Paganism (from Latin pāgānus 'rural, rustic', later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, [1] or ethnic religions other than Judaism.

Paganism is commonly used to refer to various religions that existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, such as the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire, including the Roman imperial cult, the various mystery religions, religious philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and more localized ethnic religions practiced both inside a...

Paganism is a term that covers a great number of spiritual and religious beliefs, and someone who follows one of these beliefs is known as a Pagan. Some of those in ancient times, who are called Pagans today, believed there was not just one god but a number of gods and goddesses.

Dec 23, 2024 · paganism, Christian term used to designate those religions that do not worship the God of Abraham, the figure central to both Christianity and to other Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Islam.

Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism[1] and neopaganism, [2] spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East.

Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples.It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten during the Christianisation of Scandinavia.Scholars reconstruct aspects of North Germanic Religion by historical linguistics ...

The pagan historian Libanius wrote "this black robed tribe" were acting outside the law, but Brown says Theodosius did not enforce those laws. Theodosius voiced his support for the preservation of temple buildings, but passively legitimized the monk's violence by listening to them instead of correcting them, thereby failing to prevent the ...

A political map of Britain c. 650 (the names are in modern English). The word pagan is a Latin pejorative term that was used by Gentile Christianity (also: Pagan Christianity) in Anglo-Saxon England to designate non-Christians. [1] In Old English, the vernacular language of Anglo-Saxon England, the equivalent term was hæðen ("heathen"), a word that was cognate to the Old Norse heiðinn, both ...

Pagan studies is the multidisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of modern paganism, a broad assortment of modern religious movements, which are typically influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of premodern Europe. [1] [2] Pagan studies embrace a variety of different scholarly approaches to studying …

The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy is a book of religious history and archaeology written by the English historian Ronald Hutton, first published by Blackwell in 1991. It was the first published synthesis of the entirety of pre-Christian religion in the British Isles, dealing with the subject during the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, …