Our culture is becoming more pagan. When you abandon Christian presuppositions something fills the vacuum. One simple example is that your pocket calendar begins each week on Monday instead of Sunday. Another is that books are beginning to use BCE, before common era, instead of BC, before Christ.
So? What difference does it make? After all, pagans are nice people, too, right? Pagans want to live in peace and security. Pagans want to be happy. They marry and have children. They enjoy a good meal. Pick your condition and often it is just part of being human. So, pagans are humans too.
I can live with that.
The issue is not whether pagans are human beings. The issue is what kind of world does a pagan belief system produce. Cultures grounded and guided by pagan values and assumptions are different from the monotheistic Judeo-Christian cultures we know. It has to do with your view of man and the divine.
Pagan is not a pejorative term. It does not mean heathen or barbarian. It means people who do not believe in only one God. That can mean polytheism or pantheism. Pagans can be as civilized and cultured as Christians. Pagans have a broad spectrum of people with varying levels of commitment. Like Christians there are a lot of different applications and intensity of belief. I am not planning on a comparative theology. I am interested in the broad concepts and foundational presuppositions.
What are some of the long term effects we can expect with the revival of paganism?
To be continued...
homo unius libri
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.