What's Older- Judaism Or Paganism?

Answer 1

The first Jew was Abraham.

Answer 2

Well, G-d, and the Torah (the foundation of Judaism, which was given to us at Sinai, but was originally the blueprint for creation) are older than both. But I can tell you, as an orthodox Jew, Paganism is older than Judaism, since Judaism was largely a response - the antidote, if you will - to Paganism.

Avraham (the first Hebrew, and founder of the religion that would become known as Judaism) grew up in a pagan society. His father was an idol merchant. Before him, there WERE people who knew the Creator, and who knew better than to worship statues or trees or elemental forces. In his Mishneh Torah, the Rambam explains that in the generations after the flood, people got it in their heads that the stars and elements and celestial spheres and angels, all of these things should be hailed as messengers of the Creator. The idea was that, just how a King's representative ought to be treated with respect, the sun, moon and stars were emissaries of the King of the Universe, and hence, deserving of similar respect. So temples were built to them, sacrifices were offered, etc.

The problem started when people began to forget the Prime Cause behind these various phenomena, and began to ascribe unto these phenomena independant powers. That, the Rambam explains, is the root of all Paganism. After years of reflection, a young Avraham (just "Avram" at the time) came to the conclusion that the universe must have a Creator, and it sure wasn't one of the statues his father was hawking. G-d establishd a relationship with this remarkable individual, and Judaism, in its earliest recognizable form, was born.

Answer 3

Paganism is a modern, general term used to cover many different religions that don't fall under the Mainstream Monotheist religions. Many scholars, though, claim that a form of Shamanism - which deals with a form of Animism - as the oldest form of Religion. This would fall under the Paganism category that we use today.

If you want to go by the Bible itself, Abraham is considered the first Jew, yet Judaism itself was not a Religion even then. So Ancient forms of Paganism were older than Judaism.

Answer 4

Judaism is older.

Paganism generally speaking is not a religion but is a term used by other religions to refer to beliefs outside their own. Hence it refers to a range of non orthodox belief systems.

Clearly, belief systems have long predated even Judasim (the oldest known organised belief system is Hinduism, which is more than twice as old as Judaism). However, most belief systems come and go, and it is impossible to trace what we would often call paganism today much beyond a few hundred years back, and the majority of the ideas in it date back only decades. It is an urban myth to think of modern paganism as a relgion with any substantial historic roots.

The origins of the term are in ancient Greece and Rome. The term, pagan, is derived from the Latin word, paganus, which means a country dweller. This still has paganism as an organised religion significantly post dating Judaism.

Answer 5

Paganism

Answer 6

Paganism

Answer 7

paganisim is by far. 1. paganisim comes from the word pagan, wich has its roots in latin and it was never origionally used in the bible, it was only used in the NEWER printings after it was origionally translated to english, as well as the word heathen! 2. pagan and heathens are the same thing, pagani as they were called origionally and the heath not heathens, were following old traditons, thus by beliefe i am a heath not a heathen or pagan. and paganisim or poly theistic beliefes have been around since mesopotamia which predates christianity, and judaisim by over 300 years. which is also the time the most imfamous book 'the necronomicon' was written with the 50 names of the gods and goddesses. which is NOT a good idea to read or use i might add. so by history alone, Paganism wins by a land slide!

Answer 8

Judaism forbids paganism, which proves paganism is older than Judaism.

Answer 9

Paganism is.
Others have given some good answers why using the current definitions of Pagan.

Now, Pagan is a term invented after the Catholics got control of the Roman Empire. (314AD) It means of the village or villagers. The Catholics used it to refer to the Hellenic (Greek)religions (Zeus,Hera, etc.) when they began their campaign of exterminating them after 327AD. It was meant to be an insult by equating followers of these religions with peasants and uneducated country bumpkins, instead of the highest philosophers and teachers of the time.

It is worth noting that in spite of the claims of Jewish antiquity Judaism can not be traced much farther back in time than 640BC and the Greeks go back at least 600 years earlier.
Lets not even try to trace how old the religions of Sumer were.

Answer 10

Paganism is not a religion, it is a term for a bunch of religions.
There were other religions before Judaism, and they would be considered "pagan" by most modern definitions of the word.

Answer 11

Paganism.