Discuss The Relationship Between Mystery Cults Of Late Antiquity And Early Christianity

For centuries, scholars from different fields attempt to interpret and establish their theories concerning the relationship between the Mystery cults of Late Antiquity and early Christianity. Several scholars appear to unelaborate illustrate the differences and the similarities of those two religious paths, while others adhere to either the one or the other side of the coin. One should keep in mind, though, that all those written theories stand chances of being flawed, no matter how influential they might appear, due to the fact that we do not have clear detail and material about the formation and the beginning of Christianity. Thus, we should be sceptical when studying about the genesis and the development of early Christianity, and be critical
concerning the sources we select to base our study on. Additionally, one should be aware of what the term “Mystery Cult” stands for.
Numerous scholars tend to congregate the Mystery Cults, making them appear as if they are alike, but if one takes a closer look on those pagan cults, he will soon become aware of their diversity. Nevertheless, no matter how diverse the mystery cults might be from one another, they share a set of resemblances that allows scholars to unite them. Through this essay, I will endeavour to, unbiasedly, demonstrate a number of theological theories that are said to have influenced the ideas concerning the relationship between Mystery cults and the various formations of early Christianity. Furthermore, I will examine whether it is possible, and worthwhile, to continue on analysing and comparing the two religion, and their aspects, but without the theological notions involved. Primarily, I find necessary that I adduce a sort outline of the Mystery cults that scholars compare with early Christianities and discuss the characteristics that those religions have in
common.
To begin with, if we look at the religious map of Late Antiquity we shall see that each Mediterranean region cultivated its own mystery cult. In Greece there where the cults of Demeter, represented with the Eleusinian mysteries, and the cult of Dionysus who was worshiped through the Orphic mystery cult. Asia Minor bear the cult of Cybele, the Great Mother. In Egypt originated the cult of Isis and Osiris, while Syria and Palestine there was the cult of Adonis. In Persia was the cult of Mithras, to which mainly soldiers adhered. Mystery religions In Greece, at their early form, were state religions that served a public function, while the non-Greek, Oriental, mysteries were personal and private . Each cult cultivated its own secret ceremonies or mysteries, often in connection with a sacred initiation rite. Particularly, the “secret knowledge” that a mystery cult would pass down on its adherents should remain inaccessible to anybody outside the initiative circle of the cult. The main theme of the mysteries was the use of an annual vegetation cycle where followers of the cults found deep symbolic significance in the natural processes of growth, death, decay, and rebirth . Every mystery religion derived from a myth in which the god either resurrected for the dead or triumphed over his enemies. The initiate would sympathize with the sufferings of their god and the sacramental would bring them into religious ecstasy, which was supposed to bring them into a state of mind where they would experience the beginning of a new life. Mysteries were primarily concerned with the emotional life of their followers with little or no notion of doctrines at all. The emotions engendered from empathizing with the tormented deity was meant to lead to unification with that god, who would then purify the adherent with the ultimate aim of salvation . Additionally, the mysteries were not confined, and nothing prohibited a follower of one cult from adhering other mysteries as well. The aforementioned aspects of the various Mystery cults appear to be the rootage of numerous theological and historical approaches concerning the relationship between Mystery cults and Christianity.
The debate of the relationship between Mystery religions and Christianity originated from the 19th century when Christian August Lobeck was the first scholar to attempt a focused examination of the Mystery rites and teachings. Ever since then, scholars began to pry archaeological remains, connected to Mystery religions, in order to decode their conformation. Taking the argument further, a movement of scholars felt the need to express their views regarding the relationship of the Mystery cults with Christianity . In accordance with Bruce Metzger, two parties of scholars were formed, each defending diverse opinions with respect to whether Mystery cults influenced early Christianities or not. Hence, there is one group of scholars, which maintains that Mystery religions posed a great amount of influence upon Christianity. On the contrary, the other group of scholars disputes such a theory. Trying to reckon which of the two views is the right one leads to a perplexed argument. Bruce Metzger asserts that early Christianity undeniably adopted numerous pagan customs, rites and practices. Additionally, he explains that early Christianity shares a handful of similarities that with various Mystery religions. To his mind the Christian saints, replaced the local gods whose names, though, reminded the original pagan deity. He also supports that pagan statuary, such as those depicting Isis -the Egyptian Queen of Heaven- holding her miracle son Horus, corresponded to the image of Holy Mary holding her son, Jesus. What is more, Metzger upholds that the uses and display of secret objects in Christianity as well as certain funeral customs were borrowed from the pagan mysteries. Bruce Metzger maintains that parallelisms between Mystery cults and Christianity were made ever since the origins of the latter, when both pagan and Christian scholars commented their resemblances. He appears to be one an objective scholar and he adduces that there are differences between the two religions as well. One of them is that the pagan mysteries represent and follow nature and its vegetative cycle, while Christianity orbits Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. According to Metzger, modern scholars sometimes produce faults and inaccurate parallels, though, thus one should read between the lines and be hesitant when investigating this argument .
There are others scholars that view this argument through a different perspective, a more particularised one, such as Alfred Loisy and Franz Cumont, who assess whether there was pagan influence posed upon Christianity by inspecting Paul.
Cumont was the first historian that nurtured the subject of Paul’s relation to the mystery cults . He suggests that Paul consciously borrowed from pagan mysteries customs and rituals and through this process, he formed what Cumont refers to as “Christian mystery”. In accordance to Cumont, what Paul did was to project pagan conceptions into Christianity. On the contrary, Alfred Loisy agrees with Cumont that Christianity was a mystery cult, heavily influenced by pagan mysteries, but as claimed by Loisy, even though Paul himself was the key-figure in the formation of Christology, he did not consciously borrow from the mystery cults. Other than that, Loisy holds the opinion that Christ’s resurrection was just another myth, affected by the pagan beliefs of resurrection, and he attempts to give a psychological explanation to this notion. He states that Christ’s followers could not bear the fact that their leader was eventually dead, thus Jesus’ resurrection was mythologized. Furthermore, Loisy points out Paul invented sacramental rituals of Baptism and the Eucharist. In his book “The Christian Mystery”, Loisy explains that “Christianity was not a heresy not it spilt from Judaism; it was a new religion”, but not due to the will of Christ nor due to
his actions. He continues to expound, though, that Christianity owes its idea of one God to Judaism and that although it is a different kind of religion it owes the theory of salvation to the pagan mysteries . Notwithstanding, Loisy accepts that early Christianity fostered many aspects of the Mystery cults, but he reckons that Christianity was a cult concerned about the eternal like and the future of mankind, in contrast to the Mysteries.
Scholars like Fritz Graf discuss the relationship between Mystery cults and early Christianities by making distinctions amid their rites. By focusing on the ritual of Baptism, he deduces that the Christian Baptism was a one-time-only rite with the property of changing a person’s essence by purifying his past sins. On the contrary, the ritual of “bathing” in order to achieve purification would be taken whenever it was necessary on the Greco-Roman world. Justin in his first Apology points out the likeness of the Christian Baptism and Eucharist with several pagan rituals and Graf adds that cults like Isis and Mithras were characterized by a cathartic notion, just like Baptism. For Graf Christianity appears to be one of the Mystery cults, and he invokes ancient scholars like Justin, Tertullian and Baronius to illustrate that a resemblance between the rituals of Christian and Mystery cults was cited as early as their time. However, Jonathan Smith’s view of this argument it that, in order to be able to compare two things, one should, first understand, respect and accept the differences of the “things” he is comparing . What Smith does is that he interprets and explains the study of comparing early Christianity to Mystery cults. He declares the famous "dying and rising gods" as a modern myth hatched by modern scholars, and that such a comparison was never made in Late Antiquity. He disavows the relationship between Mystery cults and early Christianity and explains that Christianity itself was separated by Mysteries because it had nothing to do with the practice of magic and mystical rites . According to Smith, Christians might have been projecting their own faith onto their rivals’ and he explains that has been idealized by Protestants as a pure religion that remained untouched by all pagan practices . His leading point is that scholars should not compare things that are not entirely the same, thus the matter concerning the relationship between Mystery cults and early Christianity should be re-examined. Finally, Jaime Alvar is another scholar that disputes the theory of borrowing amid Mystery cults and early Christianity. He focuses in the three major Mysteries of Late Antiquity; the cults of Isis, Cybele and Mithras. He unites those cults in one group and expounds that they offer humans an order into a life a chaos and control over individual fate as well as a rewarded afterlife. Nevertheless, we does not accept that those cults influenced the formation of Christianity. He supports that they look alike only because they both evolved and thrived in the Roman Empire, thus it is natural for similarities to exist, but each of the two religions followed its own path .