Christianization
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St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas. |
The historical phenomenon of
Christianization, the
conversion of individuals to
Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once (a political shift as much as a spontaneous mass shift in individual consciences), also includes the practice of converting
pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses. In
Antiquity, Christianization was effected only partly through laws against sacrifice and sorcery and official conversions of temples to Christian churches. It was effected also by the degradation of pagan gods into
daimones and the Christianization of existing rites.
In many cases, re-use of pre-Christian activities and beliefs was officially sanctioned; preserved in the
Venerable Bede's
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a letter from
Pope Gregory I to
Mellitus, arguing that it conversions were easier if people were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditions, while claiming that the traditions were in honour of the Christian God, "to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God". In essence, it was intended that the traditions and practices still existed, but that the reasoning behind them was forgotten. The existence of
syncretism in Christian tradition has long been recognised by scholars, and in recent times many of the instances of syncretism have also been acknowledged by the
Roman Catholic church.
This practice of Christianization has at times been relatively peaceful and at times has been a very violent process, ranging from inspired works of charity which convinced populations to adopt Christianity to forced conversions.
When Yale historian Ramsay MacMullen treated the Christianization of the Roman Empire, he divided his book in two sections, before and after the year 312, which marked the momentous conversion of
Constantine. Constantine ended the persecution of Christianity (and other religions) with the
Edict of Milan, so that paganism was no longer the only acceptable religion. Whether or not Constantine himself was a proponent of what was to follow is contested. Under Constantine's successors, Christianization of Roman society proceeded by fits and starts, as John Curran recently documented in detail (Curran 2000). Constantine's sons, for example, banned official pagan sacrifices in 341, but did not close the temples. Although all temples in all cities were ordered shut in 356, there is evidence that traditional sacrifices continued. Under
Julian, the temples were reopened and sacrifices legalized once more. When
Gratian declined the position and title of
Pontifex Maximus, his act effectively brought an end to the state religion; however, Gratian did not ban pagan worship by individuals. The temples remained open until
Theodosius I made the ancient cults illegal, bringing the era of religious toleration decisively to an end.
After Rome was declared a Christian Empire by Theodosius in 389, laws were passed against pagan worship over the course of the following years. Those who continued to worship the pagan gods were often imprisoned, tortured, and put to death. Many of the ancient pagan temples were subsequently defiled, sacked, and destroyed, or converted into Christian sites. As such, the Christianization attributed to Constantine eventually became a very violent process under Theodosius.
Humanistic studies of Antiquity and the
Reformation combined in the sixteenth century to produce works of scholarship marked by an agenda that was occupied with identifying Roman Catholic practices with paganism, and identifying the emerging Protestant churches with a purgative "re-Christianization" of society.. The sober Lutheran scholar
Philip Melanchthon produced his
Apologia Confessionis Augustanae (1530) detailing the rites derived from paganism.
Heinrich Bullinger,
De origine erroris libris duo (1539) detailed the pagan "origins of (Catholic) errors".
Isaac Casaubon,
De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticus exercitationes (1614) makes a third familiar example, where sound scholarship was somewhat compromised by sectarian pleading. Thus such pagan precedents for Christian practice have tended to be downplayed or even sometimes dismissed by Christian
apologists as a form of Protestant apologetics.
The 20th century saw more purely historical inquiries, free of sectarian bias; an early historicist classic in this field of study was
Jean Seznec's
The Survival of the Pagan Gods: the mythological tradition and its place in Renaissance humanism and the arts. (1972).
When referring to
Northern Europe, the means of this conversion were chiefly
Proselytism directed towards
monarchs and
chieftains whose people then followed their conversion, on the pattern established by the baptism of
Clovis, King of the Franks.
The Christianization of Poland provides an example of this process. The "Baptism of Poland" (
Polish:
Chrzest Polski) in
966 refers to the baptism of
Mieszko I, the first ruler of a united Polish state. His baptism was followed by the building of churches and the establishment of an ecclesiastical hierarchy. Mieszko saw baptism as a way of strengthening his hold on power, with the active support he could expect from the bishops, as well as a unifying force for the Polish people. Mieszko's action proved highly successful; by the
13th century,
Roman Catholicism had become the dominant
religion in Poland.
Crusades against the
Wends, the present-day
Baltic countries and
Finland were also organized, although it is disputed how much these served a religious purpose or the power ambitions of kings,
princes and
noble bishops.
In long-settled and urban areas of Europe, Christianizing the indigenous populations also involved the
conversion of both
Muslims and
Jews. The Christian sources describe and justify the punishments meted out to the intransigent, but ordinarily omit instances of coercion. In
Valencia Spain, for instance, the Catholic sources tell that Saint
Vincent Ferrer preached so successfully, converting thousands of Jews, that he was permitted to employ the synagogue for his newly-founded hospital of San Salvador.
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Physical Christianization: he choir of San Salvatore, Spoleto, occupies the cella of a Roman temple. |
Few Christian churches built in the first half millennium of the established Christian Church were not built upon sites already consecrated as pagan temples or
mithraea, the church of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva (literally
Saint Mary above Minerva) in
Rome being simply the most obvious example.
Sulpicius Severus, in his
Vita of
Martin of Tours, a dedicated destroyer of temples and sacred trees, remarks "wherever he destroyed heathen temples, there he used immediately to build either churches or monasteries" (
Vita, ch xiii), and when Benedict took possession of the site at
Monte Cassino, he began by smashing the sculpture of Apollo and the altar that crowned the height.
The British Isles and other areas of northern Europe that were formerly
druidic are still densely punctuated by
holy wells and holy springs that are now attributed to some
saint, often a highly local saint unknown elsewhere; in earlier times many of these were seen as guarded by supernatural forces such as the
melusina, and many such pre-Christian holy wells appear to survive as baptistries
[paper read in 1999 by Samuel J. Barnish]. Not all pre-Christian holy places were respected enough for them to survive, however, as most ancient European
sacred groves, such as the great
Irminsul (whose location is now lost, but was possibly located at
Externsteine), were destroyed by Christianising forces.
The
historicity of several saints has often been treated sceptically by most academics, either because there is a paucity of historical evidence for them, or due to striking resemblances that they have to pre-Christian deities. In 1969 the Roman Catholic church officially decanonised some Christian Saints, demoted others, and pronounced the historicity of others to be dubious. Though highly popular in the Middle Ages, many of these such saints have since been largely forgotten since, and their names may now seem quite unfamiliar. The most prominent amongst these is
Saint Eustace, who was extremely popular in earlier times, but scholars now see as a
chimera composed from details of several other Saints. Many of these figures of dubious historicity appear to be based on figures from pre-Christian myth and legend,
Saint Sarah, for example, also known as
Sarah-la-Kali, is thought by scholars to be a Christianisation of
Kali, a hindu deity.
Other more obviously Christian figures, such as certain bishops whose existence are widely attested in historic literature, and central figures such as
Mary, the mother of Jesus,
Michael, the archangel, and
Satan, are not however, without later legendary additions to their more historic narratives. Not only are there
apocryphal writings such as the
Home-going of the virgin Mary (about her death), but much iconography associated with certain figures, such as with Michael and with Mary, is suspected by several historians to be Christianisation of earlier iconography that originally concerned other, non-Christian, figures. The similarity of Christian depictions of demons to several pre-Christian deities, and deity-related figures such as
Satyrs, has lead several scholars to argue that the stereotypical Christian depiction of Satan, and of demons in general, was deliberate demonisation of benign figures from rival religions.
Several Christian feasts occupy moments in the year that were formerly devoted to pagan celebrations. Familiar examples are the Roman
Saturnalia, converted to
Christmas, the festivities of
Yule in northern Europe, the name of
Eostre converted to English "
Easter" to identify the Paschal festival, the celebration of
Midsummer Day as the birthday feast of
John the Baptist, and the celebrations of the
Feast of the Lemures and of Celtic
Samhain combined and transferred to the eve of
All Saints' Day a.k.a.
Halloween.
Christians in authority frowned upon the riot and disorder of the pre-Christian festivals; in regard to Yule,.the friend and biographer of
Saint Eligius recorded that the bishop called the "Apostle to the Frisians" would caution his flock
[Do not] make vetulas, (little figures of the Old Woman), little deer or iotticos or set tables at night (for the house-elf, compare Puck) or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks. However, such pre-Christian activities proved hard to supress, and several edicts were given that instruct missionaries to attempt to absorb earlier traditions into Christianity so as to distract people from their pre-Christian gods; All Souls' Day was for example accepted by
Odilo (died 1048) in the
Cluniac monasteries, and its observance spread through the Celtic north before it was introduced into Italy.
The obvious connection to Jewish rituals of Christian practices such as the
Eucharist and
Baptism, is often argued to be by design. Christian tradition places these Christian use of these activities as having originated in the life of Jesus, as attested by the Biblical narratives (e.g. the
Baptism of Jesus for Baptism, and
Last Supper for the Eucharist), and the Biblical incidents are said to be examples of Jewish ritual (e.g. Baptism as ritual cleansing, and the
Last Supper as a
passover seder). However, these practices are also present in several non-Christian, non-Jewish, ancient religions, a fact that made several
church fathers uncomfortable. So similar were the practices of major rivals, such as
Mithraism, and so obviously did they occur before the existence of Christianity, and unconnected to Judaism, that church fathers such as
Tertullian and
Justin Martyr argued that Satan himself had given the rituals to the rival religions, as a sort-of prophetic mockery. According to several secular scholars, the fact that even early Christian church fathers admitted that the other religions used these rituals, and that they admitted the other religions used them first, suggests that Christianity adopted them from these sources, and the biblical narrative was invented later to justify Christian usage.
Although
the cross is currently the most common symbol of Christianity, and has been for many centuries, it only came to prominence during the fourth century, and was not particularly associated with christianity before that time. According to Christian tradition, the cross is a reference to the
crucifixion of Jesus, and the
crucifix is a more obvious, and some would say gruesome, version of such a reference. However, due to the highly ambiguous nature of the Greek terms used in the bible for his
crucifixion, it may be the case that the correct translation actually points to Jesus having just been tied to a single stake of wood, rather than the cross shaped device in traditional depictions; though Christian translations into English often render these terms as
nailed to a cross, they could equally mean
nailed to a tree and
nailed to a wooden pole, which was another common method of
crucifixion in the Roman empire - the hands being tied above the head.
Crosses, however, were important symbols of several pre-Christian religions, including hinduism where the
Swastika, now somewhat tainted due to its 20th century use by
Nazis, was originally a prominent holy symbol, and the religion of
Ancient Egypt where the increasingly cross-shaped
Ankh was regarded as a symbol of life itself. The main early christianity communities centred on Alexandria and Rome, and it is thought likely that the Alexandrian Christians adopted the Ankh, while the Rome-based Christians adopted the cross from influences such as depictions of
Bacchus with his head covered by cross symbols. Those who see Jesus as simply a Jewish form of the Osiris-Dionysus mythology consider the use of the Ankh symbol as an obvious continuation, while other scholars consider that it was adopted due to Christianity valuing its metaphysical connotations.
The predecessor of the cross as the main Christian symbol was the
labarum, a symbol formed by overlaying the first two letters of the Greek word for
christ in the Greek alphabet.
Constantine I is widely considered to have introduced the symbol into Christianity, but the symbol itself predates this, and was also used by the major religion of
Sol Invictus, due to its prior use as a major symbol representing good fortune. Prior to Christianity, the symbol had become considered to represent auspiciousness since it was earlier the symbol of
Chronos, the Greek deity of time itself, whose name it forms the
monogram of, in much the same way as it monograms an epithet given by Christians to Jesus.
Although Christian tradition argues that Constantine chose the labarum because
he had a vision that lead him to convert to Christianity, Constantine's supposed conversion is disputed by many historians since he continued using clearly Sol Invictus related symbolism and wording on his currency for his entire life, remained the
Pontifex Maximus of Mithraism/
Ancient Roman religion for his entire life, and was only baptised on his deathbed, and even that is disputed since the only witnesses were the same people that claimed that Constantine had been Christian for much longer. Most secular historians see Constantine's motive for choosing the labarum as political rather than supernatural or religious, with him deliberately making his banner one which could be interpreted as supporting either of the two major religions of the Roman Empire at the time; Constantine saw unity and conformity as the way to achieve political stability, and spent a great deal of time attempting to reduce division (for example by holding the
Council of Nicea to settle the question of
Arianism). Although many Christian groups treat the symbol as having always been exclusively Christian, certain Protestant groups, particularly
Restorationists support the conclusions of secular scholars, and consequently regard the symbol as non-Christian, disowning it.
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Construction diagram of the Vesica Piscis, showing the Ichthys symbol within it |
Prior to the labarum, the main Christian symbol, and the earliest, was a fish-like symbol now known as
Ichthys (which is just the Greek word for
fish). There are several explanations given by Christian tradition for the choice of the symbol: that it was a reference to the
feeding of the multitude; that it referred to some of
the apostles having previously been fishermen; or that the word
Christ was pronounced by Jews in a similar way to the Hebrew word for
fish (though
Nunah is the normal Hebrew word for fish, making this seem unlikely). The Icthys symbol is near-identical to the
tailed form of the
vesica piscis, an earlier symbol with a strong mystical significance to the ancient
Pythagoreans, whose influence imbued the mediterranian
mystery religions which surrounded nascent Christianity, and therefore scholars have become split on the probability that Christianity adopted the symbol as a result of influence from pythagorean use of it. Those who think that
Christianity was originally a mystery religion have argued that Christian adoption of the symbol is a logical result of Christianity deriving from such religions.
*Curran, John 2000.
Pagan City and Christian Capital. (Oxford) ISBN 0-19-815278-7.
Reviewed by Fred S. Kleiner in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 20*Kaplan, Steven 1984
Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia (in series
Studien zur Kulturkunde) ISBN 3515039341
*
Kerenyi, Karl,
Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life 1976.
*MacMullen, Ramsay,
Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100 – 400 Yale University Press (paperback, 1986 ISBN 0300036426 )
*Trombley, Frank R., 1995.
Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529 (in series
Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) (Brill) ISBN 9004096914
*Vesteinsson, Orri, 2000.
The Christianization of Iceland: Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300 (Oxford:Oxford University Press) ISBN 0198207999
*
Jorge Quiroga and Monica R. Lovelle, "Ciudades atlánticas en transición: La "ciudad" tardo-antigua y alto-medieval en el noroeste de la Península Ibérica (s.V-XI)" from
Archeologia Medievale vol xxvii (1999), pp 257–268 Christianizing Late Antique Roman sites from the 6th century onwards.
*
Sceptical account of the remains under St Peter's Basilica*
Catholic apologist account of the remains under St Peter's Basilica*
The Christianised calendar*
Christianised Myths and Imagery*
Christianised sites*
Christianised rituals*
Germanic Christianity for the Christianization of the Germanic peoples
*
Religious intolerance*
Crusades*
Persecution of Asatruers*
Persecution of Ancient Greek religion*
Persecution of Muslims*
Christian terrorism
