Time Honored Tradition

[Saint Frankenstein]

I can't speak to why a neo-pagan would wish to recreate a religion that died out. That makes no sense to me.

If Judaism had been wiped out, you wouldn't be interested in the religion of your ancestors?

 

[IndigoChild5559]

If Judaism had been wiped out, you wouldn't be interested in the religion of your ancestors?

I'm not sure how to answer this. Judaism is NOT wiped out.

If Judaism were wiped out, I would not presently be practicing Judaism. I think I might be curious about the ancient religion, but I wouldn't try to artificially resurrect it. If a religion dies out, it wasn't worth keeping around.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm not sure how to answer this. Judaism is NOT wiped out.

If Judaism were wiped out, I would not presently be practicing Judaism. I think I might be curious about the ancient religion, but I wouldn't try to artificially resurrect it. If a religion dies out, it wasn't worth keeping around.

It was a thought experiment.

What I'm trying to point out to you is that, to big extent, modern Paganism is being driven by an ethnic revival. Many people are getting into pre-Christian/pre-Islamic religions because they are interested in their heritage and reconnecting with their indigenous culture. In the West, we're mostly stuck with having to choose between Christianity and atheism but that is not satisfying to everyone, nor is adopting some foreign religion like the Dharmic religions or Islam.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

It was a thought experiment.

What I'm trying to point out to you is that, to big extent, modern Paganism is being driven by an ethnic revival. Many people are getting into pre-Christian/pre-Islamic religions because they are interested in their heritage and reconnecting with their indigenous culture. In the West, we're mostly stuck with having to choose between Christianity and atheism but that is not satisfying to everyone, nor is adopting some foreign religion like the Dharmic religions or Islam.

My ancestors believed in bleeding people to heal illnesses, but I have no inclination to bring that back. Just because something is in a persons ancestral history, doesn't mean its worth reviving.

I would think that a person would become neo-Pagan because they actually believe in the gods. That's not what you are describing. A God or gods are not true simply because your ancestors believed in them. There is no connection between exploring ethnic history and finding out what is true and what is false about the spiritual world.

 

[PearlSeeker]

It seems like every religion or spiritual path gives credence to time honored tradition. Within many denominations of Christianity, much emphasis is placed on the early Christians and what they believed. In many branches of paganism, reconstructionists want to try and emulate the practices of historical pagans as much as the evidence left behind sheds light on. In salafism (a sect within Islam), the name derives from advocating a return to the traditions of the "ancestors" (salaf). I could keep going, but I hope you understand what I'm driving at.

Why do we give such credence to people who lived thousands of years before we did? We can only guess at what their lives were like so long ago, but still we try. Is it because they lived in a time that was closer to when these special events happened in our religious beliefs? Is it because their ways were more pure than what we understand now? Did they have some kind of special understanding that we don't have today?

Ultimately, these were people that lived in the distant past... They don't have the advantage of hindsight or accumulated knowledge like we have now. What makes their ways something to be sought after or seem more desirable than what we can take advantage of now?

What is to be sought is balance between tradition and innovation. Tradition that doesn't change is just a fossil.