"If Christianity is an integral part of Euro-American cultural heritage, so too is Pagan revivalism" : this is the absolute truth, even if some people (on both sides) don't want to admit it.
I slightly disagree with you on one point : I don't think we can call Julian a "revivalist" since he didn't have to try to "revive" anything. Nothing was "dead" yet.
Interesting! I would have thought that, here in Turkey where I live, certain pagan practices (such as fortune-telling) had survived the advent, either of both Christianity and Islam, or of the latter at least to the Turks before their invasion.
Anyway, I see that Wikipedia attributes the Tempio Malatestiano to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417–1468), not the later Sigismondo Malatesta whom you name
Apologies - I got the dates wrong. I've corrected them now.
Various practices do survive religious transitions, such as that from Pagan to Christianity. The survival theory has some truth in it - but in the C19/20 it became massively exaggerated and you got people like Gardner essentially taking the piss. Another way of looking at it is that certain practices are timeless, fortune-telling among them.
Linda Johnsen wrote a very good book called "Lost Masters: Rediscovering the Mysticism of the Ancient Greek Philosophers" which describes the variety of spiritual traditions in the ancient world when Christianity came on the scene. I believe that these were all considered to be 'Pagan' after the ascendancy of Christianity but most have nothing to do with smelly ferals dancing in the forest. Many of these teachers were equal or superior to Jesus in their knowledge.
"If Christianity is an integral part of Euro-American cultural heritage, so too is Pagan revivalism" : this is the absolute truth, even if some people (on both sides) don't want to admit it.
I slightly disagree with you on one point : I don't think we can call Julian a "revivalist" since he didn't have to try to "revive" anything. Nothing was "dead" yet.
Interesting! I would have thought that, here in Turkey where I live, certain pagan practices (such as fortune-telling) had survived the advent, either of both Christianity and Islam, or of the latter at least to the Turks before their invasion.
Anyway, I see that Wikipedia attributes the Tempio Malatestiano to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417–1468), not the later Sigismondo Malatesta whom you name
Apologies - I got the dates wrong. I've corrected them now.
Various practices do survive religious transitions, such as that from Pagan to Christianity. The survival theory has some truth in it - but in the C19/20 it became massively exaggerated and you got people like Gardner essentially taking the piss. Another way of looking at it is that certain practices are timeless, fortune-telling among them.
Linda Johnsen wrote a very good book called "Lost Masters: Rediscovering the Mysticism of the Ancient Greek Philosophers" which describes the variety of spiritual traditions in the ancient world when Christianity came on the scene. I believe that these were all considered to be 'Pagan' after the ascendancy of Christianity but most have nothing to do with smelly ferals dancing in the forest. Many of these teachers were equal or superior to Jesus in their knowledge.