Montanismens härkomst och profetia: En textanalytisk studie av den tidiga kristna montanistiska rörelsen och dess förhållande till pagana kulter
(2021) AKSK04 20202Classical archaeology and ancient history
- Abstract
- This paper aims to study the second-century Christian movement of Montanism and whether it has adopted certain ritualistic aspects from the pagan cults of its native Phrygia, in Asia Minor. Delving into the testimonia of several second-, third- and, fourth-century authors of Christianity, this paper seeks to ascertain the ancient authors’ opinion of Montanism before attempting to ascertain possible pagan influences amongst the Montanists, as well as what fuelled the ancient authors’ often overly negative view of the movement. To accomplish this a hypothetico-deductive method, as well as a theory based on the principles of syncretism, anti-syncretism, and the creolization of religion, is applied to the source material.
After careful... (More) - This paper aims to study the second-century Christian movement of Montanism and whether it has adopted certain ritualistic aspects from the pagan cults of its native Phrygia, in Asia Minor. Delving into the testimonia of several second-, third- and, fourth-century authors of Christianity, this paper seeks to ascertain the ancient authors’ opinion of Montanism before attempting to ascertain possible pagan influences amongst the Montanists, as well as what fuelled the ancient authors’ often overly negative view of the movement. To accomplish this a hypothetico-deductive method, as well as a theory based on the principles of syncretism, anti-syncretism, and the creolization of religion, is applied to the source material.
After careful analysis, the results seem to indicate that, due to the complicated cultural and religious context that is Phrygia, the cult of Montanus has embraced several aspects of the cults of Cybele and Apollo, both of which had strong ties to Asia Minor, and Phrygia in particular. However, the findings also show that part of the obviously pagan aspects in the ancient authors’ testimonia is intended fabrication and exaggeration, in no small part due to a tradition of criticism towards the Phrygian populace, as well as the cults of Apollo and Cybele the Mother. This criticism, which dates to republican Rome, is now rooted in a Christian desire to prevent the cult of Montanism and its ideas from spreading further, and in so doing threatening to destabilize the, at the time, fragile Christian faith. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9068170
- author
- Pålsson, Axel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- AKSK04 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Anti-syncretism, Apollo, Apollonius, Christianity, Cybele, Creolizing, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Hippolytus, Montanism, Montanus, Oracle, Phrygia, Prophecy, Syncretism
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9068170
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-23 16:20:47
- date last changed
- 2021-11-23 16:20:47
@misc{9068170,
abstract = {{This paper aims to study the second-century Christian movement of Montanism and whether it has adopted certain ritualistic aspects from the pagan cults of its native Phrygia, in Asia Minor. Delving into the testimonia of several second-, third- and, fourth-century authors of Christianity, this paper seeks to ascertain the ancient authors’ opinion of Montanism before attempting to ascertain possible pagan influences amongst the Montanists, as well as what fuelled the ancient authors’ often overly negative view of the movement. To accomplish this a hypothetico-deductive method, as well as a theory based on the principles of syncretism, anti-syncretism, and the creolization of religion, is applied to the source material.
After careful analysis, the results seem to indicate that, due to the complicated cultural and religious context that is Phrygia, the cult of Montanus has embraced several aspects of the cults of Cybele and Apollo, both of which had strong ties to Asia Minor, and Phrygia in particular. However, the findings also show that part of the obviously pagan aspects in the ancient authors’ testimonia is intended fabrication and exaggeration, in no small part due to a tradition of criticism towards the Phrygian populace, as well as the cults of Apollo and Cybele the Mother. This criticism, which dates to republican Rome, is now rooted in a Christian desire to prevent the cult of Montanism and its ideas from spreading further, and in so doing threatening to destabilize the, at the time, fragile Christian faith.}},
author = {{Pålsson, Axel}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Montanismens härkomst och profetia: En textanalytisk studie av den tidiga kristna montanistiska rörelsen och dess förhållande till pagana kulter}},
year = {{2021}},
}