Christianity and Paganism

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses medieval literature and assesses the role played by Christianity and Paganism. The paper explains that medieval writers used allegory to build a universe that was seemingly as wondrous, but more stable, than that of the pagan imagination. They used concepts with which pagans had long been familiar to construct a world in which individuals could no longer roam alone without the benefit of priests and be safe. Medieval theologians complicated what had once been simple, if at times frightening. One can infer from this that the medieval mind viewed the world as dangerous; magic had been one way to control it. However, it appeared that magic sometimes failed. It would be tempting, then, to accept a belief system that promised it would never fail, at least not in the long run in the next life. That there was no way to empirically prove the truth of this would not have bothered the medieval populace very much; after all, they had been long used to accepting the invisible and ineffable in the far less ordered cosmos of the pagan world.

From the Paper:

"While that may have been a simple concept, thousands of years of paganism doubtless made it difficult for the new hierarchy to hold the population's attention on the new approach to life and death. It was probably tempting for people not far removed from the simple, nature-based practices of pagan rites to use those, rather than bring their desires to an intermediary. Instead of having the perceived ability to control their worlds, they were obliged to seek, instead, comfort from a priest whose promise had nothing to do with saving today's crops and warding off starvation by invoking the local corn goddess; the priest's promise was that God would deliver whatever was best for them in good time but, even if the crops failed and they starved, he promised a greater reward in the hereafter."

More papers on Christianity and Paganism:

• Analytical Essay # 4596 : "Beowulf: Christianity and Paganism"
• Term Paper # 120209 : "Early Christianity and the Reason to Believe"
• Term Paper # 127354 : "Christian and Pagan Syncretism in the Middle Ages"

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