Posted on 04/10/2020 3:01:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
Maybe you’ve seen the eyebrow-raising claims on the Internet or elsewhere in the media: rather than celebrating Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and triumph over crucifixion, Easter is really derived from a pagan holiday. Proponents of this theory point to symbols of rebirth and fertility, like eggs and bunnies, that we see at Easter as proof. But the foundation of the claim that Easter is a pagan tradition is the similarity in names: Easter, they say, is the English translation of Eostre, a Germanic goddess of fertility. (Others claim Easter got its name from the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, or the Ethiopian god Ashtar. That they have trouble keeping their story straight should be your first clue the Easter skeptics don’t have much in the way of actual evidence)! Others take the theory even further, arguing that the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection was lifted from ancient mythology—and therefore can’t possibly be true.
It’s intriguing stuff for people who wish to deny the divinity of Christ. But, much like the fertility myths surrounding Eostre, these claims are more fiction than fact. For starters, the word for Easter in many languages—including Spanish (Pascua), French (Pâques), and Romanian (Pa?ti)—is derived from the Hebrew word pesach, or “Passover.” Christians indeed borrowed many of their Easter traditions from another faith, but it was the monotheistic religion of Judaism, not paganism. Moreover, Ronald Nash, a philosophy professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, spent years thoroughly researching ancient mythology and found no evidence for resurrection stories similar to Christ’s. He did find a few examples of gods who died and then came back to life, but the circumstances bore no resemblance to Jesus’ execution and resurrection: “None of the so-called savior-gods died for someone else...Only Jesus died for sin. The other ‘dying gods’ tend to die because of accidents or quarrels. Jesus died once and for all, according to the teachings of the New Testament. Other stories involve the ‘god’ dying every year, corresponding to changing seasons."
As for Easter eggs and bunnies, there is little evidence that modern Christians lifted these symbols from pagans. In the early years of the Church, eating eggs was forbidden during Lent. Therefore, Christians celebrated the end of Lent and the arrival of Easter Sunday by cracking open beautifully painted eggs. And the Easter Bunny didn’t appear until sometime in the 1700s, when German immigrants in Pennsylvania introduced him into their Easter celebrations as a special surprise for children.
In sum, Christians borrowed their Pascal celebrations from the Jewish Passover. Easter traditions—whether it’s Orthodox Christians in Russia painting elaborate eggs or German Catholics delivering gifts to children from the “Easter bunny”—have varied according to regional and cultural traditions, and have changed greatly since the early days of the Church. But none of these traditions seem to have roots in paganism. Those who seek to undermine Christianity might tout this theory to make it seem as if believing in Christ’s resurrection has as much validity as worshipping animals or fertility goddesses. But the next time you hear these dubious claims about Easter and pagan mythology, remember it is just that: a myth.
Excellent read.
....... In this explanation I am still curious as to the origin of the word "Ēostre" .....
Bkmrk.
Easter came from the pagan holiday of looking for rabbit eggs.
In a study done by the University of Sydney it was discovered that Easter actually began as a pagan festival celebrating spring in the Northern Hemisphere, long before the advent of Christianity. In the first couple of centuries after Jesus’s life, feast days in the new Christian church were attached to old pagan festivals. Spring festivals with the theme of new life and relief from the cold of winter became connected explicitly to Jesus having conquered death by being resurrected after the crucifixion.
But the first of the actual religious intervention happened in 325AD when the first major church council, the Council of Nicaea, determined that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. This is why Easter changes dates to this day and are sometimes called movable feasts.
Easter takes its name from a pagan goddess from Anglo-Saxon England who was described in a book by the eighth-century English monk Bede. Eostre was a goddess of spring or renewal and that’s why her feast is attached to the vernal equinox. In Germany the festival is called Ostern, and the goddess is called Ostara. But what’s in a name?
rwood
Likewise with Lent. Originally it just meant "spring"--it is connected to the word "lengthen"--spring is the time when the days are getting longer. In Dutch, one of the most closely related languages to English, "lente" means spring.
When Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the calendar reform in 1582 by saying that 10 days should be dropped (the day after October 4 would be October 15), he was getting the calendar back to where it was in A.D. 325, so that the rules for calculating the date of Easter would work properly.
That was the custom that the Church of Rome followed going back to the 2nd Century, ie. when to celebrate Pascha (Italian) or what we call Easter Sunday (wasn’t called that in 2nd Century Rome).
Saint Ireneaus of Lyons gives a clear account of Easter being celebrated in the late 2nd century. In paragraph 3, you see there were debates about not only the day (Easter day) but the length of the fast (Lent practices in the 2nd century) and if you read on to paragraph 7, you see the “day” is a reference to Easter Sunday (again using English terminology).
The discussion above relates to the debates between the Pope and some Eastern Churches over the celebration of Easter which is referred to as the Quartodeciman controversy over the Date for Easter and the related Lenten fast, etc. The Council of Nicea in 325 adopted the Church of Rome’s as the standard practice.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08130b.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0134.htm
.... Yes.... But you are citing evidence that the author of this article says there is no evidence of the word being of pagan origin....
It leads me to know that Jesus couldn't have died on Friday afternoon and then resurrected on Sunday Morning...
... Yup ... The message and True Meaning of the season is the important thing.
There’s no actual evidence for a “goddess Eostre”. It may simply be a word meaning “dawn”, cognate to our modern word “east”.
Easter use to be more important holiday than Christmas till the emphasis came to be Santa Claus
Feminism is derived from pagan women seeking to dominate men through witchcraft. Abortion is derived from the pagan ritual of human sacrifice.
That is what you can tell someone anytime they try to diminish Christianity by claiming it has pagan origins.
Many of the other books of the New Testament were written by Paul, and the approximate dates of his Epistles are not in dispute. His first Epistle was written around 50 AD. The dates of Paul's writings make it impossible that the Gospels were written 70 years after Jesus' life, because much of the Book of Acts is about Paul, including his conversion on the road to Damascus and his missionary journeys. And, as I mentioned, the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts are the same person, which is also not disputed. The Book of Acts also describes how a physician named Luke met Paul on his 1st missionary journey.
Also, a verse in 1 Timothy seems to be quoting from Luke's Gospel:
St Paul, while he was writing his Epistles, appears to have known what was written in the Gospel of Luke. I say “appears to have known” because I’m open to alternative explanations, but on the face of it, this is how it looks. If you think I’m wrong, show me why.Here is why this appears to be the case. This is an excerpt from Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:17–18):
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The labourer deserves to be paid.”
Paul claims to be quoting from scripture. But which parts of scripture is he quoting from? The first one is easy. “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” comes from the Torah, in Deuteronomy 25:4. What about the second quote, “the labourer deserves to be paid?” or more literally, “the worker deserves his wages?” (the NRSV from which I quoted often alters the sentence to remove reference to gender). Is it anywhere in the Hebrew Scripture? What about the Septuagint? Nope, nowhere. Was there any Jewish writing at the time that contained this saying and which might have been regarded as scripture? No. So what was he quoting from when he claimed that this is something contained in scripture?
Here’s a quote from something that Christians today regard as Scripture: “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid.”
And there it is, the elusive phrase. This is from the Gospel of Luke (10:7), where Jesus is giving his disciples instructions before sending them out. So how did Paul know about this saying being in Scripture? Remember that St Paul is believed to have died in AD 67.
Herod noted it.
Acts Chapter 12
1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.
(Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending
after Easter
to bring him forth to the people.
5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
Where the English language term “Easter” comes from, I find of little or no significance, but will defer to some competent philologist, if such exists. Not to half assed home brewed skeptics.
” In Germany the festival is called Ostern, and the goddess is called Ostara. But what’s in a name?”
Our days and months are named after pagan gods and figures (at least in English).
“the early Christian Catholic church melded some of the pagan traditions of Europe into the Easter holiday in order to convert the pagans to Christianity.”
There’s zero evidence that ever happened. Seriously, there is no evidence any pagan thing was adopted into Christian religious practice to convert anyone in the ancient Greco-Roman world.
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