The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. This was accomplished, not by any slavish process of imitation, but by {a} serious attempt to meet better the specific religious needs that the mysteries had awakened and nourished, and by phrasing religious assurances more convincingly in similar terminology.\[Footnote:] Case, The Mystery Religions, The Encyclopedia of Religion, Edited by Vergilius Ferm, pp. Still others felt that, after the death of Jesus, the disciples saw in their common meal an opportunity to hold a kind of memorial service for him. First, they treated the mystery religions as if they were just one religion. Martin Luther King Jr. titled "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity."King wrote it around the . 5. #1,225 in History of Christianity (Books) That is, with this study you have made, we see the philosophy both of Religion and History. During her short stay at the temple of Eleusis, the whole earth grew barren. cit., p. 257.\ Other Egyptian records speak of another feast in honour of all the dead, when such lamps were lit, which was held about November 8th.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 258.\20, It is interesting to note that the Christian feast of all Souls, in honor of the dead, likewise falls at the beginning of November; and in many countries lamps and candles are burned all night on that occassion. This universal law is expecially true of religion. The Roman aristocrats multiplied their efforts to maintain the piety of the mysteries, and the pagan philosophers tried to refine their theology by oversubtle interpretations. The origin of this cult is obscure and uncertain. The preceding paragraph is similar to passages in two of Kings earlier papers: Light on the Old Testament from the Ancient Near East, 14 September24 November 1948, p. 163 in this volume; A Study of Mithraism, p. 212 in this volume. People were free to move from one country to another and became cosmopolitan. Was Christianity Originally a Mystery Religion? Because these religions believed there was just one god, they prohibited worshiping other gods. The Christian theologian Origen wrote in the 3rd century that it was part of the divine plan that Christ was born under the emperor Augustus: the whole Mediterranean world was united by the Romans, and the conditions for missionary work were more favourable than ever before. Mystery Religions and Christianity . Grant Showerman, introduction to Franz Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (Chicago: Open House Publishing Company, 1911), pp. He had left behind the secret whereby men could achieve the goal with him.\[Footnote:] Enslin, op. While Herodotus fails to give a date for this festival, Plutarch says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian claendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, op. Benjamin Cain. Christianity, however, [strikeout illegible] survived because it appeared to be the result of a trend in the social order or in the historical cycle of the human race. Each following {year} there was a great festival in commemoration of his resurrection, and the very words, The Lord is risen, were probable used. In the spring, those who had shared Demeters grief for the loss of her daughter welcomed the return of Persephone with all the joy that the returning life of vegetation might kindle. To make their case, they cite extensive lists of apparent similarities between . Mystery cults continue to vex scholars because the surviving evidence is problematic, comprising a few written sources, mostly late in date, and often with questionable aims and biases. Mithra hears all, sees all, knows all: none can deceive him., 34. The Greco-Roman world in which the early church developed was one of diverse religions. At an early date there was associated with Cybele, the Great Mother, a hero-divinity called Attic who personified the life of the vegetable world particularly. 115116: Now one of the earliest seats of Christianity was Antioch; but in that city there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Tammuz or Adonis, This faith had always exerted its influence on Jewish thought, and, indeed, the prophet Ezekiel had found it necessary to scold the women of Jerusalem for weeping for the dead Tammuz at the very gate of the Temple; while, in the end, the place at Bethlehem selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus (for want to [sic] any knowledge as to where the event had really occurred) was none other than an early shrine of this pagan god, as St. Jerome was horrified to discovera fact which shows that Tammuz or Adonis ultimately became confused in mens minds with Jesus Christ., 16. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, pp. (4) The rebirth of converts was a fundamental idea in the two cults. Download The Mysteries of Mithras Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle. Even Christian apologist had to admit that fact. 2. Esoteric . Firstly, she was pictured as the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and secondly she was commended as the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. They prepared the people mentally and emotionally to understand the type of religion which Christianity represented. Mystery religions, as a rule, can be traced back to tribal origins, Christianity to a historical person. 116, 117.\13, There can hardly be any doubt of the fact that these ceremonies and beliefs strongly coloured the interpretation placed by the first Christians upon the life and death of the historic Jesus.14 Moreover, the merging of the worship of Attis into that of Jesus was effected without interruption, for these pagan ceremonies were enacted in a sanctuary on the Vatican Hill, which was afterwards taken over by the Christians, and the mother church of St. Peter now stands upon the very spot.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 117.\, Another popular religion which influenced the thought of early Christians was the worship of Adonis. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. Loisy, Alfred. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Neoplatonism resonated with the mystery religions because of its idea of (p. 236), The Stoic idea of logos expresses that the world is governed by (p. 235), The Gospels, which presented Christianity as a distinct religion, were written (p. 232) and more. 116117: With [the Great Mother] was associated a hero-divinity called Attis who personified the life of the vegetable world particularly. Around these two divinities, the Great Mother and the god of vegetation, there grew up a confused tangle of myths in explanation of their cult rites. Show more. The preceding four sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 224 in this volume. Therefore it is necessary to study the historical and social factors that contributed to the growth of Christianity. 511513\, The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. Question 10 1 out of 1 points It is likely that Christianity borrowed from the mystery religions, but when Christianity did this was hundreds of years after it began, and thus has nothing to do with the core of Christian proclamation. Here are my top five reasons mystery religions did not influence Christianity . Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 41: In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, it is necessary clearly to keep in mind the main points of the Eleusinian myth which was developed to explain and justify the cult rites. Willoughby quoted from Apollonius Argonautica 1.1098 ff. The conditions of that era made it possible for these religions to sweep like a tidal wave over the ancient world. S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity (London: John Murray, 1925)~ p. vii: "These Mysteries covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabiri to the fervours of the Hermetic Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. But, as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as Dominus, Lord, Sunday must have been the Lords Day long before Christian times. December 25th was the birthday of the sun-god, and particularly of Mithra, and was only taken over in the Fourth Century as the date, actually unknown, of the birth of Jesus.. The people of that age were eager and zealous in their search for religious experience. Whatever the religious doctrines of the Masonic sect it is plain that they do not embrace the central Christian . It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of . Supporters of the theory incorrectly assume that Christianity borrowed many of its ideas from the mystery religions, but the evidence reveals it was actually the other way around. It was suppressed by the Christians sometime in the latter part of the fourth century a.d.; but its collapse seems to have been due to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and practices had been adopted by the church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival.31, Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but at the time of Christ he had come to be co-equal with Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Being.32 He possessed many attributes, the most important being his office of defender of truth and all good things. Mystery. Esoteric Christianity teaches that Christianity is a mystery religion and that only a small minority of people ever achieve the enlightenment necessary to crack the arcane teachings of the Bible and truly know God. Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and institute in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life.26, The significance of this story is immediately clear. The simultaneousness of the propagation of the mystery religions and of Christianity and the striking similarities between them, however, demand some explanation of their relationship. Yet they all died out within a couple of centuries of the Christian era, Gnosticism (apart from a few vestigial groups in the Near East and Europe) subsuming their heritage last. They encouraged the movement away from the state religions and the philosophical systems and toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality. The Easter ceremonies rivalled the pagan spring festivals. [also note from page3]: This Dover edition, first published in 1975, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the second (1928) edition of the work originally published by John Murray, in London, in 1925 under the title The Mystery-Religions and Christianity. This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. Knowledge condemns. " King wrote . 121122: In Rome the festival of his death and resurrection was annually held from March 22nd to 25th; and the connection of this religion with Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adopted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lords passion., 13. In winter vegetable life was dead while Demeter, the giver of life, grieved for the loss of her daughter. The staggering question that now arises is, what will be the next stage of mans religious progress? King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Crozer Theological Seminary). London, 1928. (3) All offered mystical cleansing from sin. Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious belief and praxis.Sacred mysteries may be either: Religious beliefs, rituals or practices which are kept secret from the uninitiated. Eastern Roman Empire is considered among the most influential empires of the . The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 211 in this volume. Mithraism, a sect of Zoroastrianism characterized by the worship of Mithra as the defender of the truth, was a monotheistic mystery religion prevalent in the Roman empire before the acceptance of Christianity in the fourth century. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 42: The experiential basis for this story is quite clear. However these specific differences need not concern us, for the most significant aspects are common in all the various versions.10 We are concerned at this point with showing how this religion influenced the thought of early Christians. Christianity, in its earliest days, shared a good deal in common with the many "mystery religions" which became popular in the Roman Empire. The mystery religions and Christianity had many similar featurese.g., a time of preparation before initiation and periods of fasting; baptism and banquets; vigils and early-morning ceremonies; pilgrimages and new names for the initiates. The Greeks interpreted the national religions of the Greek Orient chiefly in terms of Platos philosophical and religious concepts. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 The coffin, meanwhile, was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree, This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. Afterwards, however, he returned to the other world to reign for ever as King of the Dead; and meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on Earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity., 20. Various writers gave different Versions of the Cybele-Attis myth. However when we come to the idea of Jesus decent into hell it seems that we have a direct borrow from the Adonis religion, and in fact from other religions also. Arthur E. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity (n.p. The date of Christmas was purposely fixed on December 25 to push into the background the great festival of the sun god, and Epiphany on January 6 to supplant an Egyptian festival of the same day. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of . It was in this city that there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Adonis. All of Lent's penitential practices and acts of spiritual renewal find their meaning in the journey of self-emptying and self-giving love that Jesus undertakes in his death and resurrection. the hellenistic mystery religion decisively in Alexandria and contributed to its development. It is celebrated annually on August 13th. When Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor from ad 361 to 363, tried to reestablish pagan worship, he found allies at Rome and Alexandria. As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely, writes Cumont, the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. The Mystery Religions form a link between the inclusive pantheon of the Greeks and the more modern exclusive religions of today. Dean Inge, e.g. The property of the pagan gods was confiscated, and the temples were destroyed. 6 Mithraism. Christianity was truly indebted to the mystery religions for this contribution, for they had done this part of the groundwork and thus opened the way for Christian missionary work. The latter method is apt to neglect the distinctive contribution of each cult to the religious life of the age and, at the same time, to attribute to a given cult phases of some other system. These many religions, known as Mystery-Religions, were not alike in every respect: to draw this conclusion would lead to a gratuitous and erroneous supposition. Meanwhile the coffin was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree. In The Influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity, King writes about the influence of Mystery Religions on Christianity: It is at this point that we are able to see why knowledge of these cults is important for any serious New Testament study. Dimensions : 5.37 x 0.73 x 8.4 inches. Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. 9. There seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival. "Concerning the relationship between the mystery cults and Christianity, scholarly opinion has varied. Now it seems that the general belief of the early church that Jesus was born in a cave grows directly out of Mithraic ideas. Here we see how Mary gradually came to take the place of the goddess.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, we must turn to the myth of the rape of Demeters daughter by Pluto. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 42: Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and instituted in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life., 27. Hades, the god of death, stole the beloved daughter, Persephone, from Demeter, the life giver, who refused to admit defeat until she secured her daughters resurrection. 3. Harold R. Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929), p. 114: Of these Oriental mystery religions the first to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods, The divine personage in whom this cult centered was the Magna Mater Deum who was conceived as the source of all life as well as the personification of all the powers of nature., 8. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity. The present study represents an attempt to provide a survey of the influence of the mystery religions on Christianity. During the rise of Christianity in the first century A.D. also were the widespread cults throughout each Mediterranean region known as the mystery religions. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weakness, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. xxiv.\4 The victory of Christianity in the Roman empire is another example of that universal historical law, viz., that that culture which conquers is in turn conquered. The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in A Study of Mithraism, p. 224 in this volume. (Pagan Regeneration, p. 115). It is an interpretation of human history that breeds Although the mystery religions did move towards advancing a solar god above all the others, this change began after 100 A.D., too late to impact the theology of the New Testament. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship. In the former capacity she was identified with the great mother-goddess, Demeter, whose mourning for Persephone was the main feature in the Eleusinian mysteries; In her aspect as the mother of Horus, Isis was represented in tens of thousands of statuettes and paintings, holding the divine child in her arms; and when Christianity triumphed these paintings and figures became those of the Madonna and Child without any break in continuity: no archaeologist, in fact, can now tell whether some of these objects represent the one or the other., 23. In this myth, Persephone is depicted playing in the meadows of Mysia in Asia with the daughters of Oceanus and Tithys. If a mystery religion is one in which participation is "reserved to initiates," then yes, unquestionably so. The statue of the Good Shepherd carrying his lost sheep and the pastoral themes on Christian sarcophagi were also taken over from pagan craftsmanship. 2, 3.\33 Tarsus, the home of Saint Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship; and there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. The holy stories of the mysteries were myths; the Gospels of the New Testament, however, relate historical events. Weigall, Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 135: It was suppressed by the Christians in a.d. 376 and 377; but its collapse seems to have been due rather to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and ceremonies had been adopted by the Church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival., 32. Mystery religions were seen as more vibrant than the more stale state religions. 23: In the Avesta, Mithra is the genius of the celestial light. 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