increasingly the church, a bastion of conservatism and traditionalism, has been confronted by the spectre of polytheists making a comeback in the land of the gods. Last year, Peppa's group, Ellinais, succeeded in gaining legal recognition as a cultural association in a country where all non-Christian religions, bar Islam and Judaism, are prohibited. As a result of the ruling, which devotees say paves the way for the Greek gods to be worshipped openly, the organisation hopes to win government approval for a temple in Athens where pagan baptisms, marriages and funerals could be performed. Taking the battle to archaeological sites deemed to be "sacred" is also part of an increasingly vociferous campaign.
It had to happen because Greece is part of western culture and the forces that have led to neo-pagans in Europe and America reclaiming their ancestral deities are operating there too. It is a further indication that we are dealing with cultural forces to do with post-modern and post-secular mindscapes.
We in the churches need to learn from each others experiences too. In this case, the Orthodox response is likely to inflame the matter as it bespeaks, for those who are most likely to be attracted by neo-paganism, dogmatism and power-politics trumping 'truth' or at least the right to believe whatever one wishes. If you don't get what I mean think 'Da Vinci Code' and you will probably have an immediate insight into the mindset.
However, it does nicely illustrate one of the ironies of these 'recovered' religions. You see they are never really the original; they are usually a set of symbolic themes on which to hang a set of contemporary concerns.
Like pagans the world over, Rassias says he was drawn to polytheism by the religion's focus on humanity, ecology, cosmic connections and reverence for the past. But, like many in Greece, the 48-year-old banker adds that he was also attracted because of "the brainwashing" of the Orthodox church.
It should be remembered that the ancient pagans were those who deforested the country now known as Greece and turned chunks of it into wasteland and scrub. It is worth noting to the personalities of the deities which have little to commend them in terms of 'humanity' and 'cosmic connections'. We need to read this deeper than the symbolic value of the pantheon. Here are the spiritual concerns of contemporary western humanity: unhomed, uprooted, decontextualised and looking for humanity and a sense of transcendent significance. Note too that the church has done too good a job of contextualising in modernity: we have become widowers in the post-modern age.
By Zeus! | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited: Filed in: polytheism, paganism, Hellenic, Zeus, Orthodoxy
2 comments:
It always aggrevates me when stout monotheists likes yourself assumes to know anything at all about polytheism. What do you really know?
Should I as a polytheist, a follower of "a set of symbolic themes on which to hang a set of contemporary concerns" as you so intolerantly put it, tell you all about what it's like to be a christian? About how intolerant yours and every other monotheistic religion is, and how much polytheistic blood has been spilt due to your "missionary" handywork worldwide? No?
"It should be remembered that the ancient pagans were those who deforested the country ..." Do you have any proof of that this was done because they were pagans, or was it simply because they were humans? Again no?
"It is worth noting to the personalities of the deities which have little to commend them in terms of 'humanity' and 'cosmic connections'". Again your intolerant attitudes shows. What do you really know about polytheism? I put it to you, that you know absolutely nothing. It's just the same old intolerant, monotheistic hear-say, a lie perpetuated thru millenia. But a lie never becomes a truth, regardless even if it's repeated a billion times.
Oh dear. I do feel sad when someone [a] displays the same characteristics they are decrying and [b] don't really read what is written in the first place before 'going off on one' as my children would say.
Irenesson. Though I doubt you will return to read my reply and though I even suspect you of being a troll, I will try to show briefly why I think that what you have written is unfair.
Firstly, what you write decries intolerance but your own characterising of me displays similar and adds to it a level of attribution and prejudice which serves your argument badly because the attributions are wide of the mark and seem to be based on prejudices of Christians which do not appear to apply in my own case. What do you really know about me? you assume that I don't know about polytheism but how do you know I haven't been one in the past? Or that I haven't had significant contact with polytheists? You don't.
As it happens I do know something of polytheism and what I have done in my remarks is to draw attention to some of the cultural characteristics it displays in a contemporary western context. If they don't apply to you that is fine, but they certainly do apply to many. I believe that the observations I make could have been largely made by an agnostic, atheist or even some neo-pagan academics whom I know of. I suggest you read again what I wrote without all of the prejudicial (though probably understandable) baggage.
If you wish to defend polytheism in terms of the contemporary cultural trends I outline [and in fact took from the reported words of one of the polytheists in question], then you really should do so by offering an alternative account and proper corrections. Name calling doesn't help. "Argument weak; shout louder"?
I merely note that the contemporary themes the interviewee articulates bear little relationship to real ancient polytheism as far as we can discern it. Are you denying this (or merely seeking an occasion to vent a sense of grievance)? I would be really interested if you had any evidence to the contrary. I don't deny that modern pagans value those things, merely that they weren't high priorities for the ancients and that, as modern neo-pagan scholars are recognising (for example Graham Harvey), contemporary neo-paganism is largely a modern construct.
I think that there is little doubt in circles that study such things, that the cultural background is very significant in new religious movements, and that is what I was reflecting into the news report.
I'm more than happy to be pointed to further evidence. Over to you ...
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