The first question of course, is 'what is Paganism?' The word 'pagan' arose amongst Christians in the fourth century to describe their unconverted neighbours. It was derived from the Latin paganus, which has a number of possible translations, including 'civilian' and 'villager'. It is not clear why this term was used, but it is clear that it was meant to have negative overtones. It eventually came to be used to describe anyone who was not a Christian, Jew or Muslim. In modern usage it is almost exclusively used about 'Old World' peoples, outside of that terms such as 'indigenous religion' are used.
The authors admit that the usage of the word has its problems, which they discuss in a lengthy introductory chapter. This becomes even more of a problem when when exploring the concepts of 'pagan survival' and 'pagan persistence.' They say “Whereas the word 'survival' implies something left over, a relic of a former world view that is somehow preserved beneath the accreted weight of subsequent religious and cultural developments, 'persistence' implies no such claims”.
They look at the rise of Christianity across Europe, firstly replacing the pagan gods and practices of the Roman Empire, and spreading, usually through conquest or dynastic ambition, across Europe, until the 'conversion' of the last pagan nation, Lithuania, in 1317. They argue that little if any practice of actual paganism survived for any length of time after a tribe, people or nation had been converted to Christianity. Any later ostentation has been through deliberate attempts to revive pagan ideas. They dismiss the idea of pagan survival in some underground form that occasionality breaks through into the mainstream, but equally dismiss the idea that later pagan revivals were 'concoctions' with no connection to any historical forms of paganism.
The first attempt at a serious revival which they examine is the reign of Emperor Julian 'the Apostate', who restored worship of the classical gods at a time when Christianity was becoming ascendant in the Empire. His version of paganism, although it involved rituals such as animal sacrifices, itself had many Christian characteristics. He introduced a set of rules for pagan priests that “resemble the canonical rules that were later drawn up for Catholic clergy”.
Julian died after being Emperor for less than two years, and his rather pale version of paganism rapidly faded away. In fact is was so pale that some Christians complained that it failed to give them the opportunity to become martyrs. Rather than a last-ditch attempt to shore up classical paganism, Julian's experiment seems closer to the 're-created' paganism of the following centuries. And this is the pattern which is described in the rest of this book.
An early attempt at a revival in the Eastern Byzantine Empire was the work of the eleventh century philosopher, politician and monk Michael Psellus. Although outwardly professing as an Orthodox Christian, he promoted a pagan revival on Neoplatonist principles, which he believed would reverse the Christian conquest of Europe. Although he did create a small following in Greece, his main influence was as a teacher of pagan philosophical ideas.
The Renaissance brought classical ideas and arts into the mainstream of Western culture and this involved a reassessment of the nature of classical paganism. Figures such as Marcilio Ficino attempted to interpret classical paganism, particularly the works of Plato, into a Christian context. He also translated the collection of texts known as the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin. Although Ficino probably was not a practising pagan (this is however contested) his work provided sources for later philosophers, theologians and revivalists,
Although pagan art, literature and philosophy became part of cultural life at the time of the Renaissance, it was not until the eighteenth century that any real challenge arose to what the authors term 'the Christian monopoly', pointing out that the series of religious wars and the arrival of the scientific revolution had discredited the established churches in the eyes of many. The Catholic Cardinal Pierre de Bernis wrote “Even women began to free themselves from prejudices. The spark of unbelief travelled through the whole world … it was no longer fashionable to believe in the Gospel”
Colonialism and increased contact with non-Abrahamic religions also led to interest in and even attachment to various faiths. Confucianism in particular was attractive to figures such as Liebnitz and Voltaire, and was even looked upon sympathetically by Jesuit missionaries.
The French Revolution provided the only state organised attempts at establishing a formal 'pagan', or at least non-Christian, religion, with the revolutionary Cult of Reason performing elaborate classically derived ceremonies in Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Cult of the Supreme Being promoted by Robespierre. These represented the first attempted revival of pagan practices since the Roman Empire. The attempt failed, but the authors comment, “there was nothing inevitable about that.”
Writers such as Shelley and Schiller explored pagan themes as part of the literary Romantic movement, expressing a libertarian reaction to the repressive political and religious establishments of the era. This also found expression in the 'Hellfire Clubs' of Sir Francis Dashwood and others. Alongside this there was a poetic and Romantic pagan movement, which the authors term 'Shelleyism', centred around that writer. They describe it as an expression of 'counter-cultural liberation', and though it did not long outlive Shelly's circle, they see it as a direct ancestor of modern Paganism.
Far from being a period of strict religious orthodoxy, the nineteenth century was, particularly in England, an era of “profound religious change and disturbance”. Partly this was due to the urbanisation of society and the breaking of traditional links and communities, but also factors such as the growth of a scientific scepticism and influences from overseas.
The French magus Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant) is reputed to have conducted the first pagan ritual of modern times 1854, at the request of a “mysterious wealth elderly lady”, drawing on Greek traditions. This seemed very much a 'one off' ceremony, and any serious revival of paganism did not come until later in the century. As with Shelly and the Romantics this took the form of a literary and artistic revival, with figures like Swinburne and George Meredith writing poems in praise of the Great Mother Goddess. Later writers like Kenneth Grahame and Arthur Machen similarly evoking the figure of Pan as a pagan manifestation of Nature.
The authors also examine what has been described as 'responsible paganism', derived from the Shelleyan paganism of the Romantics, but which “drew on the idealistic strand ... rather than the transgressive strand”. It linked paganism with healthy living, any nudity being more to do with vigorous exercise than sex magic, and with a sort of mystical socialism, exemplified in the writings of the utopian poet Edward Carpenter.
The authors define the final stage of Victorian paganism as a return to the occult world of Eliphas Lévi, being an element of a more general cultural trend, which included mass movements like Spiritualism as well as elitist and ritualistic societies such as the Golden Dawn, which they see the as “the first successful attempt at creating something like a modern pagan religion in the sense of a fully developed system of ritual, symbolism and belief”. Paganism was in the process of being “reinvented as a mass movement”, but was still an élite preoccupation.
This came eventually in the twentieth century with the creation of Wicca, but there were a number of diversions and dead ends before that happened. One considered in some detail was the 'woodcraft movement', originating in America as an attempt to incorporate indigenous Native American spirituality into Euro-American culture, in groups such as the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry and the Kibbo Kiff, which also included themes from traditional European paganism. As an organised form of paganism it faded away after World War II, but elements have re-emerged in 'Deep Green' movements.
The authors look at other early twentieth century movements, including ethno-nationalist revivals in the Baltic region and Russia, before arriving at the most successful pagan creation so far, Gerald Gardner's Wicca, and ask why this movement achieved the success denied previous revivals. They suggest that this may be because it was was not an attempt to revive any specific historical pagan religion, which they put down partly to the influence of Margaret Murray: “... the very title of The Witch Cult in Western Europe proclaimed that the religion was not nationally specific”, and helped it to spread internationally.
This book chronicles the various flowerings of the 'seed' of paganism throughout European history, and explains how, although they may have borrowed ideas and images from earlier manifestations, each was individual to itself, and none represented the revival of an underlying thread of 'actual existing' paganism hidden beneath the Christian establishment. Paganism Persisting demonstrates that the idea of paganism rather that its practice has survived for two millennia, to be revived at various times in history for a variety of reasons, from the growth of a national identity or a search for an enhanced spirituality, to a countercultural rebellion against the religious and often secular, establishments.
It is quite a short book – 158 pages of the main text plus 68 pages of notes, references and index – and it is densely written, sometimes the sheer number of names packed into it seemed overwhelming, but the writing is clear and avoids the extremes of 'academic' jargon. The only downside really, is the 'academic' price.
- John Rimmer
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