As we have seen in past posts, the early Jesus movement – which ultimately became Christianity – originated in a polytheistic environment: people of the Roman Empire worshiped multiple female and male deities. This means that Jesus himself, his earliest followers and those who later identified as Christians lived and worked among devotees of Aphrodite/Venus, […]
As we have seen in other posts, the city of Philippi in northern Greece was significant in the growth of the so-called “Christ cult” in the first century. St. Paul wrote a letter to the Jesus followers at Philippi, which has come down to us in the New (Christian) Testament and is a major reason […]
The Via Egnatia, which ran from Constantinople in the east to Dyrrachium, Albania, in the west, was one portion of the more than 50,000 miles of well-built roads of the Roman Empire. It was along the Via Egnatia, in part, that St. Paul and his companions spread the Christian message, visiting friends and family, preaching […]
On several occasions, we have examined aspects of the ancient city of Philippi in northern Greece. We have noted its connection with St. Paul, including archaeological evidence for women’s involvement in pagan cults and Roman religion as the early Jesus movement was growing, and we noted how women may have carved the unique rock reliefs […]
Once in awhile, it’s an interesting exercise to explore the more obscure characters in early Christian literature. For moderns, an obscure character in an ancient religious document might seem far from important; she or he might well be the figment of someone’s imagination and the surrounding story a complete work of meaningless fiction. Here I […]
In our previous post, we examined the pagan backgrounds of Christian practices that take place most often in Sunday worship services. Here we will look at special liturgies of the Christian church and miscellaneous Christian practices that have roots in the goddess and god cults of antiquity. Special liturgies Weddings and marriage. According to the […]
As we have noted on several occasions, Western civilization as we know it emerged in a polytheistic (multi-deity) environment from the earliest times. The beginnings of the West as we know it today can be traced to the Middle East. The Jewish man Jesus of Nazareth lived from about 4 BCE (Before the Common Era) […]
The thoughts and prayers of Americans and citizens around the world are with the Ukrainian people in their time of crisis. With the news changing almost hourly, we cannot begin to chart in this space what is happening on the ground. Instead, we will here try to offer some perspective on their very ancient and […]
We have examined the legacy of St. Paul and his letters to the early Christian communities several times in the past. We have noted that one of the ways that Paul communicated with original Jesus followers in the first century was through his letters (epistles) and that a number of letters in the New (Christian) […]
Those of us who love Pompeii will be happy to know that research there continues, which is always good news for a site that is frequently in danger of succumbing to the elements, political exigencies and funding shortages. Scholars in religious studies, classics, archaeology and other fields routinely reveal new evidence from excavations and novel […]