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/lit/ - Literature

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18161885 No.18161885 [Reply] [Original]

How come pagan literature seems to always have been tolerated in Christian Europe? Even Christian poets like Dante and Milton were well read on pagan myths and didn't frown upon making allusions to them.

>> No.18161899

Bc once upon a time, being a literate Christian meant being well-educated, erudite and possessing good taste

>> No.18161908

>>18161899
What about the "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" commandment? Or that time Moses punished the Israelites for idolatry?

>> No.18161957

>>18161885
>>18161908
Knowing and alluding to other myths doesnt mean you believe in them, its a retarded question.

The commandment isnt "Thou shalt have no knowledge of other gods before me"

>> No.18162069

>>18161957
What about building statues of them or asking them for poetic inspiration?

>> No.18162106

>>18161885
only during the Renaissance

>> No.18162320

>>18162069
"The meaning, not the name I call"

>> No.18162931

>>18161885
There was absolutely no reason to be hostile to paganism by then since everyone was solidly Christian and the idea of someone worshipping Greco-Roman Gods would have seemed ridiculous to them. It’s why the Vatican could comfortably fund stuff like The Trevi Fountain which had statues of Greco-Roman Gods. They just couldn’t imagine anyone worshipping pagan Gods again so there was no feelings of threat to create hostility towards paganism.

>> No.18162999

>>18161885
It wasn't. They destroyed a lot of it.
>>18161957
>>18162931
Bullshit. Even in the 13th and 14th centuries they were still trying to wipe out paganism.

>> No.18163083

>>18161885
There was a brief but quite a strong reaction against paganism in art in renaissance Florence itself. Savonarola wanted to ban all non-Christian art (secular and pagan) and his movement was immensely popular among Florentine people. There was even a bonfire held in Florence to burn non-Christian art.

> Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal. Savonarola promoted theocracy, and declared Christ the king of Florence.[26][27] He saw sacred or Christian art as a tool to promote this worldview, and he was therefore only opposed to secular art, which he saw as worthless and potentially damaging. Savonarola’s popularity with the people was so widespread that they wanted him to rule Florence over de Medici. The people got their wish and Savonarola was in the role of civil servant, holding political power.

>> No.18163094

>>18162999
Only in Lithuania. It had been wiped out everywhere else by then.

>> No.18163104

Because even Christianity cannot fully suppress the truth.

>> No.18163128
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18163128

>>18162999

>> No.18163154

>>18163128
haha idol goes crack

>> No.18164573

>>18162069
Invoking gods became a literary tradition because Literature in the Middle Ages was inspired by pagan myths

>> No.18164576

>>18162106
>only during the Renaissance
not true

>> No.18164586
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18164586

>>18162999
>It wasn't. They destroyed a lot of it.

>> No.18164588

>>18161885
The idea of the "virtuous pagan." They realized it was unlikely that Homer would have heard of either Judaism or Christianity.

>> No.18164600

>>18163128
The seething they have when their mosques are taken over to is immense.

>> No.18164663

>be god
>be crucified by puny humans
>mysterious_ways.exe

>> No.18164740

>>18162999
Most likely your Hermes statue was just rebranded a statue of St John, might not even take care to cover the microdicks.
>Even in the 13th and 14th centuries they were still trying to wipe out paganism.
Are you from the Baltic or something?

>>18162931
Perhaps for old Roman religion in the old Empire. On the other hand most sagas or the written Edda were written by Christians still at an age where paganism in the north was not extinct. It is more flagrant outside Europe, like the Jesuits compiling everything about religions of North and South Americans or the Japs or Indians. There was a conscious movement (at least among Catholics) to study other religions to convert their followers, and the neutralized mythology was seen as psychological or ethnographic material (same as Zeus in Europe).

>> No.18164779

Ultimately because monotheism is a giant stinky failure, and the very idea of monotheism is completely at odds with any kind of civilization

>> No.18165257

>>18164740
>Are you from the Baltic or something?
No, he'd just be from anywhere in Europe ever. It's not like all of Europe suddenly poofed into Nicene Christians the moment Constantine made Arianism the Roman State religion or something. The church was constantly trying to wipe out "Paganism", whatever that meant at the time. The Christianization of Russia outside of its nobility didn't start until the mid 1600s, so in some cases this was a literal other religion. In others, it was stuff like astrology, or fortune telling, or simple belief in a pre-Christian history of your given people.

>> No.18165285

>>18161885
Some Christians believed that part of the truth was revealed to the Greeks by God, but that it was incomplete and misunderstood without the revealed truth of the gospel.

>> No.18165614

>>18161908
Idolatry is when you worship a god/statue alone, while forgetting its true meaning in relation with the supreme god, because everything is a manifestation/creation of the One(in hinduism, the gods are a manifestation of Brahma so if you understand it in this way, it isn't idolatry). Even sufis and kabbalists would agree with this, for the surprise of many abrahamic plebs, since they believe that the reason why the "idols" were bad, is because people lost their true meaning.

>> No.18166336

>>18165285
that applies more to greek philosophers like plato and aristotle, not so much their gods like zeus and poseidon

>> No.18166413

>>18165614
>>18161885
There is no One. The idea that the souls of the depraved and saintly men originate from the same source is a lie from oversocialized Christians and Muslims. God is not as forgiving as you think, and it takes time to rid one's impurities. Buddha nature can become corrupted, and in fact, many people are deserving of death.