What did the Nazis believe about religion? Simply asking the question suggests some difficulties. “The Nazis” implies a homogenous group with clearly articulated and uniformly held positions. There were of course many different kinds of Nazis who held diverse and changing views on everything. The only common and consistent thread seems to have been racial [...]
Tags:atheism·Cardinal Pell·Coel Hellier·creationist·Darwinism·German Catholics·German Christians·Hitler·Nazi religion·neo-pagan·political religion·Richard Dawkins·Samuel Koehne
In his 1880 Hibbert Lecture on the history of early Christianity, Ernest Renan commented: “I sometimes permit myself to say that, if Christianity had not carried the day, Mithraicism would have become the religion of the world.” While it is doubtful that a Persian-influenced mystery cult which appealed primarily to Roman soldiers, officials, and aristocrats [...]
Tags:bull sacrifice·bull worship·Catal Hoyuk·Christianity·Commagene·Constantine·Crusades·early Christians·Ernest Renan·Franz Cumont·Kingdom of Commagene·Knights Templar·Mithraism·Mithras·mystery cult·Persian·Roger Beck·Rome·solar deity
Unlike living organisms, cultural formations do not “evolve.” Evolution, sensu stricto, is a biological process and not a cultural one. Despite this fact, some scholars have fruitfully deployed evolutionary ideas — as analogy and metaphor — to analyze cultural history.
In 1964 the sociologist Robert Bellah did just this in his classic paper, Religious Evolution. Taking [...]
Tags:animism·Arabs·Black Stone·Christianity·cult practice·cultural evolution·Eric Voegelin·Eugene Stockton·Ingela Bergman·Islam·kaaba·landscapes·modern religion·multilinear·Norse·objects·pagans·pantheism·Phoenician·polytheism·primitive religion·religious evolution·religious stages·Robert Bellah·rocks·sacred·Sami·shamanic·stones·symbol systems·typology·unilinear·varro muorra·veneration·Vikings·wood
Until recently, I was unaware of the fact that Norway plays host to several of the most extreme metal bands in the world. These guys do not just play unbearable music while wearing hellish costumes; unlike most dark metal bands, they take their ideas seriously and live accordingly. They have burned many churches in Norway [...]
Tags:Beowulf·Bergen·black metal·Espedal·folk beliefs·Gaahl·Gorgoroth·metal·Nietzsche·Norse paganism·Norse shamanism·Norway·Odin·pagans·Satanism·Scandinavian landscape·Thor·True Norwegian Black Metal·Vikings
The British government has, after a lengthy vetting process, recognized Druidism or Druidry as a religion and granted it charitable status. The commissioners in charge of such decisions apparently had a hard time getting their collective heads around the idea that not all religions are monotheistic, textual, dogmatic, priestly, hierarchical, institutionalized, or systematic.
As the Toronto [...]
Tags:Anglican·animism·animist·anthropomorphic deities·Celtic·Charity Commission·city-states·deism·divine kings·Druidism·Druidry·Druids·Gallic·Great Britain·human sacrifice·megalithic structures·Melanie Phillips·nature worship·neo-pagan·Neolithic Revolution·pagan·polytheism·Stonehenge·United Kingdom
In this review of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion by Julian Young, Weaver Santaniello provides some observations that — if true, are startling:
And while many simply regard Nietzsche as an atheist, Young does not view Nietzsche as a non-believer, radical individualist, or immoralist, but as a nineteenth-century religious reformer belonging to a German Volkish tradition of [...]
Tags:Beyond Good and Evil·Dionysius·existential·Friedrich Nietzsche·Greek mythology·Julian Young·Nietzsche's Philosophy of Religion·paganism·pantheism·Schopenhauer·Supposing Truth is a Woman·Volkish tradition·Weaver Santaniello
Over at Spiegel, Matthias Schulz reports on a “sensational” archaeological find in Northern Germany. In 808 CE, King Gottrik of Denmark ordered the construction of the longest earthwork in Europe. It was approximately 19 miles long and had only a single gate (the “Danevirke”), which archaeologists are now excavating.
This was a turbulent time in Europe, [...]
Tags:berserkers·Charlemagne·Clash of the Gods·Danevirke·Denmark·Franks·King Gottrik·Loki·Matthis Schulz·Molly Hatchet·Norse pagans·Norse religion·Northern Germany·Scandanavia·Thor·Thor and the Fall of Paganism·Vikings
Archaeologists working in Europe have it good, really good. Depending on one’s interests, you can research just about anything. Paleoanthropologists can work on hominid evolution (i.e., Homo heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, H. neanderthalensis), while their colleagues can study a host of fascinating subjects, including the Upper Paleolithic transition, mesolithic hunter-gatherers, incipient agriculturalists, and the usual smattering [...]
Tags:afterlife·axes·barrows·celts·complex hunter-gatherers·cosmology·European archaeology·flints·folk beliefs·grave goods·hominid evolution·Homo antecessor·Homo heidelbergensis·Homo neanderthalensis·Iron Age·Kate Ravilious·Kwakiutl·magic·megaliths·mesolithic·mortuary practices·mythology·myths·Neanderthals·oldest house in Britain·pagans·ritual objects·ritualism·Romans·Sean Coughlan·sedentism·shamanist·shamans·soul·spirit·Stone Age·superstition·talismans·thunderstones·Upper Paleolithic·Vikings
As I stated in The Supernatural and Stonehenge, it is “incredible that ninety percent of the area surrounding one of the most famous megalithic sites in the world has remained largely unexplored. No wonder there are so many different theories and arguments about who built Stonehenge, why it was constructed, and how [...]
Tags:barrow·barrows·categories·Druids·gobsmacked·Great Britain·henge·henges·Maev Kennedy·Marden Henge·Mardenhenge·midden·mysticism·neolithic·Neolithic religion·paganism·pagans·religious·secular·Stonehenge·supernatural·Wiltshire
Gallo-Roman Temple Complex Discovered
August 19th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology, History, Pagans, Ritual
Over at The Guardian, Pierre Le Hir reports on the discovery of an “enormous religious site” or temple complex in the French countryside near Le Mans, which during the first through third centuries common era (C.E.) was known as Vindunum. As viewers of HBO’s spectacular but short-lived series “Rome” and readers of Julius Caesar’s Commentarii [...]
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Tags:Celtic·Celtic gods·celts·Commentaries on the Gallic Wars·Commentarii de Bello Gallico·exclusivism·Gallic·Gallic gods·Gauls·intolerance·Julius Caesar·Le Mans·Mars Mullo·Mithras·Muslim·mystery cult·Obama·pagan pantheon·pagans·Persian deity·Pierre Le Hir·religious site·ritual offerings·Roman·Roman gods·Rome·salvage archaeology·syncretic·syncretism·temple complex·tolerance·Vindunum