What Does Pagan Mean?
The Latin word paganus means "country dweller" or "rustic" and derives from pagus, meaning "countryside." A pagan is the designation usually given to someone who does not believe in a monotheistic religion such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. These creeds developed alongside existing religions in which many gods were worshiped. The term "pagan" was probably first used by Christians, but the word has many broad and varied meanings nowadays.
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The Christian View
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Some scholars think that the derivation of "pagan" from a word meaning rustic reflects the Christian judgment that ancient country people were slow to convert to the new Christian religion. Robin Lane Fox, in the book Pagans and Christians, specifies that "pagan" actually always bore a deeper, unique connotation. Early Christians coined it as a slang word to mean "civilian," that is, someone not enlisted, through baptism, in the armies of Christ fighting Satan's evil.
The Jewish View
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Although the term pagan, in the sense of country-rustic-not-yet-serving-Christ, dates from the early Christian era, the understanding that monotheism is different from polytheism is older. The Biblical prophets had always fiercely exhorted ancient Israel to shun the tempting and enjoyable practices of the "goyim" (literally, the nations). The goyim were not hated by God and certainly were not damned, but the prophets spoke against them because imitating them compromised Israel's status as the only nation that knew those faiths were unreal.
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The Muslim View
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Islam continued and intensified Judaism's and Christianity's understanding that belief in one God is totally different from belief in many or none. Islam regards the era before the revelations of Muhammad as a time of darkness for Arabia's idol-worshiping tribes and, indeed, for all humanity. According to the Koran, Muhammad did not so much introduce his people to, as reacquaint them with, the one true Muslim faith that both their ancestors and the Biblical prophets had known (Koran, "The Cow," 2:140). In carrying this divine truth out of Arabia, Muhammad made it once again available to all. Since of all religions Islam alone comes from God, Muslim theology therefore divides humanity into two groups, believers and infidels.
How Did Pagans See Themselves?
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The "rustic dwellers" of ancient Syria, Greece, or Italy, suddenly called pagan by a Christian neighbor, would not have known what they had done to deserve the term. The heart of classical polytheism lay in the understanding that the world was constantly overseen by many gods who could appear in any guise at any time. Normal religious life meant always being aware of the gods' anger and always seeking instruction from famous oracles on how to behave in daily life. Dreams, especially, were treasured as personal communications from the gods. What set Jews and then Christians apart was not only their refusal to recognize the Semitic or Olympian gods, but their insistence on guiding private, inner moral decisions, such as refusing to worship the emperor, which outraged Rome's subjects, by the written instructions of a revealed creed. To pagans, this was nihilistic and unfree.
What about Wicca?
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According to Robin Lane Fox in Pagans and Christians, cult acts performed for the ever-present gods, without reference to a commanding private creed, defined ancient pagan life. Are modern Wiccans, who are pagan in the sense the English language now defines the word, neither Christian, Jew, or Muslim, therefore pagans in the classical sense? Not really. Rejecting monotheism is already a private creed choice, defined by monotheism, which classical polytheism did not know. Modern Wicca is much more a pleasant hobby, combining the attractive parts of barbarian Celtic myth, academic information on ancient goddess worship, and a general interest in nature and the outdoors to create an ethical guide with some novelty value. Vigorous pagan practices, like the maintenance of public oracles, remain unrevived.
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My Last Name is Pagan.
