Christian Cults In Roman Religion

According to ancient sources as well as contemporary academic researches, Christianity was significantly influenced by Hellenistic and Roman religion and Greek philosophy. Christianity in particular adopted many pagan features in its structure, terminology, cult and theology. In order, though to conceive of how Christianity triumphed over paganism, one should at first take a closer look at pagan cults and practices. This essay attempts to adduce the main characteristics of pagan cults, according to John North’s book Roman Religion, remark the major differences between pagan and Christian cults and, finally, produce several reasons about how paganism conduced to the rise and victory of Christianity.

To begin with, in order to comprehend the

Among local communities there were numerous cults and rituals that varied from place to place. Even families would perform their own religious activities under the supervision and orders of paterfamilias. In addition, women did not have an active role or did not participate in religious matters at all. Nonetheless, Romans were said to be the most religious of all men and they respected their gods and kept their oaths to them. Sometimes the pagan gods were perceived as thoughtful and rational and sometimes it appears they were looked upon as capricious and violent. So, people would give their gods human properties and attributes. Moreover, after the age of Julius Caesar the distinction between men and gods became unclear. In the same fashion, many Roman deities were not easily classified nor was the Roman Pantheon organized. Later, in 44 BC, the deification of emperors was inserted in Roman religion by Augustus, who declared his adoptive father Divus Julius. Not only that, but also the Senate permitted worship of Dea Roma, during the Roman expansion in Greece. Later, a temple of Roma was built and goddess Roma was worshipped in the city of

The Romans saw the Christians as a subset of Jews who had already been granted special privileges because of their unusual religion . Certainly, there were plenty of differences between pagans and Christians, so that the former would address Christianity as an unusual religion. Firstly, pagans worshiped idols and images and even deified humans. Indeed they believed in many gods, hence the pagan cult is a polytheistic one. They would sacrifice animals to their gods and they would offer to them games, rituals and vows in return for protection of the state . On the contrary, Christians believed in one “true”, as they would say, God and he was their Savior. Christianity is an anti-social and conservative religion. Also, Christians refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods and they would communicate with their God through prayers. Secondly, for pagans the rules of life were the concerns of the philosophers and not of the priests. Additionally, the pagan piety or “Ευσέβεια” was perceived as the proper way to execute sacrifices and rituals, regardless of the inner feelings for the divine. For Christians, priests were the communicators between God and men. Thirdly, paganism excluded women from the religious practices, while in Christianity both men and women were equal before God and had the same rights and