Christianity and neopaganism overlap when the beliefs or practices of one religious path influence, or are adopted by, the other. Historically,

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

sometimes took advantage of traditional pagan beliefs when it spread to new areas – a process known as

inculturation In Christianity, inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics, whereas Protestants, especially associated with the World Council of Churches, prefer to use th ...

. Thus newly established churches took on sites, practices or images belonging to indigenous belief systems as a way of making the new faith more acceptable. More recently, in a parallel process, some followers of

modern pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

paths have developed practices such as Christopaganism by blending Christian elements into neopagan practice.

Historical syncretism

Christianity and classical paganism had an uneasy relationship with each being at different times persecutor or persecuted. However each also influenced the other. For example, a 10th–11th-century manuscript in the British Library known as the ''

Lacnunga The ''Lacnunga'' ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. The title ''Lacnunga'', an Old English word meaning 'remedies', is not in the manuscript: it was given t ...

'' describes a charm against poison said to have been invented by Christ while on the cross, which has parallels in Anglo-Saxon magic.

Modern syncretism

In the modern era, examples of syncretism may include Christians seeking to incorporate concepts of the Divine Feminine from neopaganism into Christianity or Neopagans seeking to incorporate figures such as

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

into

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and w ...

n worship.

Christopaganism

Joyce and River Higginbotham define Christopaganism as: "A spirituality that combines beliefs and practices of Christianity with beliefs and practices of Paganism, or that observes them in parallel."Higginbotham, Joyce & River. ''ChristoPaganism: An Inclusive Path'' (2009), Woodbury MN: Llewellyn Publications. They give examples of people identifying as Pagan but observing both Pagan and Christian liturgical years, using the Rosary or observing a form of Communion.

References

* * First published as

Historical syncretism

Modern syncretism

Christopaganism

See also

References

Further reading