Customer Reviews

Christianity: The Origins of a Pagan Religion

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thank you, thank you Philippe Walter, for releasing this book! I know it hasn't gotten that much attention, but I really hope it does. Walter examines historically and accurately the origins of Christian holidays (Pagan, Pagan, Pagan) and analyzes them in such a way that it is easy and non-threatening for anyone to read. It is well-organized, well-written and accurate. A very good addition to the religious scholar's library, or even a great read checked out from the library.

The book is well researched and provides and insightful background to the pre-christian tradition of early western and central Europeans. While we are very familiar with the host of fairy tales that stem from Germany, think brothers Grimm, we are not so familiar with those of France, and the British Isles. One of the reason as presented in the book is because of home these story of early fairies and little people were incorporated into the traditions and culture of the western Christian church. While this book does explore the history of Christianity pagan roots, the book is also valuable in regards to being a collection of short tales on the different western fairy folktales.

This is a definite must read for every Christian out there. It will have you asking yourself and your priest, minister, pastor, etc. many questions regarding biblical passages that have been taught throughout the ages as being historical facts. Very well written.

Walter presents his book as an introduction to a study of the pagan roots of myths and legends adapted by medieval European Christianity. His conclusion: "Many scholars have attributed to Christianity what rightfully belonged to the Indo-European world." While he does occasionally bring in allusions to pre-Christian Indo-Europoean themes, Walter concentrates on Celtic and primarily Gallic material. This is fine, as far as it goes. Walter, a French professor of medieval literature, limits his investigation to the area of his expertise, and he does a good job of exposing and explaining the pagan origins of many medieval Christian legends. I have titled my review "A Missing Link" because it is just one link in a more complete investigation of the chain of theological themes that begin in neolithic times and pass through Christianity to a modern understanding of the psychological underpinnings of religious paractice in general. I gave the book only four stars for Walter's failure to expand upon his hints about the solar (celestial), agricultural, and psychological impulses behind the myths he examines. But then, he sets out in the beginning that he is limiting his review to Celtic motifs, and he does admit that this work is an introduction to a larger study. The book is of special interest to those who want to expand their knowledge of Celtic paganism, but it is of limited use in exploring these larger themes, and it does not touch on the more basic mythology of Christianity at all.

This books falls very short of my expectations. Instead of reviewing ancient religions, and how they became transformed and adapted, the book concentrates on a few European predecessors, some of which may have given rise to some of the practices in use today.

Philippe Walter "is a professor of medieval French literature at Universite Stendahl in Grenoble. He has published numerous books on the Middle Ages..."

He writes in the Introduction to this 2003 book, "(We ask) how to define the pre-Christian mythological contexts... into which Christianity was inserted and which Christianity put to work on its behalf. There is, in fact, on the periphery of biblical Christianity, an archaic memory of traditions, superstitions, and legends that forms an authentic mythology and possess no biblical justification."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"It is undeniable, however, that (Saint Martin) gives us a key to understanding the masking of paganism by Christianity starting in the first centuries of evangelization, in the fifth or sixth century... it was not until this era that the program of Christianization later described by Pope Gregory was put into place. This involved Christianity's annexing of paganism's sacred sites (trees, springs, stones of worship)... and the Christian reformulation of ancient mythology into a doctrinal context that conformed to the gospels." (Pg. 38)
"Perhaps this Midnight Mass supplanted the pagan rite of a communion meal with beings from the Otherworld... Here again, Christianity borrowed pagan tradition and conferred upon it a new spiritual dimension." (Pg. 55)
"With its foliage that remains green even during the cold season, the spruce tree naturally became a symbol of immortality, perennial nature, and the Nativity of the Savior." (Pg. 69)
"Christianity extended paganism by introducing another kind of logic into the pagan elements it preserved or by scattering the exploded symbols of myth over the wheel of Time." (Pg. 72)
"The Easter Bunny, for example, is a springtime reincarnation of the Wild and belongs among the host of magical animals that haunted the medieval imagination." (Pg. 100)
"On this point (cult stones), as on so many others, Christianity was forced to tolerate ancestral practices that quite obviously had no Christian basis." (Pg. 137)