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Cults are inherently ephemeral and loosely organized. [30] There is a major theme in many of the recent works that show the relationship between cults and mysticism. [30] Campbell highlights two major types of cults: one mystical and the other instrumental. This analysis can divide the cults into either occult or metaphysical assemblies.
The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism, a painting by Gustave Doré (1899). Paganism is commonly used to refer to various religions that existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, such as the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire, including the Roman imperial cult, the various mystery religions, religious philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and more localized ethnic ...
Manfred Clauss, a scholar of the Mithraic cult, speculates that the similarities between Christianity and Mithraism may have made it easier for members of the Mithraic cult to convert to Christianity without having to give up their ritual meal, sun-imagery, candles, incense, or bells, [128] a trend which might explain why, as late as the sixth ...
Christianity has been intricately intertwined with the history and formation of Western society.Throughout its long history, the Church has been a major source of social services like schooling and medical care; an inspiration for art, culture and philosophy; and an influential player in politics and religion.
Christianity began as a Jewish sect and remained so for centuries in some locations, diverging gradually from Judaism over doctrinal, social and historical differences. Despite the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire , the faith spread as a grassroots movement that, by the third century, was established both in and outside the empire.
On February 27, 380, the Roman Empire officially adopted Trinitarian Nicene Christianity as its state religion. [8] Prior to this date, Constantius II (337-361) and Valens (364-378) had personally favored Arian or Semi-Arianism forms of Christianity, but Valens' successor Theodosius I supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the Nicene Creed.
The Rise of Christianity (subtitled either A Sociologist Reconsiders History or How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, depending on the edition), is a book by the sociologist Rodney Stark, which examines the rise of Christianity, from a small movement in Galilee and Judea at the time of Jesus to the majority ...
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, professing that Jesus was raised from the dead and is the Son of God, [7] [8] [9] [note 2] whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament.