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The Origins of Pagan and Christian Beliefs
The worship of the sun and the moon, the ritual celebration of the forces of nature and the symbolism of the zodiac are all elements of an age old religion we call paganism. It has long been maintained that paganism gave expression to natural energies later suppressed by orthodox religion. But is this really true? In this fascinating work Edward Carpenter argues that this assumption ignores many elements that the two opposed systems of belief have in common.
The interdependence of pagan and Christian creeds has remained unexamined for far too long. This superb volume, first published in 1920, seeks to find traces of the 'old religion in the practices of the new. For example, the totemic sacraments found in paganism find their counterpart in the Christian Eucharist. The Savior God and the Virgin Mother can be found in both sources, as can the myth of The Golden Age before the Fall. Paganism, far from being surpassed by Christianity, appears to be enduring vigorously within it.
The interdependence of pagan and Christian creeds has remained unexamined for far too long. This superb volume, first published in 1920, seeks to find traces of the 'old religion in the practices of the new. For example, the totemic sacraments found in paganism find their counterpart in the Christian Eucharist. The Savior God and the Virgin Mother can be found in both sources, as can the myth of The Golden Age before the Fall. Paganism, far from being surpassed by Christianity, appears to be enduring vigorously within it.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1996
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About the author
Edward Carpenter
403 books67 followersEdward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
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