- Aug 2011
- 197
- The Castle Anthrax
Is Christianity a Greek religion clothed in Roman rituals?
there are many similarities between Christianity and the Roman Mystery Cults, which can be assumed to be at least somewhat adopted from the Greeks as almost all Roman things were adapted from someone or another
Another point to consider is the politics of each time. Greeks lived in city-states, with no true monarch. They were a democracy of sorts, with councils of men deciding upon wars. Comparatively, Christianity arose during Roman times, primarily after the implementation of Roman Emperors, who possessed sole authority over the Empire. Christianity's progression followed the development of empires and kingdoms in Europe, which were ruled by leaders who held absolute power (and who, unlike in Ancient Greece, were not expected to confer with others on their decisions).
I sometimes wonder about this myself. Recent posts and threads here have renewed my speculative curiosity. I do not intend any offense to Christians or Christianity at large. I don't observe any irritation at the adoption and adaptation of Greek theology to Roman practice; however, the advent of Christianity remains a sensitive subject. I get the idea that Christianity, especially Catholicism, is rather heavily influenced by Roman paganism. Perhaps, even in a similar way that some say the Roman Empire never really fell, it just changed. In fact, I don't understand how one could argue that Catholicism (and hence Christianity) does not retain a core semblance to Roman paganism with it's constellation of saints, numerous relics, and ritual worship. Again, I don't want to provoke a battle of theologies, rather only to probe the possible, even likely relationships and connections that modern man and woman have to the not too distant ancient past. So what are your thoughts? Was Greek polytheism the scaffolding to Roman paganism and in turn is Roman paganism alive and well in modern Christianity? Or in other words, are we fools to wring our hands and debate over a perceived conflict of paganism versus Christianity when in truth, they may have shared a large grey area of overlap?
there are many similarities between Christianity and the Roman Mystery Cults, which can be assumed to be at least somewhat adopted from the Greeks as almost all Roman things were adapted from someone or another
Another point to consider is the politics of each time. Greeks lived in city-states, with no true monarch. They were a democracy of sorts, with councils of men deciding upon wars. Comparatively, Christianity arose during Roman times, primarily after the implementation of Roman Emperors, who possessed sole authority over the Empire. Christianity's progression followed the development of empires and kingdoms in Europe, which were ruled by leaders who held absolute power (and who, unlike in Ancient Greece, were not expected to confer with others on their decisions).
I sometimes wonder about this myself. Recent posts and threads here have renewed my speculative curiosity. I do not intend any offense to Christians or Christianity at large. I don't observe any irritation at the adoption and adaptation of Greek theology to Roman practice; however, the advent of Christianity remains a sensitive subject. I get the idea that Christianity, especially Catholicism, is rather heavily influenced by Roman paganism. Perhaps, even in a similar way that some say the Roman Empire never really fell, it just changed. In fact, I don't understand how one could argue that Catholicism (and hence Christianity) does not retain a core semblance to Roman paganism with it's constellation of saints, numerous relics, and ritual worship. Again, I don't want to provoke a battle of theologies, rather only to probe the possible, even likely relationships and connections that modern man and woman have to the not too distant ancient past. So what are your thoughts? Was Greek polytheism the scaffolding to Roman paganism and in turn is Roman paganism alive and well in modern Christianity? Or in other words, are we fools to wring our hands and debate over a perceived conflict of paganism versus Christianity when in truth, they may have shared a large grey area of overlap?