After mourning over the dead Christ, represented most conspicuously by a wax image carried through the streets, there comes an announcement by the priest, on the midnight before Easter Sunday, that Christ is risen. 7. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weaknesses, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.. For an instance, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist have been mentioned as rites, which were preactice {practiced} by both Christians and pagans. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity (London: John Murray, 1925)~ p. vii: "These Mysteries covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabiri to the fervours of the Hermetic Thus the designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, the Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions, are borrowed from or related to Mithraic phraseology., 35. It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of Christianity to the world of that time. There seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival. However, when faced with the persecution that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have faced in the past the "mysteries could not go underground because they lacked any organization. In the first century of the Christian era the Eleusinian mystery cult was more favorable known than any of the cults of Greece.24 Its fame and popularity was largely due to the connexion of Eleusis with Athens. The similarities must rather be explained by parallel developments from similar origins. Mythicists confidently assert, "Christianity is nothing more than a patchwork quilt of ancient pagan and mystery religions.". The preceding three paragraphs are similar to a passage in Kings earlier paper, A Study of Mithraism, p. 211 in this volume. cit., p. 129.\34, Again tradition has it that Mithra was born from a rock, the god out of the rock. It must also be noticed that his worship was always conducted in a cave. As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely, writes M. Cumont, the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. A query from Stephanie on the Ethical Witches list turned up this paper by Rev. Christianity was subject to the same influences from the environment as were the other cults, and it sometimes produced the same reaction. Arthur E. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity (n.p. So through experience, knowledge, as through other forms, the outer manifestations of religion change. Greek life was characterized by such things as democratic institutions, seafaring, gymnasium and athletic games, theatre, and philosophy. 1. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. Around these two divinities there grew up a confused tangle of myths in explanation of their cult rites. [also note from page3]: This Dover edition, first published in 1975, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the second (1928) edition of the work originally published by John Murray, in London, in 1925 under the title The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. Mystery cults continue to vex scholars because the surviving evidence is problematic, comprising a few written sources, mostly late in date, and often with questionable aims and biases. It was a nature myth, a vivid depiction of the action of life in the vegetable world with the changing of the seasons. It is not so much that Christianity was influenced by the Mystery Cults, or borrowed from them, but that in the long process of history this religion developed. Genres Religion HistoryNonfictionThe World. It was suppressed by the Christians sometime in the latter part of the fourth century a.d.; but its collapse seems to have been due to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and practices had been adopted by the church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival.31, Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but at the time of Christ he had come to be co-equal with Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Being.32 He possessed many attributes, the most important being his office of defender of truth and all good things. Was Christianity Originally a Mystery Religion? P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. Only remnants of the mystery doctrines, amalgamated with Platonism, were transmitted by a few philosophers and individualists to the religious thinkers of the Byzantine Empire. (5) The struggle with evil and the eventual triumph of good were essential ideas in both religions.37 (6) In summary we may say that the belief in immortality, a mediator between god and man, the observance of certain sacramental rites, the rebirth of converts, and (in most cases) the support of high ethical ideas were common to Mithraism as well as Christianity. The centres of pagan resistance were Rome, where the old aristocracy clung to the mysteries, and Alexandria, where the pagan Neoplatonist philosophers expounded the mystery doctrines. Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more stale state religions. Through the summer the mother abundantly maintained the life of nature until autumn, when again her daughter returned to the underworld and earth became desolate once more., 28. (3) Baptism and a communion meal were important parts of the ritual of both groups. The holy stories of the mysteries were myths; the Gospels of the New Testament, however, relate historical events. Mystery religions arose during the Hellenistic Period and continued into the Roman Period until about the 5th century, when most pagan traditions in the Roman Empire were replaced by Christianity. This disregard for correct doctrine is a key difference between mystery religions and Christianity. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. The coffin, meanwhile, was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree, This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. Afterwards, however, he returned to the other world to reign for ever as King of the Dead; and meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on Earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity., 20. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Christian theologian Origen wrote in the 3rd century that it was part of the divine plan that Christ was born under the emperor Augustus: the whole Mediterranean world was united by the Romans, and the conditions for missionary work were more favourable than ever before. MLKP, MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass. Dean Inge, e.g. First, they treated the mystery religions as if they were just one religion. To discuss Christianity without mentioning other religions would be like discussing the greatness of the Atlantic Ocean without the slightest mention of the many tributaries that keep it flowing.40. This was by no means an accident. After telling a fictitious tale of her escape from pirates, she won the sympathy of the girls who took her home and at her own request was given a job to nurse their infant brother, Demophon. The mystery religion was very narrow in scope, only involving select groups of people therefore not gaining support from the masses.Some people believe that Christianity and Judaism have many parallels to the mystery cults in terms of terminology (salvation, resurrection, eternal life) and in the particulars of the performance of initiation and ritual. This article discusses mystery religions and how they influenced the New Testament and early Christianity. The latter method is apt to neglect the distinctive contribution of each cult to the religious life of the age and, at the same time, to attribute to a given cult phases of some other system. It is stated with sufficient elaboration in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The people of Cyrene selected him as the most able man of the city to be their bishop, and he was able to accept the election without sacrificing his intellectual honesty. London, 1928. Christianity originated during the time of the Roman Empire, which was also the time at which the mysteries reached their height of popularity. Grant Showerman, introduction to Franz Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (Chicago: Open House Publishing Company, 1911), pp. Paperback : 384 pages. Church leaders talked about "initiations, passwords, and mysteries" using exactly the same . On March 24th, known as the Day of Blood, the High Priest, impersonating Attic, drew blood from him arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself. While Herodotus fails to give a date for this festival, Plutarch says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian claendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, op. But in true Christianity, there is only the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and while they're 3 . This celebration was held annually from March 22nd to 25th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 166.\ The influence of this religion on Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adapted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lords passion.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 199\12, Again we may notice that at this same Attis festival on March 22nd, an effigy of the god was fastened to the trunk of a pine tree, Attis thus being slain and hanged on a tree. This effigy was later buried in a tomb. Modern reconstructions that view the mysteries as a cohesive religious phenomenon run the risk of oversimplification. In the large Gnostic library discovered at Najammd, in upper Egypt, in 1945, Hermetic writings were found sideby-side with Christian Gnostic texts. S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity (London: John Murray, 1925), p. vii: These Mysteries covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabiri to the fervours of the Hermetic contemplative.. It is improbable, however, that either of these were introduced into Christian practices by association with the mystery cults. The preceding two paragraphs are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, pp. The preceding five sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, pp. After recovering Osiris dismembered body, Isis restored him to life and installed him as King in the nether world; meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 135: It was suppressed by the Christians in a.d. 376 and 377; but its collapse seems to have been due rather to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and ceremonies had been adopted by the Church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival., 32. They were not self-sufficient sects . The Eleusinian myth told of these fundamental human experiences as well as of the life of nature., 29. Esotericism has more in common with Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Rosicrucianism than genuine biblical Christianity. 118119: But there is one feature of the Gospel story which seems really to have been borrowed from the Adonis religion, and, in fact, from other pagan religions also, namely, the descent into Hell. As for my characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the definition. Greco-Roman mysteries. 5. But although baptism did not originate with the Christians, still it was not copied from the pagans. in his Christian Mysticism, p. 354, says that Catholicism owes to the Mysteries " the notions of secrecy, of For the Stoics, a relationship with the Logos is . " King wrote . Knowledge condemns. 9.1K Followers. Now this idea has no scriptural foundation except in those difficult passages in the First Epistle of Peter\[Footnote:] I Peter 3:194:6.\ which many scholars have designated as the most ambiguous passages of the New Testament. Masonry Encompasses All Elements of a Religion of Naturalism. The mystery religions adopted many expressions from these domains: they spoke of the assembly (ekklsia) of the mystai; the voyage of life; the ship, the anchor, and the port of religion; and the wreath of the initiate; life was a stage and man the actor. It is also significant to know that Roman tolerance had favoured this great syncretism of religious ideas. The doctrine of the soul taught in Gnostic communities was almost identical to that taught in the mysteries: the soul emanated from the Father, fell into the body, and had to return to its former home. 2, 3.\33 Tarsus, the home of Saint Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship; and there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. The statement, ''A mix of Greco-Roman religions gradually replaced by Christianity'', is the one that can be used as an accurate description of religion in the Eastern Roman Empire in the first five centuries of the Common Era.Therefore, the option C holds true.. What is the significance of Eastern Roman Empire? Borrowing was not only natural but inevitable.6. On the contrary, whatever real life it had was perpetuated in Christianity, since the conquering religion had adopted many of its forms and some of the old content in these forms., 31. It should also be noted that early Christianity was an exclusivistic religion while the mystery cults were not. Early Christian writers, aware of the similarity between Christianity and mystery-cult, claim that the latter is a diabolical imitation of the former" (Dionysus, Richard Seaford, 126.) 384 pages, Paperback. With respect to the differences between Stoicism and Christianity, the former is to an extent simpler than the latter since it has no angels, demons or trinity. 223224 in this volume. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 42: Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and instituted in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life., 27. Their members refused to make offerings to Roman gods or take part in Roman religious festivals, which Rome considered a matter of showing loyalty. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, pp. When Mithraism became widespread and powerful, it attracted so much attention that certain Christian apologists felt the need to present an explanation for the similarities in their respective characteristics. During her short stay at the temple of Eleusis, the whole earth grew barren. Esoteric . In The Influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity, King writes about the influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity: It is at this point that we are able to see why knowledge of these cults is important for any serious New Testament study. Harold R. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929), p. 114: Of these Oriental mystery religions the first to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods, The divine personage in whom this cult centered was the Magna Mater Deum who was conceived as the source of all life as well as the personification of all the powers of nature., 8. During this great celebration a sacramental meal of some kind was taken, and initiates were baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be born again.\[Footnote:] Weigall, The Paganism In Our Christianity, pp. I learned that as an artistic writer who did a doctorate in philosophy. Here we see how Mary gradually came to take the place of the goddess.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. Perhaps the most notable difference between Christianity and the mystery religions is Christianity's attitude towards proselytism. Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation, University of Chicago Author of "The Historicity of Jesus" "That he might gather together in one all things in Christ." That is Paul's inter-pretation of God's cosmic plan. It is celebrated annually on August 13th. Thus, under identical conditions, new forms of religious communities sprang from similar roots. Answer (1 of 7): Over the years, Christianity has often been compared to the mystery religions of ancient Greece and Rome, both by Christians wishing to emphasize the esoteric nature of their religion and by opponents of Christianity who claim that the resemblance between Christianity and mystery. The origin of this cult is obscure and uncertain. Supporters of the theory incorrectly assume that Christianity borrowed many of its ideas from the mystery religions, but the evidence reveals it was actually the other way around. In fact the idea did not appear in the church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. According to this view, Christianity began as a Jewish adaptation of Greek mystery . (Pagan Regeneration, p. 115). Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. CHRISTIANITY AND THE MYSTERY RELIGIONS SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE, PH.D. 1. People were free to move from one country to another and became cosmopolitan. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 116: This god was believed to have suffered a cruel death, to have descended into Hell or Hades, to have risen again, and to have ascended into Heaven; and at his festival, as held in various lands, his death was bewailed, an effigy of his dead body was prepared for burial by being washed with water and anointed, and, on the next day, his resurrection was commemorated with great rejoicing, the very words The Lord is risen probably being used. This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. The mysteries declined quickly when the emperor Constantine raised Christianity to the status of the state religion. This still stands as a festival in the ecclesiastical calendar; and thus Christians unconsciously perpetuate the worship of Osiris and the commemoration of all his subjects in the Kingdom of the Dead., 22. 5. As is commonly known Isis had two capacities which her worshippers warmly commended her for. Such designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, The Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions seem to come directly from Mithraic influence.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. After his death, the pagan opposition to Christianity continued for one more generation. See A Study of Mithraism, 13 September23 November 1949, pp. 2. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship. Christianity emerged and grew at a time when mystery religions were popular throughout the Roman Empire. 511513\, The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. This sacramental use of the term did not become established until the fourth century, when the mystery religions were no longer serious competitors of Christianity. 161 Babylon Mystery Religion; 1966 It is not at all surprising in view of the wide and growing influence of these religions that when the disciples in Antioch and elsewhere preached a crucified and risen Jesus they should be regarded as the heralds of another mystery religion, and that Jesus himself should be taken for the divine Lord of the cult through whose death and resurrection salvation was to be had.3 That there were striking similarities between the developing church and these religions cannot be denied. ISBN-13 : 978-0486231242. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. They were characterized by elaborate orgiastic rituals, secret knowledge, and an emphasis on a direct personal . Hydria by the Varrese Painter (c. 340 BC) depicting Eleusinian scenes. 129130: There were two aspects of Isis which commended themselves particularly to her worshippers: firstly, that of the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and, secondly, that of the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. In the end, virtually all the unique teachings of New Testament theology, including the distinctive doctrines on Jesus Christ, God, man, sin, salvation, and so on, are . The other gods pleaded with her to relent but she refused to do so until Persephone was restored to her. This makes it sound as if they were unified, sharing common beliefs that . The mystery religion of Ancient Babylon is the beginning of the occult, after the great flood that destroyed man . When they sat down to write they were expressing consciously that which had dwelled in their subconscious minds. Furthermore, in Stoicism, the Logos is an unknowable force while, in Christianity, the Word (Logos) was made flesh and dwelt among us. These scholars made two errors here. In the former capacity she was identified with the great mother-goddess, Demeter, whose mourning for Persephone was the main feature in the Eleusinian mysteries. The earlier Greek mystery religions were state religions in the sense that they attained the status of a public or civil cult and served a national or public function. During the first semester of his second year at Crozer, King wrote this paper for Enslin's course on Greek religion. He says: Following the lead of the apostle Paul, the Christian missionaries on gentile soil finally made of Christianity a more appealing religion than any of the other mystery cults. That night the priests went back to the tomb and found it empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicing. Esoteric Christianity. It is well-nigh impossible to grasp Christianity through and through without knowledge of these cults.5 It must be remembered, as implied above, that Christianity was not a sudden and miraculous transformation, springing, forth full grown as Athene sprang from the head of Zeus, but it is a composite of slow and laborious growth. cit., p. 125.\23, The Influence Of The Greater Mysteries At Eleusis. The Greeks interpreted the national religions of the Greek Orient chiefly in terms of Platos philosophical and religious concepts. But when we observe a little further we find that as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; it is also interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as Lord, Sunday must have been the Lords Day long before Christian use.\[Footnote:] Ibid., p. 137.\ It is also to be noticed that our Christmas, December 25th, was the birthday of Mithra, and was only taken over in the Fourth Century as the date, actually unknown, of the birth of Jesus.36, To make the picture a little more clear, we may list a few of the similarities between these two religions: (1) Both regard Sunday as a holy day. Selected Answer : True These two great Egyptian deities, whose worship passed into Europe, were revered not only in Rome but in many other centers where Christian communities were growing up. We should try to see the dark comedy in all things. Loisy, Alfred. The Christian churches needed large interior spaces to house the growing congregations and to mark the clear separation of the faithful from the unfaithful. The property of the pagan gods was confiscated, and the temples were destroyed. Here was human experience made heroic and divine; for man has ever loved and lost, but rarely has he ceased to hope for reunion with the loved one. Data was gathered from books . The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. It had to do with the nature of the Christian religion . or 404 526-8968. This is, of course, a loaded question. 2d ed. Clayborne Carson, Ralph Luker, and Penny A. Russell, eds. familiar with a type of religion known as Mystery-Religions which changed the religious outlook of the Western world, and which are operative in European civilization and in the Christian Church to this day. purchase. cit., p. 190.\. Hades, the god of death, stole the beloved daughter, Persephone, from Demeter, the life giver, who refused to admit defeat until she secured her daughters resurrection. There is more to the story before the flood, but as things started new after the flood, we will start from this point. It was in this city that there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Adonis. March 24th was the Day of Blood, whereon the High Priest, who himself impersonated Attis, drew blood from his arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself, a fact which recalls to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Christ being come an High Priest neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us. That night the priests went to the tomb and found it illuminated from within, and it was then discovered to be empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicings, a sacramental meal of some kind being taken, and initiates being baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be born again., 14. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weakness, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. xxiv.\4 The victory of Christianity in the Roman empire is another example of that universal historical law, viz., that that culture which conquers is in turn conquered. Babylon Mystery Religion is a detailed Biblical and historical account of how, when, why, and where ancient paganism was mixed with Christianity. Christianity emerged and grew at a time when mystery religions were popular throughout the Roman Empire. The purity demanded in the worship of Sol and in the Chaldean fire rites was similar to Christian standards. Christianity's recently launched He Gets US campaignmillions of people got a dose during the Superbowltells us two things: 1. The Christians took over the entire terminology; but many pagan words were strangely twisted in order to fit into the Christian world: the service of the state (leitourgia) became the ritual, or liturgy, of the church; the decree of the assembly and the opinions of the philosophers (dogma) became the fixed doctrine of Christianity; the correct opinion (orth doxa) about things became orthodoxy. In connection with the changing of the Greater mysteries at Eleusis interior spaces to house the congregations! Characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the definition cult is obscure and uncertain a quilt! 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