Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more stale state religions. The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. Esotericism has more in common with Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Rosicrucianism than genuine biblical Christianity. The religions that Rome had the most problems with were monotheisticJudaism and Christianity. The property of the pagan gods was confiscated, and the temples were destroyed. 4243: It was also a reflection of poignant human experiences, mirroring the joys, sorrows, and hopes of mankind in face of inevitable death. Jesus was the divine Lord. There can hardly be any doubt that the myths of Isis had a direct bearing on the elevation of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to the lofty position that she holds in Roman Catholic theology. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. 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. The Mysteries of Mithras presents a revival of this ancient Roman mystery religion, popular from the late second century B.C. ISBN-13 : 978-0486231242. For an instance, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist have been mentioned as rites, which were preactice {practiced} by both Christians and pagans. 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. In this earlier stage, Isis had a husband named Osiris. The mother, frenzied with grief, rushed about the earth for nine days in search for her lost daughter,25 As a result of her wandering, she came to Eleusis where she was seen, although not recognized, by the four daughters of Kekeas sitting near a public well called the Fountain of Maidenhood. The words of St. Paul, They drank of that spiritual rock and that rock was Christ are borrowed from the Mithraic scriptures., 36. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. "Concerning the relationship between the mystery cults and Christianity, scholarly opinion has varied. The similarity of the religious vocabulary is also great. After making herself known, she commanded the people of Eleusis to build her a temple. As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely, writes Cumont, the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. I do not deny that there are some similarities. 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. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. 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. 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. The people of that age were eager and zealous in their search for religious experience. Their members refused to make offerings to Roman gods or take part in Roman religious festivals, which Rome considered a matter of showing loyalty. 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. In order to give a comprehensive picture of this subject, I will discuss Four {Five} of the most popular of these religions separately, rather than to view them en masse as a single great religious system. The conditions of that era made it possible for these religions to sweep like a tidal wave over the ancient world. The basic Christian objection to Freemasonry is that the Craft constitutes a religious sect in opposition to the revealed truths of the Gospel. Here we see how Mary gradually came to take the place of the goddess.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. 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. 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. Is Christianity the crowning achievement in the development of religious thought or will there be another religion more advanced? 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. One consequence of interpreting Christianity as an embellished mystery religion is the conclusion that Christian faith per se is the invention of men, not a revelation from God. When we come to Christian thought the influence seems even greater, for even the place at Bethleham selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus was none other than an early shrine of this pagan goda fact that led many to confuse Adonis with Jesus Christ.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 137: Mithra was born from a rock, as shown in Mithraic sculptures, being sometimes termed the god out of the rock, and his worship was always conducted in a cave; and the general belief in the early Church that Jesus was born in a cave is a direct instance of the taking over of Mithraic ideas. 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. Bottom line: They believe that the early Church borrowed heavily from pagan deities already in existence at the time of Jesus. 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. The hypothesis of a mutual dependence has been proposed by scholarsespecially a dependence of Christianity upon the mysteriesbut such theories have been discarded. Mithraism became the most popular and influential of the many mystery religions 2 that existed in the Roman Empire at the time that Christianity began, and was the major 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. Others saw it as an out-growth from Jewish precedents. CULT OF CYBELE. The festival ended with the celebration of his ascention in the sight of his worshippers.16 Needless to say that this story of the death and resurrection of Adonis is quite similar to the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Christ. This effigy was later buried in a tomb. They encouraged the movement away from the state religions and the philosophical systems and toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality. The religious art of the Christians continued the pagan art of the preceding generations. cit., p. 119.\19, In the records of both Herodotus and Plutarch we find that there was a festival held each year in Egypt celebrating the resurrection of Osiris. Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more . CHRISTIANITY AND THE MYSTERY RELIGIONS SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE, PH.D. In this legend, human beings, who are always loved and lost, are depicted as never or seldom loosing hope for reunion with their God. 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. Christianity was truly indebted to the mystery religions for this contribution, for they had done this part of the groundwork and thus opened the way for Christian missionary work. Reprinted as The Mystery-Religions: A Study in the Religious Background of Early Christianity (New York, 1975). 9.1K Followers. In 391, however, the Serapeum at Alexandria was demolished, and in 394 the opposition of the Roman aristocracy was crushed in battle at the Frigidus River (now called the Vipacco River in Italy and the Vipava in Slovenia). Martin Luther King Jr. titled " The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity. The mystery religions and Christianity had many similar featurese.g., a time of preparation before initiation and periods of fasting; baptism and banquets; vigils and early-morning ceremonies; pilgrimages and new names for the initiates. This was due to St. Augustine of Hippo, who was influenced by the early Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, as well as the works of the Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who was influenced . 3. As is commonly known Antioch was one of the earliest seats of Christianity. [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. It was a nature myth, a vivid depiction of the action of life in the vegetable world with the changing of the seasons. In winter vegetable life was dead while Demeter, the giver of life, grieved for the loss of her daughter. The theology of the mysteries was developed to a far lesser degree than the Christian theology. It had to do with the nature of the Christian religion . Followers of Mithra became less common after . . In the end, virtually all the unique teachings of New Testament theology, including the distinctive doctrines on Jesus Christ, God, man, sin, salvation, etc . Whereas in these tribal communities almost every member of the clan or the village was initiated, initiation in Greece . The Pagan Mysteries. Fairbanks, Greek Religion, p. 293: This religion was not blotted out by Christianity. 37. This universal law is expecially true of religion. Firstly, she was pictured as the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and secondly she was commended as the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. Mithraism, a sect of Zoroastrianism characterized by the worship of Mithra as the defender of the truth, was a monotheistic mystery religion prevalent in the Roman empire before the acceptance of Christianity in the fourth century. He had left behind the secret whereby men could achieve the goal with him.\[Footnote:] Enslin, op. The mysteries declined quickly when the emperor Constantine raised Christianity to the status of the state religion. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, pp. Dean Inge, e.g. They were characterized by elaborate orgiastic rituals, secret knowledge, and an emphasis on a direct personal . Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and institute in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life.26, The significance of this story is immediately clear. 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. Osiris and Isis, so runs the legend, were brother and sister and also husband and wife; but Osiris was murdered, his coffined body being thrown into the Nile, and shortly afterwards the widowed and exiled Isis gave birth to a son, Horus. The similarities must rather be explained by parallel developments from similar origins. There are several explanations regarding the beginning of the observance of the Lords Supper. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity. It should also be noted that early Christianity was an exclusivistic religion while the mystery cults were not. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 See A Study of Mithraism, 13 September23 November 1949, pp. Church leaders talked about "initiations, passwords, and mysteries" using exactly the same . In the Avesta,\[Footnote:] This is the sacred book of the religion of Iran.\ Mithra is represented as the genius of celestial light. Every year nature passes through a cycle of apparent death and resurrection. Paperback : 384 pages. Spring, the time when all plants come back to life, indicates the return of plenty when the goddess maintains all life until autumn when her daughter returns to Hades and the earth becomes once more desolated.\[Footnote:] Willoughby, op. This is, of course, a loaded question. Was Christianity Originally a Mystery Religion? 1. 131132: At about this time a story, attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis in the Second Century, but probably of much later origin, began to spread that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Jesus and His angels; and in the Sixth Century the festival of the Assumption, which celebrates this event, was acknowledged by the Church, and is now one of the great feasts of Roman Catholicism, It is celebrated on August 13th; but that was the date of the great festival of Diana or Artemis, with whom Isis was identified, and one can see, thus, how Mary had gradually taken the place of the goddess., 24. The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. Some writers traced its origin to Egypt while others upheld Eleusis in Greece as the place of its birth. 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. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of . Moreover, much from the Mysteries has persisted in various modern phases of thought and practice.\[Footnote:] Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, p. viii.\, This is not to say that the early Christians sat down and copied these views verbatim. The ideas of Greek philosophy penetrated everywhere in this society. Mithraism was brought to Europe from its Persian roots after Alexander the Great's conquests. Whatever the religious doctrines of the Masonic sect it is plain that they do not embrace the central Christian . As for my characterization of Mormonism, it depends on the definition. Joining a mystery religion was a personal decision and was not connected to what family or culture one belonged to. mystery religion, any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, we must turn to the myth of the rape of Demeters daughter by Pluto. In its older Egyptian version, which was not a mystery religion, Isis was regarded as the goddess of heaven, earth, the sea, and the unseen world below. The mystery religions exerted some influence on the thinkers of the Middle Ages and the philosophers of the Italian Renaissance. 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. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. Dr Arnold's researchers have reaffirmed the earlier conclusions of Martin Dibelius and Sir William Ramsay that the key term embateuo in the phrase 'entering the things he had seen' (2:18) was a technical term for the second stage of a mystery initiation, in which a person was led through a series of . Had to do with the changing of the clan or the village was initiated, initiation Greece! 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