Christianity Vs Paganism

In many ways Christianity and Paganism are inter-twined. They’ve existed along-side each other for nearly 2000 years and often share a language and culture. We’ve read several different literary sources, examining the similarities and differences between pagan texts and a few Christian texts and attempting to uncover Roman values embedded within the texts. The texts that I have selected to write over are the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Apuleius’s Golden Ass, and the section over magic from the book Backgrounds from Early Christianity. We see morals laid out in each of these books and writings. Each writing is from a different era and yet seems to have very similar values. These pagan writings have helped form what we know of today as Christianity.

Yet despite its serious subject matter, the novel remains imaginative, witty, and often sexually explicit. Numerous amusing stories, many of which seem to be based on actual folk tales, with their ordinary themes of simple-minded husbands, adulterous wives, and clever lovers, as well as the magical transformations that describe the entire novel, are included within the main narrative. Several stories in this book are explicit, you wouldn’t expect it to have an effect on a religion such as Christianity, but The Golden Ass does show signs of morality and Christian values throughout. The main character, Lucius, has a very addictive and selfish personality. Lucius lets his personality get in the way of his decision making. Lucius participates in acts of adultery, murder, lying, and witchcraft. These acts are unacceptable and immoral. Lucius is punished in different ways for each one of his immoral and unacceptable acts. I see a connection in the bible to these types of situations. The temptations of witchcraft that Lucius had ended poorly for him. Book three of The Golden Ass explains Lucius and Photis watch Milo's wife perform her witchcraft and transform herself into a bird. Attempting to copy her, Lucius accidentally turns himself into an ass. The temptation of the witchcraft is very close to the

The first theme I have found is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. It’s Matthew’s effort to tell the story of Jesus in the backyards and alleys of Jerusalem and beyond that Jesus was the Promised One, a true deliverer, the Messiah who came to establish the Kingdom of God. He was the hope that people needed. Apuleius has very similar explanations in The Golden Ass for Lucius. Lucius had no hope left when his life was nothing but troubles. He had to accept faith into his life and cleanse himself of his past sins. In the end, Lucius was able to find salvation through faith, transform back into human form and spread the word of faith through the miracles that he had experienced. The next theme I found was that God is the God of both grace and judgment. He is always forgiving, but he has the power to show that all actions are not accepted. It’s a life lesson for those who want to accept faith into their life. This brings out the Roman value of auctoritus meaning he is the authority. He has the power to judge all