Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

[Gleb]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

There are three questions that I have been trying to understand about paganism and wanted to see what other pagans thought. The first was on the reason it collapsed by the Medieval period. I appreciate what has been discussed. This thread is on the second question why did paganism return and when did it become a functioning modern religion. Why revive a religion that was almost completely eliminated? I know there may have been some similar debates like this so please forgive me for starting this but I am interested in learning what other people think. Another way of looking at this question is what does paganism offer that was not present before its return.

I wouldn't say the religion itself was eliminated. Its followers were. There is also a possibility, that either the followers were all killed for some reason, or that there was no option of retelling and explaining the religion to the future generations.

Why not to revive a religion? If it doesn't harm anyone and if it also talks to you, so why not? I know that Abrahamic religions are certainly not for me. Paganism is.

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I think that it depends on each individual's view on the world. There are people who believe in Judaism, Christianity and Islam on one hand. On the other, there are those who prefer more ancient religions and belief systems.

[Malflick]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

I wouldn't say the religion itself was eliminated. Its followers were. There is also a possibility, that either the followers were all killed for some reason, or that there was no option of retelling and explaining the religion to the future generations.

Why not to revive a religion? If it doesn't harm anyone and if it also talks to you, so why not? I know that Abrahamic religions are certainly not for me. Paganism is.

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I think that it depends on each individual's view on the world. There are people who believe in Judaism, Christianity and Islam on one hand. On the other, there are those who prefer more ancient religions and belief systems.

(I feel I should note that Judaism is pretty frikkin ancient. I mean, I get your point, but just sayin'.)

[Gleb]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

(I feel I should note that Judaism is pretty frikkin ancient. I mean, I get your point, but just sayin'.)

You are right, Judaism is really ancient. According to the Jewish calendar, the world exists something between 5000 and 6000 years! o_o
I don't know how they managed to survive that much. 400 years in ancient Egypt, WW2....
I guess they were just strong enough and never lost faith.

[Dez]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

You are right, Judaism is really ancient. According to the Jewish calendar, the world exists something between 5000 and 6000 years! o_o
I don't know how they managed to survive that much. 400 years in ancient Egypt, WW2....
I guess they were just strong enough and never lost faith.

Eh, one could argue that Judaism has changed a lot over the years. It just happens very slowly. After all, Archeology can show several distinct periods, starting with being a pantheistic faith.

[Gleb]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

Judaism has indeed changed over the years and has some branches today. Just like Christianity and Islam.

[Ektor]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

I'm a History Student myself! Pagan traditions disappeared, in my interpretation, largely to three aspects: Circular Notion of Time, Tolerance and Lack of Structure. If you see Zoroastrianism, it only collapsed after its state was forcefully broken, this same pattern can be seen for Hellenism, when the Christian population grew and Christian rites grew in power, Paganism went more and more marginal, and when the Roman Empire declared it was oficially Christian, the centuries old civic traditions of Hellenic-Roman-Egyptian-Celtic polytheism that existed on the Empire faded away cause their lost their structure.

Hinduism never lost its structure, even after being in direct threat from Islam, the Hindu nations survived and with them their traditions. In Europe, all pagan religions were left without a centralized structure, making it easy for Christian missionaries to divide and conquer, go from community to community, teaching people how to write, doing overall missionary work to christianize people. Christian practice is a lot more focusing on attacking other religions, and this is where the other point enters: most pagan religions are by nature syncretic and tolerant. As discussed in the Holy War thread, Pagans didn't even have this concept, and even when for example, Alexander conquered Persia, he was quick to foster a syncretic Greco-Babylonian religions. Isis as a deity for example comes from a massively syncretic background mixing Kemetic Paganism with Hellenism.

Christianity is by nature intolerant, not in a sense that "Christians are intolerant", but the Christian mentality cannot accept the idea that another deity is equal to their own, God being the greatest is one of the basic pillars of it, and while nowadays a lot of Christians are accepting, back when regions were Christianized, this wasn't so, and Christians did extensive work of proselityzing, which's something almost inexistant in Pagan traditions, since they were more likely to see their own ods in other gods than over them.

Also there is the way we learn to see time: as a cyclical entity. Christianity is a linear-time religion/culture (I can explain this more in depth if people desire), basically, it created a severe conflict of interpretations of the world where the less centralized Pagan religions couldn't fight against. Most christianization processes were peaceful initially, too.

[jcaternolo]

Re: Why did paganism return and when did it return as a modern religion?

I feel that Paganism was revived, because people wanted to get back to nature. Or because they got tired of Christianity, and wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the fence. Some people took up Paganism for pure, intellectual curiosity. There are many reasons why Pagan traditions were revived.