Mike's musings

Visigoths ahoy!

"What," you may ask, "have Visigoths got to do with Christianity or Paganism?" Those are the topics of this month's synchroblog, and so you'd hope that I'd be writing about something vaguely relevant. And, as it happens, I am. I really don't know much about paganism (Sally's is likely to be a better blog to read on this - see below), certainly in the modern world, but the 21st century is not the first time that paganism has raised its head. I'm certainly not going to try to draw similarities between the beliefs of earlier pagans and modern-day pagans - but I think it's worth remembering that the rise of Christendom in Europe was not without problems in its history, and it wasn't just the Islamic Moorish empire that caused it problems.

In 410AD, the Visigoths sacked the city of Rome. They were a pagan people, and the Rome of the time was Christian, all other religions other than Christianity having been officially banned in 391AD, just 19 years before. It appears that the Visigoths, under Alaric I, showed remarkable clemency towards Christians, their buildings and posessions. There seem to have been a variety of different reasons or the Sack of Rome, and the issue of religion may not have been a major one.

Why is this relevant? Maybe it's not. I just thought that it was worth reminding ourselves that Christianity is not the only belief system with a history in Europe - even if the history of Christianity is more continuous, certainly in the mainstream. And Christianity has dealt with the challenges of paganism before. The way we deal with the challenges of other faiths is, hopefully, significantly more enlightened and more based on dialogue these days. We should try to remember that the Visigoths showed at least some clemency towards Christians, and that it seems to have been based on respect. I think that's an important work to bear in mind.

Respect seems a much better way to deal with challenges than aggression - and I want to be careful about the word "challenges". As a Christian, I believe that the faith I profess provides a unique revelation from God, and that Jesus Christ's life (incarnation), death and resurrection offer human beings a sure route to God. But I'm being led more and more to an understanding that God has given us many different ways to Him/Her. We have to listen and discuss. We can try to convince. But we have to listen. And that's not only to the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), nor only the other major world faith (Hinduism, Buddhism and others) but also to other belief systems and faiths, including paganism.

You may wish to consult the wikipedia entries on Alaric I, Ancient Rome and Visigoths for more information.

Synchroblog

Today is a "synchroblog" on the subject of "Christianity and Paganism". If you've liked what you read here, or, more particularly, if you didn't, and you'd like to read some other opinions, please visit one of the other participating blogs:

• Matthew Stone at Journeys in Between
• Christianity, Paganism, and Literature at Notes from the Underground
• John Smulo at JohnSmulo.com
• Heathens and Pagans and Witches ... oh my! at Calacirian
• Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
• Erin Word at Decompressing Faith
• Chasing the Wild Goose at Eternal Echoes
• Visigoths Ahoy! at Mike's Musings
• Belief and Being: The difficulty of communicating faith at Phil Wyman's Square No More
• Steve Hollinghurst at On Earth as in Heaven
• Undefined Desire at Igneous Quill
• A Walk on the Wild Side at Out of the Cocoon
• Observations on Magic in Western Religion at My Contemplations
• Tim Abbott at Tim Abbott
• Spirituality and the Zodiac: Stories in the Cosmos at Be the Revolution
• Rejection, Redemption, and Roots at One Hand Clapping

Labels: christianity, synchroblog