Pagan Roots
Early Christianity developed in an era of the Roman Empire during which many religions were practiced. These included the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire period, the Roman imperial cult and various mystery religions as well as philosophic monotheistic religions such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and to a lesser extent the "barbarian" tribal religions practiced on the fringes of the Empire.
Even before the Council of Jerusalem the Christian apostles accepted both Jewish and pagan converts (Cornelius the Centurion is traditionally considered the first gentile convert) and there was a precarious balance between the Judaizers, insisting on the obedience to the Torah Laws by all Christians, and Pauline Christianity.
With the spread of Christianity in the Early Middle Ages, it has been argued that Christianity was influenced by the rituals of Germanic paganism, Celtic paganism, Slavic paganism and Folk religion in a number of ways.
Read more about this topic: Origins Of Christianity
Famous quotes containing the words pagan and/or roots:
“I’m a priest, not a priestess.... “Priestess” implies mumbo jumbo and all sorts of pagan goings-on. Those who oppose us would love to call us priestesses. They can call us all the names in the world—it’s better than being invisible.”
—Carter Heyward (b. 1946)
“The Plains are not forgiving. Anything that is shallow—the easy optimism of a homesteader; the false hope that denies geography, climate, history; the tree whose roots don’t reach ground water—will dry up and blow away.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)