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Post by Josh on Feb 5, 2007 18:21:40 GMT -8
11/05:
Andy brought up a good debate last night:
There are those Christians that tend to see the Catholic's Church's appropriation of ancient Pagan temples and holidays (turning them into Churches and Christian holidays) as a good thing, and those who are critical of such decisions.
Where do you all fall on the issue?
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Post by sarah on Feb 5, 2007 18:45:29 GMT -8
11/05:
can I have some examples and a summation of what the conflict centers on?
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Post by Josh on Feb 5, 2007 18:46:20 GMT -8
11/05:
Well, for instance: the early Church took a pagan holiday on Dec. 25 (I believe it was the festival of the birth of the sun god) and turned it into a Christian holiday comemmorating Christ's birth, even though Christ would not have actually been born on Dec. 25. The same is true for Easter.
Some Christians see this as syncretism (an unhealthy blending of pagan and Christian ideas) and some go as far as not to celebrate these "pagan" holidays. This is also the reason why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate most holidays.
The Catholic Church also turned old pagan temples into Churches. Some see those places as somehow forever tainted-- they should have been torn down rather than turned into Churches.
I have my own opinions on this, but I'm curious what you guys think.
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Post by michelle on Feb 5, 2007 18:47:06 GMT -8
11/05:
I don't have any really strong opinions about this, but symbolically speaking I think it's great to turn something that was originally pagan into something Christian. It can be completely reflective of us as Christians. If we go through that kind of transformations when we accept Christ, why shouldn't our places of worship or our days of celebration? I don't see it as Christianity blending with paganism, but rather Christianity "overpowering" paganism. After all, if you polled people as to the significance of December 25th, how may would say "It's the pagan holiday to celebrate the birth of the sun god"? So the fewer the recognized pagan holidays the better, right??
Personally, I couldn't care less WHEN we celebrate Christmas or Easter, just that we DO celebrate Christmas and Easter (and for the right reasons).
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Post by Josh on Feb 5, 2007 18:47:55 GMT -8
11/05:
Yep, I'm in agreement.
I love that the Church triumphed over evil in so many ways. I especially noticed this when visiting the Colosseum in Rome. Sitting there, where all the carnage of a bloody, unraveling empire took place, where Christians spilt there blood, I was so thrilled to see in the middle of the ruins a small Cross standing high. The Cross triumphed over the most powerful empire of the ancient world!
Other times, I think it wasn't so much triumph, but just the fruition of valid pagan hopes and whispers from God. Pagan mythology was full of many good stepping stones to Christianity. I love that the Church took pains to recognize as many of these as possible- only shunning the evil in pagan mythology, but encouraging those elements that might have served as precursors or bridges... like shadows of the ultimate reality.
Of course, I think there have probably been lots of times where the Church co-opted some pagan element and didn't do a great job explaining the change or the differences in Christian belief from what they were 'taking over'. I think this is probably much more of a problem with the Spanish/ Catholic overtaking of South America than in Europe. The bloodiness of the Spanish there might have actually just driven paganism underground and encouraged syncretism.
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