Christianity and Paganism

The history of Christianity and Paganism tracks the complex, centuries-long process through which the early Christian movement emerged within, competed against, absorbed from, and ultimately supplanted the Greco-Roman pagan religions of the ancient Mediterranean and beyond.

Early History and Persecution

Christianity arose as a movement within Second Temple Judaism and Hellenistic culture. In the Roman Empire, Christians were initially viewed as a breakaway Jewish sect, then classified alongside “foreign cults.” They drew suspicion for refusing to participate in the public ritual sacrifices that affirmed loyalty to the emperor and the state. Early persecutions — from Nero (64 AD) through the Diocletianic Persecution (c. 303–313 AD) — culminated in the Edict of Milan (313 AD) under Constantine, which legalized Christianity.

Constantine and After

Constantine never outlawed paganism outright, but began redistributing temple funds, confiscating temple lands, and offering legal and financial privileges to Christians. After him, emperors like Gratian (who stripped pagan priestly colleges of their privileges and income) and Theodosius I (who declared Nicene Christianity the official state religion) gradually marginalized paganism through legislation. The anti-pagan laws were “intended to terrorize” rather than convert, expressing a rhetoric of conquest.

Archaeological evidence, however, suggests widespread violent destruction of temples was limited to a handful of sites empire-wide, despite literary sources that exaggerated the scope. Most temples fell to economic neglect, repurposing, and natural decay rather than orchestrated Christian violence.

Pagan Influences on Christianity

Early Christians adapted a remarkable number of pagan elements:

• Funerary art and ritual: Catacomb art in Rome borrowed pagan motifs (orant figures, peacocks, shell iconography, shepherd scenes) and reinterpreted them to express the Christian hope of immortality.
• Calendar and festivals: The date of Christmas (December 25) was likely chosen to co-opt the Roman Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Unconquered Sun) and the Saturnalia season. Easter may derive its English name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre. Many pagan festivals were secularized, then incorporated into the Christian calendar.
• Sacred sites: Pope Gregory I recommended converting pagan temples and sacred sites rather than destroying them, integrating local devotion into Christianity.
• Philosophy and theology: Justin Martyr, Clement, and Augustine of Hippo drew heavily on Greek philosophy — especially Platonism and Stoicism — to articulate Christian theology. Augustine wrote that reading “those books of the Platonists” taught him to “seek incorporeal truth.”

Christianization of Europe

The gradual Christianization of Europe unfolded over centuries across diverse cultures:

• Anglo-Saxons (c. 597–700s): Conversion spread through royal courts, with instructions from Rome to convert rather than destroy pagan sites.
• Saxons (776–1000s): Charlemagne imposed Christianity through military force and severe legislation, including the massacre at Verden (782).
• Scandinavia (c. 995–1100s): Kings Olaf Tryggvason and Saint Olaf imposed Christianity in Norway, sometimes by violence.
• Northern Crusades (12th–13th centuries): Armed conversion campaigns by German and Scandinavian kingdoms against Baltic, Slavic, and Finnish peoples; “the only time armed conversion first became a formal part of Christianity.”
• Greece: The Maniots of the Peloponnese were among the last Greeks to abandon the old religion, converting only toward the end of the 9th century.

Significance

Pagan cultural forms persisted within Christian practice — from holiday calendars and architectural reuse to philosophical frameworks — demonstrating the deep syncretism that shaped the Western religious tradition.

See Also

• Comparative_Religion — the academic discipline of systematic cross-religious study
• Neoplatonism — the philosophical tradition bridging pagan and Christian thought
• Eleusinian_Mysteries — the premier pagan mystery rite of antiquity
• Gnosticism — an early movement blending Christian and pagan elements
• Greek_Mythology — the mythological tradition that Christianity confronted and absorbed
• Zeus — king of the Olympian gods, the primary figure of displaced pagan worship
• Hermeticism — the philosophical tradition rooted in late-antique Hermetic texts
• Western_Esotericism — the umbrella tradition encompassing Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and their descendants
• Tree_of_Life_Archetype — the universal tree of life motif found across pagan and Christian traditions