what is the diffrence between pagan & neo-pagan?

Question

please make answers thoughtful 10 points for most informative answer

Answer 1

"Paganus" means someone who lives in a "pagus", ie, a rural administrative district. In Christian usage it gradually took on the meaning of non-Christian, since it was assumed that people who lived in such rural areas had not been Christianized. It wasn't particularly a derogatory label until late in the Empire, when it acquired the dual connotation of "hick" and "non-Christian". The people referred to as "Paganus" may have thought of themselves as "pagani" in relation to where they lived (if they lived in a pagus), but they wouldn't have applied the term to their religious practices. So the term "pagan" (in a religious context)was originally a label that was applied to a group of people, not from themselves, but from a culture outside of their own.

A person calling themselves "pagan" is a relatively new practice which may at best be traced back to the Modern Pagan movement of the Romantic period. I sometimes use the word "neo-pagan" (neo- means new) to indicate the difference between modern polytheists (like me) and the historical Celts who practiced their indigenous way of life. Actually, the ancient Celts did not have a specific word to describe their religion. If the ancient Celts would have had a word for their religion, it would have likely been something similar to "living" or "being" since religion wasn't separated from their way of life.

Answer 2

The primitive religions are, from the Christian perspective of most of the last couple millennia in Western civilization, are essentially everything that is not of the Judeo-Christian traditions (Islam is something arising afterwards). So pagans are the old animistic worshipers of spirits and such in nature. Neo-pagans are those who try to borrow or adapt those older non-Judeo/Christian religions, commonly as a protest against Christianity. You could perhaps call them recent Catholic/Protestant Protesters but neo-pagan is easier to say and just as descriptive. It is an adoption of convenience, and is essentially Halloween and Mardi Gras going on all year long.

Answer 3

A pagan would be someone who followed an ancient religion in the way that their ancestors did, or as close to it as possible. Someone following the ways of the gods of Egypt or Greece would be pagan.

Neo-pagans take the old ways and beliefs and update them to work in the modern world and according to modern sensibilities. Wiccans would be an example of a neo-pagan.

In practice, though, it's generally just better to ask what someone prefers to be referred to as. Some people can get very annoyed if you call them by the wrong term.

Answer 4

Pagan is essentially any religion that does not include the myth of Abraham in its teachings.

Neo-pagan is a derogatory term used by Christians to imply that people who are practicing Pagans are not really a member of a 'real' religion.

Answer 5

neo-