Is Easter

[The Kilted Heathen]

I would have to see your source.

Paschal Homily of Melito of Sardis, Bishop of Sardis in the Second Century. Prior to this the traditions would be more in line with the Jewish Passover, of which "Pascha" is the Greek for.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Yes it is that time of year. Easter eggs,Peter rabbit,etc. Is it Pagan?

1. Does paganism have a monopoly on enjoying the changing of the seasons?

2. For Christians, Easter is resurrection sunday. That doesn't sound pagan to me.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

1. Does paganism have a monopoly on enjoying the changing of the seasons?

2. For Christians, Easter is resurrection sunday. That doesn't sound pagan to me.

1. Certainly not! Celebration should never be exclusive.

2. The name itself is Germanic and at least refers to the "East," and may or may not also refer to a Goddess of the Dawn. Concepts of resurrection certainly do have some pre-Christian roots though I do think this is a concept based on shared human experiences.

My personal take is that Christmas and Halloween have more pagan elements than Easter. Easter eggs appear to have started in Mesopotamia and may also have some pre-Christian roots, but (I at least) can't substantiate that.

Similarly, it makes sense to me that folk traditions that were pre-Christian blended into various Christian traditions and beliefs that they are inseparable and lost to history in any verifiable form.

 

[Secret Chief]

What'd we determine last year?

The same as in 1972.

 

[rstrats]

As an aside, if it were a heaven directed or approved festival, you'd think scripture would have the apostles and disciples observing it - it doesn't.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

As an aside, if it were a heaven directed or approved festival, you'd think scripture would have the apostles and disciples observing it - it doesn't.

I think you have to allow for Christianity evolving. For example, the apostles were Nazarenes--Jews that praciticed second temple Judaism while also believing J was the messiah. IOW they kept the 613 laws, and honored the various Jewish holy days. So while they didn't have Resurrection Sunday, they kept the Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana, Chanukah, etc... All holidays which Christians today do not keep.

The argument can be made that when the apostles laid hands on the Episkopoi (Bishops), they authorized them to lead the church. This would mean that future bishops had the right to do things like shape how and when Christians worshiped and determine the results of doctrinal disagreements. IOW just by virtue of receiving this authority from the Apostles, the bishops had every right to determine feast days for the new religion.

 

[joelr]

Yes it is that time of year. Easter eggs,Peter rabbit,etc. Is it Pagan?

Yes. But the NT is also Pagan so it works.


Iesus Deus by PhD M. David Litwa - new work from good scholar on origins of Christianity in Greco-Roman religion

The topic of this study is how early Christians imagined, constructed, and promoted Jesus as a deity in their literature from the first to the third centuries CE. My line of inquiry focuses on how Greco-Roman conceptions of divinity informed this construction. It is my contention that early Christians creatively applied to Jesus traits of divinity that were prevalent and commonly recognized in ancient Mediterranean culture. Historically speaking, I will refer to the Christian application of such traits to Jesus as the “deification” of Jesus Christ.



TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction: The “Deification” of Jesus Christ


Chapter 1: “Not through Semen, Surely”: Luke and Plutarch on Divine Birth


Chapter 2: “From Where Was this Child Born?”: Divine Children and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas


Chapter 3: “Deus est iuvare”: Miracles, Morals, and Euergetism in Origen’s Contra Celsum


Chapter 4: “And he was Metamorphosed”: Transfiguration as Epiphany


Chapter 5: “We Worship One who Rose from His Tomb”: Resurrection and Deification


Chapter 6: “The Name Above Every Name”: Jesus and Greco-Roman Theonymy

Adela Yarbro Collins: “This book is of interest to a wide readership. It will help historical critics understand what “divinity” meant in the ancient world. It will also help theologians understand the origins of Christology. I recommend it to students, scholars, and any reader curious about Jesus.”

Stanley Stowers: “M. David Litwa’s Iesus Deus marks a major breakthrough in scholarship on early Christianity. The book manages to overcome the scholarly apologetic segregation of early Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ from Greek and Roman dominated Mediterranean culture and to demonstrate the fit of these beliefs in that Hellenistic context. A great deal of writing about the ‘purely Jewish’ Christ crumbles with this book.”

David Aune: “In Iesus Deus, M. David Litwa surveys six of the more significant ways in which early Christians from the first through the third centuries CE drew on common reservoir of ancient Mediterranean conceptions of deity as models for expressing the ultimate significance of Jesus, namely his divine origin and deity. These six themes include divine conception (focusing on Luke 1), punitive protection of honor (Jesus as the enfant terrible of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas), superhuman moral benefaction (Origen’s argumentation in the Contra Celsum), epiphanic or theophanic manifestation (the Gospel transfiguration narratives), corporeal immortalization (the Gospel resurrection accounts), and the reception of a proper divine name (Phil 2:9-11 in the light of Roman imperial practice). This is an extraordinarily well-written, nuanced, convincingly argued and methodologically sophisticated comparative study which breaks new ground in understanding a centrally important aspect of the formation of early Christology. The author rightly criticizes the continued tendency to bifurcate “Judaism” and “Hellenism,” and in his use of comparative method rejects superficial conceptions of “borrowing” by appealing to the shared existence of an “embedded Hellenization” that pervaded ancient Mediterranean cultures. The author makes use of an impressive array of primary and secondary sources over which he has enviable control. This book gets four stars and should be required reading for all serious students of early Christian thought.”

 

[Muffled]

Many holidays are pagan, but the church co-opted them for their festivities.

I believe it may just have been serendipitous. Easter is based on the Passover.

 

[Muffled]

You should continue along the thread; I've outlined that it's not actually Pagan

I believe made the assumption that anything that was not part of the crucifixion/resurrection story must have been pagan but re-reading you previous post I can understand the derivative nature of bunnies and eggs although I suspect some notions come from the concept of the beginning of spring.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I believe it may just have been serendipitous. Easter is based on the Passover.

But they had to interest the surrounding pagans, so just enough was taken to be similar.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

I believe it may just have been serendipitous. Easter is based on the Passover.

The Easter Story happens during Passover, but is not "based on" Passover. Passover has to do with the remembrance of the People of Israel being delivered from slavery by God. Easter is not about the Exodus.