Christian Paganism

For today’s post I’d like to address quite a controversial topic: that of Christian Paganism, i.e. people who feel connected to or practice both a form of Christianity as well as a form of paganism.
While I have quite a strong opinion on the topic myself, I by no means want to offend anyone, especially those who actually practice Christian Paganism. Instead, I’m very interested in others’ opinions.

Looking at the OED (the Oxford English Dictionary; as a linguist, this is where I turn for definitions), we find that paganism means:
“A religion other than one of the main religions of the world; spec. a non-Christian or pre-Christian religion, esp. considered as ancient or primitive. Also: the religious beliefs and practices of such a religion; the state or condition of non-Christian people; heathenism.”
Add to this my own understanding of paganism, i.e. belief in multiple gods (not necessarily of a polytheistic nature) and concepts of magic or such diverse ones as blood offerings (which, I know, you don’t have to practice to be pagan).
For me, this sounds very different from – and quite contradictory to – the Christian concept of monotheism and the acceptance of Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. So my question is how these two different belief systems can go together at all.

From a CR perspective that is mainly informed by Alexei Kondratiev’s work, I can actually see a way of how this could be accomplished. For once, Kondratiev saw himself as a Christian despite writing about topics that are distinctly pagan in nature. And apart from this personal perspective, Freeman (2001: 203) quotes poems from Irish monks and hermits in the early Irish church, which express a deep love and one-ness of nature; these sentiments for me make up part of my pagan practice.

“Glen of the sleek brown round-faced otters
that are pleasant and active in fishing;
many are the white-winged stately swans,
and salmon breeding along the rocky brink.”

One could also argue that Christianity, especially in Ireland, builds on existing belief structures; compare, for example, a story in which St Patrick turns into a deer to escape capture (Freeman 2001: 74). A better example, perhaps, can be found in Brighid, who lives on as a Christian saint with quite the same attributes as her pagan counterpart: at least in Scotland, both reigned over fire and art, as well as the birth of spring (Freeman 2011: 55). Here, it would be interesting to see whether worshipping the saints does not indeed come close to a form of polytheistic practice. 

Also in other countries, old customs live on next to (but at times contrary to) Christian ideology; just take the maypole as a fertility symbol, or the well-known fact that many religions have a saviour or son of the light born at or around the time of the Winter Solstice.

However, if we follow the Bible, God does not seem to want His followers worship other gods beside Him. I have to stress here that I’m currently reading the Bible, but have only progressed as far as Deuteronomy. Yet what I’ve read so far speaks very strongly for a certain position (but if you’re more informed than I am, please feel free to point out flaws in my argumentation!).

The Bible indeed seems to acknowledge the existence of other gods, as stressed in Exodus: “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15: 11). However, the Judeo-Christian God doesn’t seem to like these other gods much, as He stresses that “thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20: 3), and says: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20: 5).

And in a later passage, the existence of other gods is negated: “Unto you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD he is God; there is none else besides him” (Deuteronomy 4: 35). Hence, when Jesus is asked which commandments one should keep, the one pertaining to other gods is not among the ones He names – He just refers to commandments like ‘thou shalt not murder,’ (Matthew 19: 16) which any morally sound person should follow, be they Christian or not.

So in my understanding, if you accept the whole Bible as true (for you), then being a pagan at the same time does not seem to be possible.

And there are other areas apart from worship of other gods where I see difficulties.

First, there’s the Bible’s attitude towards divination, witchcraft etc. I don’t have to quote the famous passage for you to understand my point.

Also, the brand of Catholicism I was raised in postulated quite a different relationship of humans and God, since the priest acted as a negotiator between God and the congregation to the extend that we weren’t even allowed to partake of the wine during Mass. But then again I guess you could put this down to my town’s priest and simply different requirements, so to speak, of the Christian and pagan god(s). 

And finally, I wonder how the concept of original sin (as well as the fact that Jesus died for our sins) and the concept of going to hell can be integrated into a pagan perspective. I’ll leave out the concept of Satan here since I know quite a lot of Christians myself who don’t have a strict concept of the devil.

To finish this off, I’d really like to know if one of you either is a Christian Pagan or knows someone who practices it. How does it work out for your personal practice, and also for your relationship(s) with those of either faith? Which ritual formats do you use? And how does the perspective of two (at least in my point of view) fairly different religions inform your relationship towards deity?

Also, if you think that the concept is not for you, at all, I’d like to know your reasons why.

Blessed be,
Harzgeist

Sources:
The Bible. King James version.
Freeman, Mara. 2001. Kindling the Celtic Spirit. New York: HarperCollins.
poem originally in: Jackson, Kenneth. 1951. A Celtic Miscellany. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul.
for Kondratiev’s views, see e.g. Kondratiev, Alexei. 2003. The Apple Branch. A Path to Celtic Ritual. New York: Kensington.