Would anyone care to explain the history and present meaning of Paganism and Heathenry?

Question

No links without your own explanation of the words and their histories, please.

Catherne S., Please, you are embarrassing yourself. Apparently you have no idea what the word Pagan meant at the time of Rome. Try to write something you have researched yourself, not just words you get from Sunday school. Half of which, you don't even know the true meaning of.

Answer 1

Heathen means from the heath or countryside, pagan is from the word 'paganus' also means countryside. some say the roman soldiers used the word to mean 'civilian'. generally it means non monotheist, non Judeo-Christian, in an insulting way. Neo-pagans have claimed the words to describe their modern european- folklore based religions. Asatru, or Northern European tradition pagans have claimed the word Heathen to indicate their tradition, both the Northern Gods & Goddesses and their own lifestyle -see the Nine Noble Virtues etc.

Answer 2

I assume you mean Neo-pagan. :) Neo-pagan being an umbrella term for any recconstructionist or earth centric practice, or any that involves some polytheistic practice developed in the past century. Example: Wicca, Asatru, Druidism, etc.

Current Heathenry refers to recconstructionist religions which are related to the pre-Christian ethnic practices of a group of people.

Edit: Oh, right, historically the meaning of pagan/heathen was anyone not of the Judeo-Christian faiths. It was started insult, much akin to "country-dweller" or someone who wasn't a Roman citizen. It has been used throughout history to describe anyone not agreeing with the predominant religious/cultural bias. Around the 1950's, with the neo-pagan or new age revival, the term was adopted as a badge of pride. Now, the terms are used primarily as in the above definitions.

Answer 3

The term Paganism has evolved to define polythesim. Heathenism is techincally part of that, but some do consider themselves and thier practices outside of Neo-Paganism.
Paganism honors multiple dieties in countless forms and names. Some believe all goddesses are aspect of THE Goddess and all Gods are aspect of THE God and there some of us who believe all God/ess exist on thier own and in thier own right.
There are also reconstructionist who are attempting to build "The Old Ways" to as close to the real thing as they can get. For some traditions that's easy (Egyptian) as they still have vialbe recrods. Some (Celtic) its much harder as the ancient christians destroyed the temples and built churches, converting local god/ess to Saints. (Saint Bridget. Sorry guys, the Irish had her first)
They celebrate the old holidays which indicate the changing of the seasons and the shifting of the days. Harvest celebration (It was important to eat back then) and socializing. Most people have no idea that a big part of Paganism is about family and friends. It's about loyalty and respect and community. Breaking bread with those you love.
I'm rambling so I'll stop LOL

Ignore the person under me. That is SO far off of SEVERAL cultures that it's not even funny. Women converted to Christianity because they preached having no sex. Jesus would be coming back soon so they didn't need to have sex. The Church changed thier mind when they realized Jesus wasn't coming back and if they didn't have kids, the church would die. Read up on Thecla who was taught by the Precious Paul.

Answer 4

Terry, don't feel like typing lol

Wrote an ole article few years back... Might copy-paste if it's still out there on www. Might take some time and type up an answer, though lol

Hope you actually get any other but 'misguided, Jesus created you comments' :)

LOL to Catherina S' comments! Sweety, Catherina, I could pull up so much info about Christian mistreatment of any humans etc. that you'd be amazed!

Catherina - look what happened to female orders of Druids! Some research for ya! If you care.

Answer 5

i think of contemporary paganism is a results of the failure of 'contemporary technology' to respond to those undemanding questions of what defines our conscienceness. perhaps the destiny will show the solutions to those questions. Un until then, we people would have an inward desire to look outward, and an outward desire to look inward. something in us seeks connection with what we've continually been. a lot of human beings substitute into responsive to the pagan course as a connection. contemporary paganism does not have lots historic information that provides perception to honestly practices and rituals i.e rotate the magic wand thrice clockwise your top hand, or 2 situations jointly with your left hand. contemporary paganism interior the least is reconstructed faith. in keeping with possibility that explains why many individuals desire to do issues the outdated-shaped way, or what they think of would desire to be the outdated-shaped way.

Answer 6

Terry, you would ask them that. LOL...

Answer 7

Far from being a utopia for universal goddess worship, ancient Pagan societies usually treated women no better than chattel. In Greco-Roman culture, if a woman was raped, she was expected to kill herself from brining shame to her family. Yes, you read that right. Women were rarely given an education and seldom ventured out of their homes after they were married. Christianity was really the first great women's liberation. Christians taught that husbands should be kind to their wives. The practice of killing a woman when her husband died, known as "widow burning" was practiced in many ancient Indo-European Pagan cultures. Christians banned this barbaric practice in countries (including Rome) where it took root. By contrast, in Pagan India, the practice continued until 1000 A.D. and beyond.

Rome, supposedly the most advanced of the ancient Pagan nations, was far from non-violent. The heathen Romans were fascinated by the gladiator games, and they were much more cruel than the Russel Crowe movie. The Pagans of "pre-xtian" Rome feasted their eyes and ears on the sights and sounds of murder. The Coluseum, which stands today as a testament to the barbarism that was Pagan Rome, was the place of the execution of not only men but thousands of women as well. According to author Peter Berresford Ellis to mark the gand opening of this death factory in circa 80 A.D., a total of 9,000 animals were killed in fights with men and women. The number of men and women slaughtered that day is not known, but no doubt it was in the thousands as well. In the early days of the Pagan Roman Empire 300 prisoners had to fight to the death, and 1200 women and men were killed by wild animals in a single day at the Circus Maximus. As a special feature during this Pagan event, 20 girls were forced to have sex with wild animals. It took the death of a Christian monk to finally put an end to the gladiator games, when he was killed trying to stop such a "game". The idea of ancients Pagans being enlightened, peace-loving and somehow more tolerant of women is ridiculous!

In many Pagan cultures, women could not inherit property, and when their husbands or male relatives died they were left destitute. This changed under Christianty, and women could finally inherit property. Women who had unwantd babies had no choice but to abandon them to starve to death and die from exposure. Christianity changed all that, stopping these practices and creating the first orphanages.

Rather than being objects for the pyre, widows were treated kinder in the Christian era, and were given alms rather than allowed to starve to death on the street or become prostitutes. Early Christian writers make clear that widows as a group held a place of considerable honor and dignity. Often they are listed along with the bishop, elders, and deacons (e.g., Origen, Hom. in Luc. 17), and Tertullian calls them an "order" and says that widows were assigned a place of honor within the assembled congregation (On Modesty 13.4).

If women chose not to marry, they too could persue the scholarly life of the monastary. The tradition of learned monastic women continued into the medieval period. Lioba (eighth century), sister of St. Boniface, "had been trained from infancy in the rudiments of grammar and the study of the other liberal arts." "So great was her zeal for reading that she discontinued it only for prayer or for the refreshment of her body with food or sleep: the Scriptures were never out of her hands." "She read with attention all the books of the Old and New Testaments and learned by heart all the commandments of God. To these she added by way of completion the writings of the Church Fathers, the decrees of the Councils and the whole of ecclesiastical lawPrinces and bishops, we are told, "often discussed spiritual matters and ecclesiastical discipline with her"."(Life of St. Lioba, in The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, ed. C. H. Talbot (London: Sheed and Ward, 1954, 1981), p. 215.)

Many of the first converts to Christianty were women. Early churches often met in the houses of wealthy women during the Lion Times. This is because women could see that under Christianity they would have more rights and more freedom. If Christians have failed in anything, it is that we haven't liberated people fast enough. If you want to make the world a better place, I invite you to put away your superstitions and join us.



GO FIREBALL!!!
^_^

Answer 8

its ancient stuff but its false cuz they dont believe the TRinity and/or Jesus!