engineer, and baron Strahlemberg, who both resided so many years in Russia, tell us, that they found more sincerity and probity among the Pagans than the other inhabitants; not that paganism made them more virtuous, but their manner of living, which, was that of the…
Voltaire, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
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But by sacred things one must not understand simply those personal beings which are called gods or spirits; a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred. A rite can have this character; in fact, the rite does not exist which does not have it to a certain degree.
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
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Paganism

Overview

In the original texts

Philosophers who discussed Paganism

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition