Download or read book Pagan Regeneration A Study of Mystery Initiations in the Graeco Roman World written by Harold Rideout Willoughby and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pagan Regeneration written by Harold R. Willoughby and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new release of the original 1929 edition.
Download or read book Pagan Regeneration written by Harold R. Willoughby and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2013-03-16 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Researches in the field of Graeco-Roman religions prove conclusively that apologists for early Christianity and even eminent classicists have been inclined to underestimate the genuineness of gentile religious interests and the extent to which religion dominated life in pagan lands when Christianity was emerging. Of the gentile cults probably the most popular in the first century, and certainly the least known and understood in the twentieth, were the so-called mystery religions. Notwithstanding the protestations of apologists there is ample evidence that in both the west and the east the mystery cults were widely disseminated and very influential before Christianity appeared on the scene. In the following pages care is taken to exhibit this evidence in relation to each of the mystery systems. A detailed investigation of typical cult experiences further convinced the author that the central meaning of mystery initiation, the regeneration, both essential and ethical, of the individual devotee.
Download or read book Pagan Regeneration written by Harold R. Willoughby and published by . This book was released on 2015-01-10 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Notwithstanding the protestations of apologists there is ample evidence that in both the west and the east the mystery cults were widely disseminated and very influential before Christianity appeared on the scene. In the following pages care is taken to exhibit this evidence in relation to each of the mystery systems." A cogent investigation of the social ambience in which the secret cults operated brought to light the true motivations of the interests and needs met by mystery initiation. On the one hand this made comprehensible the undoubted popularity of the mystery cults themselves; on the other hand it served to suggest why it was the early Christian propagandists, in order to win gentile believers to their cult, came to place such deliberate emphasis on the experience of individual regeneration. Table of Contents PREFACE CHAPTER 1. PAGAN PIETY IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD CHAPTER 2. THE GREATER MYSTERIES AT ELEUSIS CHAPTER 3. DIONYSIAN EXCESSES CHAPTER 4. ORPHIC REFORM CHAPTER 5. THE REGENERATIVE RITES OF THE GREAT MOTHER CHAPTER 6. DEATH AND NEW BIRTH IN MITHRAISM CHAPTER 7. ISIAC INITIATION CHAPTER 8. THE NEW BIRTH EXPERIENCE IN HERMETICISM CHAPTER 9. THE MYSTICISM OF PHILO CHAPTER 10. THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MYSTERY INITIATION "THERE is a vague but widespread impression that the age that saw the emergence of Christianity was religiously destitute and morally decadent. The general and orthodox conviction of today is that all pagan religions current in the first century A.D. were in a bad state of degeneration. Originally they may have started with a modicum of light and revelation from above, but that original good had been corrupted by false beliefs and evil practices to such an extent that in the first century the gentile world was in a worse state than it had ever been before. People of all classes, wearied of the apparent futility of contemporary cults, were quitting them wholesale, or were giving them a merely formal adherence. In an abandon of atheism they were surrending themselves to unrestrained indulgence in immoral practices. Approximately this is still the popular impression of religious conditions in the Graeco-Roman world."
Download or read book Gnostic Visions written by Luke A. Myers and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-04-15 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gnostic texts are filled with encounters of strange other worldly beings, journeys to visionary heavenly realms, and encounters with the presence and spirit of the divine. In Gnostic visions, author and Gnostic scholar Luke A. Myers presents evidence demonstrating how Gnostic visions were created and the connection these visions have to naturally occurring visionary compounds that are still in existence today. The culmination of more than ten years of research, Gnostic Visions advances the understanding of classical ethnobotany, Gnosticism, and the genesis of early Christian history. In this book the author discusses the prehistoric foundations of early human religion as well as the visionary religious traditions of the classical Greeks and Egyptians. Using these as a foundation, the book presents new and never before seen research explaining how Gnostic visions were created and what types of compounds were used by these ancient people to create them. Gnostic Visions presents evidence directly linking visionary Ayahuasca analogs with the creation of Gnostic and Hermetic visionary experiences. Gnostic Visions also describes the decline of Gnosticism, other visionary practices used in the Dark Ages and gives a brief tour of the visionary plants of the new world. In Gnostic visions, Myers tells of his personal experience with the divine and includes some of his own reflections of the importance of mankinds relationship to the natural world. He communicates that altered states of consciousness have been responsible for many of the most profound mystical religious experiences in human history.
Download or read book In His Name written by E Christopher Reyes and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-26 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In His Name is a research into biblical history, its ramifications on the thinking of mankind, and its continuous alterations that serve the few.
Download or read book Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity written by Leif E. Vaage and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2006-04-21 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity discusses the diverse cultural destinies of early Christianity, early Judaism, and other ancient religious groups as a question of social rivalry. The book is divided into three main sections. The first section debates the degree to which the category of rivalry adequately names the issue(s) that must be addressed when comparing and contrasting the social “success” of different religious groups in antiquity. The second is a critical assessment of the common modern category of “mission” to describe the inner dynamic of such a process; it discusses the early Christian apostle Paul, the early Jewish historian Josephus, and ancient Mithraism. The third section of the book is devoted to “the rise of Christianity,” primarily in response to the similarly titled work of the American sociologist of religion Rodney Stark. While it is not clear that any of these groups imagined its own success necessarily entailing the elimination of others, it does seem that early Christianity had certain habits, both of speech and practice, which made it particularly apt to succeed (in) the Roman Empire.
Download or read book Alexandria 2 written by David Fideler and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journal of cosmology, philosophy, myth, and culture.
Download or read book Studies in Hellenistic Religions written by Luther H. Martin and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career--both early as well as more recent--in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual written by Risto Uro and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook provides an indispensable account of the ritual world of early Christianity from the beginning of the movement up to the end of the sixth century.
Download or read book Hellenismos Today written by Timothy Jay Alexander and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2007 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hellenismos is the ancient Greek religion reborn. Do you hear the call of the old Gods? This book is a thorough introduction to Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism. Written by Timothy Jay Alexander, owner of the popular Pagan website Mind-N-Magick.com, "Hellenismos Today" is an exceptional guide to the character and diversity of the modern religious beliefs and practices of Hellenismos. For experienced Hellenic Reconstructionists, this is an excellent tool to introduce friends and family to your beliefs and practices.
Download or read book Alexandria and Qumran Back to the Beginning written by Kenneth Silver and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2017-12-31 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the proto-history and the roots of the Qumran community and of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the light of contemporary scholarship in Alexandria, Egypt.
Download or read book A Beginner s Guide to Hellenismos written by Timothy Jay Alexander and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2007 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Beginners Guide to Hellenismos provides an overview of Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism. Hellenismos is an emerging religious movement attempting to reconstruct the ancient Greek religion. This book supplies the beginner with a guide for practicing Hellenismos. Contrary to the popular misconception, Reconstructionist religions are in no way rigid or dogmatic. In A Beginners Guide to Hellenismos, Timothy Jay Alexander explains how liberating, innovative, and adaptive the modern Hellenic religion is. This book provides the reader with an easy to use and understand guide to begin their worship. It explains in detail modern Hellenic practices and the reasons behind them, and serves as a common sense guide about this fast growing modern religion.
Download or read book Catalog of Copyright Entries New Series written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by Copyright Office, Library of Congress. This book was released on 1930 with total page 2754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature written by Historical Association (Great Britain) and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Religious Context of Early Christianity written by Hans-Josef Klauck and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Klauck's is a uniquely well-informed and comprehensive guide to the world of religion in the Graeco-Roman environment of early Christianity. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship, his volume paints a carefully nuanced portrait of the Christians' religious context. Besides describing ordinary domestic and civic religion and popular belief (including astrology, divination and "magic"), there is extended discussion of mystery cults, ruler and emperor cults, the religious dimensions of philosophy, and Gnosticism. An authoritative work, Klauck's will become a new standard for reference and teaching.
Download or read book Books and Notes written by Los Angeles County Public Library and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 1364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
