Lecture Outline, Week II  Tuesday  

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

I. SORCERY IN THE LATE ROMAN WORLD:   
      Christian view of pagan religion as demon worship
             pagans as sorcerers, manipulators of demons

      Christianity in the Roman Empire: key dates (AD or CE)
                    AD = Anno Domini, the year of the Lord (Christian)
                    CE = Common Era (newer usage)

            313 Emperor Constantine: conversion to Christianity

            380  Emperor Theodosius: Christianity as official religion
                       suppression of pagan sacrifices in Rome & Empire

       410 Sack of Rome by Germanic tribe, the Visigoths
                    pagans blame Christianity for ending sacrifices

     Christian vs. pagan interpretations of misfortune

St. Augustine:
ORIGINAL SIN as source of human suffering
BAPTISM and EXORCISM
                         as defense against power of evil

Early Christian stories illustrating these themes:
         St. Macedonius--4th C. Antioch
         St. Justina & Cyprian – 3th C. Antioch
               [ version from 13th C. Golden Legend
                 in Kors & Peters, #12, pp. 81-86]

II. CONVERSION OF EUROPE (476 AD--fall of the Roman Empire)

     568 Lombard invasion of Italy (Germanic tribe, settle in north & central Italy)

      POPE GREGORY THE GREAT (540-604): author of Dialogues

            597--Bishop Augustine (d. 604) sent on mission to England
              to convert Angles and Saxons: instructions sent in letter
              addressed to his assistant, Abbot Mellitus
              [See class handout #3, text below]

      BEDE -- Anglo Saxon historian of England's conversion
                    History of English Church and People

      Policy of accommodation of pagan beliefs:
                "Gradualism" in conversion of "barbarian" tribes
                       (barbaroi = foreigner in Greek)

EARLY CHRISTIAN POLICY OF CONVERSION BY GRADUALIST MEANS:
Bede, History of the English Church and People, [Penguin edition, 1981]
Bk I, Ch 30:
Letter sent by Pope Gregory to Abbot Mellitus in Britain, 601 AD:

"To our well loved son Abbot Mellitus: [from Pope] Gregory, servant of the servants of God. ...
When by God's help you reach our most reverend brother, Bishop Augustine, we wish you to inform him that we have been giving careful thought to the affairs of the English and have come to the conclusion that temples of idols among that people should not be destroyed. The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed [sprinkled] with holy water, altars set up in them and relics deposited there. For if these temples are well built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people, seeing their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and flocking more readily to their accustomed places, may come to know and adore the true God... For it is certainly impossible to eradicate all errors from obstinate minds at one stroke, and whoever wishes to climb to a mountain top climbs gradually step by step and not in one leap.... For while they offer the same beasts as before, they offer them to God instead of to idols... Of your kindness you are to inform our brother Augustine of this policy, so that he may consider how he may best implement it on the spot." [pp. 86-87]