mostly off-topic (was Re: Setting the record straight...)

[Guest guest]

Sorry, I made a mistake in my previous post.

It should read: " Could Christianity have done WITHOUT the Church?

JC

> > Oh jeez, off the top of my head I can't think of any single

thing

> that

> > Pagans agree upon. It's a serious question whether the category

> actually

> > holds any meaning at all. Broadly speaking, Paganism usually has

> something

> > to do with reclaiming, reconstructing, or reconnecting with those

> > theological ideas, practices and deity forms that The Church (the

> > preReformation political body, not to be confused with

Christianity)

> > actively worked to supress.

>

> * : My fault, but I don't clearly see a difference between

the

> Church and Christianity (or Christendom). Do you mean to say that

> Christianity could have done with the Church? And in this case,

that

> it would have absorbed rather than eliminated Paganism? Did the

> Church come after Christianity, just like an excrescency, or a

> tumour, in the expression of ?

>

> * And what is the difference between a heathen and a pagan? Is

there

> a historical point of time when a heathen becomes a pagan? Say,

> before Christianity you were a heathen, afterwards you are a pagan.

>

> JC

>

> In practice this endeavor leads to all sorts of

> > things that do not fall easily under a single rubric. I use the

> term mainly

> > to indicate the direction in which my spirituality lies in

relation

> to the

> > Big Three monotheisms, not as a reaction, but simply as a way to

> orient the

> > discussion. The label really doesn't say much about my personal

> practice at

> > all.

> >

> > YR

> >

> >

> > mostly off-topic (was Re: Setting the record

> straight...)

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > :

> >

> > This one and your previous post - both very interesting. I

wonder

> if

> > there are noticeable differences between Pagans. For instance,

one

> > Pagan may believe in the existence of an immortal soul, whereas

> > another won't believe it, and a third one may be indifferent to

> it.

> > Do you all Pagans hold the same beliefs (however strange it is

to

> > talk about beliefs in terms of Paganism)?

> >

> > José

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >