Paganism and Christianity

For many years now, there has been a narrative extant within some elements of the Christian community (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses, Armstrong Churches of God, and various anti-Catholic Protestant groups) regarding the pervasive influence of paganism on Traditional Christianity. One of the chief proponents of this narrative was a man by the name of Ralph Woodrow, who authored a small book on the topic titled Babylon Mystery Religion. As Mr. Woodrow has himself admitted, this book was based on a 19th Century work by Alexander Hislop titled The Two Babylons. Unfortunately, even as modern scholarship has discredited both of those works, many of those elements of the Christian community who embraced their narrative have refused to let go of the notion that paganism has seriously tainted/compromised the Traditional Church.

Hislop contended that the Roman Catholic Church was "the Babylon of the Apocalypse." He went on to note "that the essential character of her system, the grand objects of her worship, her festivals, her doctrine and discipline, her rites and ceremonies, her priesthood and their orders, have all been derived from ancient Babylon." Hislop then went on to discourse on the pagan origins of the imagery surrounding the mother and child, Christmas, Easter, the mass, rites and ceremonies, and religious orders. Indeed, Hislop believed that the influence of paganism was so pervasive that it had even extended to Christianity's primary symbol, the cross! He wrote: "The same sign of the cross that Rome now worships was used in the Babylonian Mysteries, was applied by Paganism to the same magic purposes, was honored with the same honors. That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian emblem at all, but was the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans and Egyptians--the true original form of the letter T--the initial of the name of Tammuz." Thus, for Hislop, the Roman Church had clearly been corrupted by paganism.

Then, shortly after I was born, Ralph Woodrow came along and breathed new life into Hislop's notions about paganism's influence on the Church. In his Babylon Mystery Religion, he contrasted paganisms influence on Christianity with the early Church's impact on the pagan world. Woodrow observed: "It was said of those early Christians that they had turned the world upside down! - so powerful was their message and spirit." He continued: "Before too many years had passed, however, men began to set themselves up as 'lords' over God's people in place of the Holy Spirit. Instead of conquering by spiritual means and by truth - as in the early days - men began to substitute their ideas and their methods. Attempts to merge paganism into Christianity were being made even in the days when our New Testament was being written." And, like Hislop before him, Woodrow went on to discourse on Babylon as the "source of false religion." He wrote about mother and child worship, Mary worship, pagan holidays, the cross as a Christian symbol, the mass and relic/idol worship.

Later, however, Woodrow had a change of heart. Of Babylon Mystery Religion he wrote: "My original book had some valuable information in it. But it also contained certain teachings that were made popular in a book many years ago, THE TWO BABYLONS, by Alexander Hislop. This book claims that the very religion of ancient Babylon, under the leadership of Nimrod and his wife, was later disguised with Christian-sounding names, becoming the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, two “Babylons"—one ancient and one modern. Proof for this is sought by citing numerous similarities in paganism. The problem with this method is this: in many cases there is no connection." For him, further investigation of the origins of certain Christian practices had demonstrated that the connections to paganism were illusory. Indeed, he went on to admit that the methodology which he and Hislop had employed in their treatises on the subject could be used to make almost anything pagan!

Unfortunately, this narrative about the influence of paganism on Christianity contradicts a great deal of what we now know about the history of the rise of that religion. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman noted: "Paganism...was not a single thing." He went on to say: "If we were to define a religion as a coherent system of thought, belief, and practice, with a clearly demarcated set of theological views about the divine being(s) and a prescribed set of rituals to be practiced in reference to them, then none of the so-called pagan religions would probably qualify."  Ehrman went on to underscore that most pagans subscribed to some form of polytheism. Both the diffuse and polytheistic nature of these pre-Christian religions can easily be demonstrated by a quick look at the situation in Scotland prior to the work of Saint Columba.

In The Makers of Scotland, Clarkson wrote: "On the eve of their exposure to Christianity in the early centuries AD, the people of ancient Scotland worshipped a pantheon of gods and goddesses. A handful of these deities appear in the archaeological record, but the rest are invisible. Of the identifiable ones we know little or nothing. In most cases, we can only suppose that they represented aspects of the natural world or of human experience. The total number of native deities at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain is unknown, but some continuity from much older religious beliefs can probably be assumed." Notice, especially, how little is known about these gods and goddesses or the specific manner in which they were worshipped. Indeed, this point is reiterated by Clarkson as the narrative continued. He wrote: The gods and goddesses venerated in the northern parts of pre-Roman Britain are difficult to trace. A female deity worshipped in the middle of the first millennium BC is apparently represented by a large figure, crudely carved in wood, found buried in peat at Ballachulish in Lochaber. Traces of wicker unearthed from the sight might be the remains of a wooden shrine in which she once stood as the centerpiece. Her identity is unknown, but she may be an early example of a Celtic nature goddess. How widely she was venerated is likewise impossible to deduce, but her cult was perhaps fairly localized to the area where her image was unearthed." Hence, again, we see that pagans had many gods, and that very little of their identity and worship has survived into modern times.

In The Triumph of Christianity, Ehrman underscored the fact that "there were gods for every municipality and every family; gods with all sorts of functions: gods connected with love, war, livestock, crops, health, childbirth, and weather; gods associated with specific locations: mountains, streams, meadows, homes, hearths; gods of various abstractions, such as fortune, mercy, and hope; gods connected with elements of nature, like the moon, the sun, the sky, and the sea." He went on to observe that "Polytheism in Roman antiquity was normally an open and welcoming affair. New gods could be added and worshiped at will." Continuing the thought, Ehrman went on to observe that "Because of the open nature of polytheism, there was virtually no such thing as 'conversion.' Anyone who chose to begin worshiping a new god was welcome to do so and was not required or expected to leave behind any previous practices of worship or make an exclusive commitment to this one deity. Outside the world of Judaism, exclusivity - the insistence that only one god be worshipped - was practically unknown." As we will see in just a moment, these features of paganism stood in stark contrast to the new Christian religion. 

Moreover, Ehrman went on to point out that "Pagan religions were almost entirely about practice, about doing things, about giving the gods their due - not through mental affirmations of who they were or what they had done, but through ritual actions that showed reverence and devotion." He observed that "Pagan religions were about cultic acts. The word 'cult' comes from the Latin phrase cultus deorum, which literally means 'the care of the gods.' A cultic act is any ritualized practice that is done out of reverence to or worship of the gods. Such activities lay at the heart of pagan religions. Doctrines and ethics did not." Ehrman continued: "Roughly speaking, there were three kinds of activities in pagan religions: sacrificial offerings, prayer, and divination." This, of course, also stood in stark contrast to the new Christian religion - which focused on belief in Jesus Christ and adhering to certain ethical standards.

And, now that we have begun to compare paganism with Christianity and contrast some of the prominent features of both religions, it is appropriate to circle back around and summarize some of our earlier observations about paganism. As we have already observed, unlike Christianity, paganism was parochial in nature. While Christianity focused on One Supreme God of the universe and global salvation, paganism was highly individual and localized in nature. We have also noted that paganism wasn't exclusive. In other words, a person wasn't required to give up their allegiance to a god or gods if they decided to worship another god or gods. Christianity, on the other hand, demanded exclusivity. From the very beginning, Christian missionaries and evangelists demanded that pagans abandon their gods for the One True God of the Christians!

So, where is all of this leading us? What conclusions may we draw from contrasting paganism and Christianity? First, the monotheism of Christianity stands in stark contrast to the polytheism of paganism. Second, the local and personal nature of paganism is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the global nature and aims of Christianity. Third, the exclusivity of Christianity stands in sharp relief against the tolerance of paganism for multiple allegiances relative to the worship of other gods. Fourth, the fact that Christians are associated with a book (the Bible) and a set of beliefs and ethical standards is fundamentally different from the focus on cultic rituals associated with paganism. Fifth, the fact that we know so little about the gods and rituals of the pagans indicates that Christians had a high degree of success in both eradicating those practices and their memories and completely replacing them with their own faith. Hence, the narrative that Christians absorbed - and/or were eventually overwhelmed by - paganism is shown to be inconsistent with what we know and highly improbable. In short, the very nature of the two religions made them enemies of each other and set the stage for an existential contest between them.

Having discussed this phenomenon in very general terms, we will now take a closer look at one of the claims of pagan influence named by the proponents of this narrative. More particularly, we will look at their assertion that the cross is really a pagan symbol. On this subject, Woodrow noted that "It was not until Christianity began to be paganized (or, as some prefer, paganism was Christianized), that the cross image came to be thought of as a Christian symbol." However, this assertion by Woodrow does not even comport with what is revealed in Scripture!

In addition to all of the explicit references to the cross throughout the four gospels of the New Testament, we also have numerous references to the cross as a symbol of the new faith in the other writings that constitute that volume. For instance, Paul references it twice in his first epistle to the saints of Corinth (I Corinthians 1:17-18). Likewise, he referenced the cross as a symbol of the faith several times in his letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians (Galatians 5:11, 6:12, 14, Ephesians 2:16, Philippians 2:8, 3:18, Colossians 1:20, 2:14). Finally, the author of the epistle to the Hebrews encouraged his readers to look to "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

And, although the Catholic Encyclopedia, does discuss the fact that the cross was used as a symbol by both the Egyptians and other peoples of the East, it makes clear that the symbol was used by the Christian Church from the earliest times. We read there: "It is not, therefore, altogether strange or inconceivable that, from the beginning of the new religion, the cross should have appeared in Christian homes as an object of religious veneration, although no such monument of the earliest Christian art has been preserved. Early in the third century Clement of Alexandria ('Strom.', VI, in P. G., IX, 305) speaks of the Cross as tou Kyriakou semeiou typon , i.e. signum Christi , 'the symbol of the Lord' (St. Augustine, Tract. cxvii, 'In Joan.'; De Rossi, 'Bull. d'arch. crist', 1863, 35, and 'De titulis christianis Carthaginiensibus' in Pitra, 'Spicilegium Solesmense', IV, 503). The cross, therefore, appears at an early date as an element of the liturgical life of the faithful, and to such an extent that in the first half of the third century Tertullian could publicly designate the Christian body as 'crucis religiosi', i.e. devotees of the Cross (Apol., c. xvi, P. G., I, 365-66). St. Gregory of Tours tells us (De Miraculis S. Martini, I, 80) that in his time Christians habitually had recourse to the sign of the cross." Hence, we see that the cross was employed as a Christian symbol long before the Roman Emperor Constantine had his famous vision.

Concerning that event, Woodrow noted that "An outstanding factor that contributed to the adoration of the cross image within the Romish Church was the famous 'vision of the cross' and subsequent 'conversion' of Constantine." Woodrow then proceeded to recount the famous story of Constantine's vision of a cross and the message that he would be victorious in battle if he used that symbol as his standard. As they say, the rest is history. According to Woodrow, Constantine's victory "did much to further the use of the cross in the Romish Church." However, the flaw in his logic will become immediately apparent to those who have been paying attention to our timeline. In other words, Constantine could never have employed the cross in this capacity if it wasn't already a well-recognized symbol of Christianity!

Now, longtime readers of this blog are already aware that many of the other points which Hislop and Woodrow addressed in their treatises have already been examined here in detail. In times past, we have explored the pagan influences on Christmas, Easter and some saint's days. Hence, while the narrative about paganism's influence over Traditional Christianity has been extremely popular in some circles, upon closer examination, it simply falls apart - it does not hold up to a thorough review of the available evidence. However unlikely some folks may see it, both the New Testament and secular history make plain that Christianity triumphed over paganism and very nearly eradicated it altogether. Indeed, one only has to look into the practices of modern pagans to discern that most of their practices and rituals derive from the modern period (as very little knowledge of the original practices of those people has survived to our times). 

Sources:

Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife. Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland, 1853.

Woodrow, Ralph. Babylon Mystery Religion. Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association Inc., 1966, 1981.

Woodrow, Ralph. A Message from Ralph Woodrow regarding the book BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION – No Longer in Publication. Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, Accessed 22 March 2022.

Ehrman, Bart D. The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World. Simon and Schuster, 2019

Clarkson, Tim. The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings. Birlinn Ltd., 2019.

Catholic Encyclopedia Online, Archaeology of the Cross and Crucifix, Archæology of the Cross and Crucifix - Encyclopedia Volume - Catholic Encyclopedia - Catholic Online, Accessed 22 March 2022

The King James Version of The Holy Bible