Religious Options and Expressions in the Roman Empire - Dr. James L Papandrea

Here is the OUTLINE and the correct SPELLING of terms…

But first the books:

Reading the Church Fathers (textbook for the intro course):
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Church...

What Really Happens After We Die (on the Christian doctrine of the resurrection and the afterlife):
https://www.amazon.com/What-Really-Ha...

A Week in the Life of Rome (historical fiction with info boxes):
https://www.amazon.com/Week-Life-Rome...


A. Things to keep in mind about Roman Religion
1. It’s non-exclusive
2. It’s non-moral
3. In Matthew 6:7, Jesus criticized 2 kinds of “babbling on and on”:
a. Prayer meant to impress the gods
b. Prayer meant to impress other people
4. Greco-Roman religion is external/public, as opposed to internal
5. There is no separation of religion and government

B. There are 6 “layers” of Religious practice/expression
1. Household Religion
a. At the door - Janus (or in Greek culture, Zeus Herkeios)
b. Over the household - the Lares (shrine = Lararium)
c. At the pantry - the Penates
d. At the hearth - Vesta (or in Greek culture, Hestia)
2. Popular Religion
a. Nature spirits, like Silvanus, the god of farm and forest
b. Oracles
c. Magic (spells, curses, amulets)
d. Astrology
3. Civic Religion (practice = patriotism)
a. The Capitoline Triad: Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno, Minerva
b. The Rex Sacrorum evolves into the Pontifex Maximus
c. Augurs (soothsayers)
d. The afterlife
1) Hades is neutral - for most people
2) Elysium is paradise for the most glorious people
3) Tartarus is hell for the most dishonorable people
e. The Refrigerium as the background for the Christian practice
4. Membership Religions (the “mystery cults”)
NOTE: in the longer version of this lecture, I talk in detail about the following examples
of membership religions. This section is cut from the video for the sake of time, and
because I didn’t feel that the course required going to this level of detail:
a. Demeter/Ceres (goddess of grain)
b. Cybele/Magna Mater (the “Great Mother”)
c. Dionysius/Bacchus (the god of wine)
d. Isis (imported from Egypt)
e. Mithras (imported from Persia, but with later additions copying Christianity)
f. Asclepius (not technically a membership/initiation cult)
5. Philosophy as a Religion
6. The Imperial Cult (Emperor worship)

C. Pre-Christian Monotheism
1. Judaism
2. Philosophy
3. Egyptian Sun Worship (Egyptian: Elagabal/Roman: Sol Invictus)