08-05-2006, 08:32 PM
Some thoughts:-
"St. Paul was its main exporter but he didn't proselytize among illiterate slaves. He went mainly to the intellectual heart of the Roman world - Greece. " He also focussed on the synagogues in each area. As a Pharisee, he had the right to preach in a synagogue.
Coming back to the earlier point re pagans and Christians, there is a good book called "Priscillian of Avlia- the occult and the charismatic in the Early Church" by Chadwick, Oxford University Press- focussing on Priscillian, Bishop of Avila, 381-5.
His interest in Manicheism eventually led him to be convicted of sorcery, Manicheism and lechery and executed by imperial order at Trier. There are clearly strong survivals of paganism- some of which were incorporated in the Early Church. For example, Priscillian and his followers were accused of weather magic- pronouncing magical incantations over the first fruits of the crops and consecrating an unguent with curses to the sun and moon "the unguent was evidently to be poured over some sacred stone in the countryside". If true, it sounds like an attempt to incorporate - and then supplant- older rural practises.
In fact , Constantine the Great had passed a law threatening direst penalties against magicians- but exempting those who use it to bring healing or to avert storms in country districts (!).
The past is another country.......
Cheers
Caballo
"St. Paul was its main exporter but he didn't proselytize among illiterate slaves. He went mainly to the intellectual heart of the Roman world - Greece. " He also focussed on the synagogues in each area. As a Pharisee, he had the right to preach in a synagogue.
Coming back to the earlier point re pagans and Christians, there is a good book called "Priscillian of Avlia- the occult and the charismatic in the Early Church" by Chadwick, Oxford University Press- focussing on Priscillian, Bishop of Avila, 381-5.
His interest in Manicheism eventually led him to be convicted of sorcery, Manicheism and lechery and executed by imperial order at Trier. There are clearly strong survivals of paganism- some of which were incorporated in the Early Church. For example, Priscillian and his followers were accused of weather magic- pronouncing magical incantations over the first fruits of the crops and consecrating an unguent with curses to the sun and moon "the unguent was evidently to be poured over some sacred stone in the countryside". If true, it sounds like an attempt to incorporate - and then supplant- older rural practises.
In fact , Constantine the Great had passed a law threatening direst penalties against magicians- but exempting those who use it to bring healing or to avert storms in country districts (!).
The past is another country.......
Cheers
Caballo
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