''Interpretatio Christiana'' (Latin for Christian interpretation, also Christian reinterpretation) is
adaptation of non-Christian elements of culture or historical facts to the worldview of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. The term is commonly applied to recasting of religious and cultural activities, beliefs and imageries of "
pagan" peoples into a Christianized form as a strategy for
Christianization
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
. From a Christian perspective, "pagan" refers to the various religious beliefs and practices of those who adhered to non-
Abrahamic faith
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran.
Jewish tradition ...
s, including within the
Greco-Roman world the
traditional public and domestic religion of ancient Rome,
imperial cult
An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may ...
,
Hellenistic religion, the
ancient Egyptian religion,
Celtic and
Germanic polytheism,
initiation religions such as the
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries ( el, Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Elefsina in ancient Greece. They are th ...
and
Mithraism, the
religions of the ancient Near East, and the
Punic religion
The Punic religion, Carthaginian religion, or Western Phoenician religion in the western Mediterranean was a direct continuation of the Phoenician variety of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion. However, significant local differences de ...
.
Reformatting traditional religious and cultural activities and beliefs into a Christianized form was officially sanctioned; preserved in the
Venerable Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
's ''
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'' is a letter from
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregor ...
to
Mellitus
Saint Mellitus (died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Chris ...
, arguing that conversions were easier if people were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditions while changing the object of their veneration to God, "to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God".
[ Bede, ''The Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', Digireads.com Publishing, Jan 1, 2004, ]
p. 45
/ref>
Practices
Reinterpretation of sacred sites
The Christianization of sites that had been pagan occurred both as a result of spontaneous conversions in early Christian times, and an important part of the strategy of ''Interpretatio Christiana''. The landscape itself was Christianized, as prominent features were rededicated to Christian saints, sometimes quite directly, as when the island of Oglasa in the Tyrrhenian Sea was christened Montecristo
Montecristo, also Monte Cristo (, ) and formerly Oglasa ( grc, Ὠγλάσσα, Ōglássa), is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province ...
.
Missionaries to the pagan nations enthusiastically turned pagan sites immediately over to church use. For example, Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus (; c. 363 – c. 425) was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.
Life
Almost all that we know of Sev ...
, in his ''Vita'' of Martin of Tours, a dedicated destroyer of temples and sacred trees, remarks "wherever he destroyed heathen temples, there he used immediately to build either churches or monasteries"
''Vita'', ch xiii
, and when Benedict took possession of the site at Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...
, he began by smashing the sculpture of Apollo and the altar that crowned the height.
The letter from Pope Gregory I to Mellitus copied by Bede says in part:[
]
...that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed there. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may the more freely resort to the places to which they have been accustomed.
Reinterpretation of calendar and feasts
In the context of Christianization of Germanic tribes, Herbert Schutz
Herbert (Herb) Schutz (February 25, 1937 – January 1, 2018) was a German-born Canadian philologist who was Professor Emeritus and Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies/Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Brock Univers ...
notes that eventually old local gods were still "celebrated on their feast days, on their former sacred sites", replaced with some particular saints.
The letter from Pope Gregory I to Mellitus copied by Bede continues thus:[
]
...And because they are used to slaughter many oxen in sacrifice to devils, some solemnity must be given them in exchange for this, as that on the day of the dedication, or the nativities of the holy martyrs, whose relics are there deposited, they should build themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have been turned to that use from being temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting, and no more offer animals to the Devil, but kill cattle and glorify God in their feast, and return thanks to the Giver of all things for their abundance; to the end that, whilst some outward gratifications are retained, they may the more easily consent to the inward joys.
However some scholars question the significance of the reinterpretation of pagan feasts.
Reuse of cultural artifacts
In the context of art, ''interpretatio christiana'' amounted to renaming (e.g., by added or changed inscription) or unnaming objects, as well as Christian allegorization of them. For example, a Roman cup or vase would be consecrated and used as a chalice
A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning.
R ...
in church. A notable example of the latter is the Cup of the Ptolemies
The Cup of the Ptolemies ( French: ''Coupe des Ptolémées''), also known as the Cup of Saint Denis, is an onyx cameo two-handled cup, or ''kantharos''. The cup, decorated with Dionysiac vignettes and emblems, was carved at some point in Classi ...
. Unnaming could include deliberate omission of traditional pagan interpretations of the imagery in descriptions of artifacts, leading to their oblivion, whether intentionally or by ignorance.
Crosses were inscribed on old architecture and its reused remnants (spolia
''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...
). Liz James observes. "Inscribing a cross works similarly o upsetting pagan statues/small>, sealing the object for Christian purposes".
Martin Henig describes a number of personal intaglio seals with clearly pagan motifs, augmented with Christian inscriptions, such as "IESVS EST AMOR MEVS" ("Iesus est amor meus", "Jesus is my love").
The Protestant Transylvanian Saxon
The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...
s acquired rugs from the Ottoman Empire, sometimes with Islamic motifs, and used them as prestigious decorations for their churches.
Only their material value as a good of luxury, and their purely ornamental, non-figural design seems to have made these rugs appear as appropriate adornments of Protestant churches. A report about the great fire which had destroyed the Black Church
The black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as their ...
of Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...
in 1689 mentions the loss of a large rug which "according to legend was woven by St. Paul the Apostle (who was a rug weaver by profession)" It seems likely that the Christian owners of the rugs did not understand the original Islamic context, but created a new legendary context around these objects.
Reinterpretation of pre-Christian knowledge and lore
Pre-Christian sources and myths were subject to Christian reinterpretation during their transmission or placed in Christian settings. This presents difficulties for historical studies of the periods of conversion. A number of early Christian writers noted similarities between elements of Christianity and some pagan traditions, such as cult of Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
or Mithras
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mithra, the Roman Mithras is link ...
, however in order to defend Christianity they insisted that these are plots of the devil to corrupt Christianity. Also, when translating pagan notions into a Christian worldview, pagan deities themselves were reinterpreted as demons.
An example is the Finnish name of the Devil, Perkele, probably derived from the Proto-Indo-European god of thunder Perkwunos
(Proto-Indo-European: ', 'the Striker' or 'the Lord of Oaks') is the reconstructed name of the weather god in Proto-Indo-European mythology. The deity was connected with fructifying rains, and his name probably invoked in times of drought. In a ...
.
Though never a part of the doctrine or theology of any Christian group (and often attracting criticism), some rural Christian communities have continued to sacrifice animals (which are then consumed in a feast) as part of worship, especially at Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
. The animal may be brought into the church before being taken out again and killed. Some villages in Greece sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known as kourbania
''Kourbania'' ( el, το κουρμπάνι, pl. from tr, kurban, from Arabic قربان ''kurban'' 'sacrificial victim') is a Christianized animal sacrifice in parts of Greece. It usually involves the slaughter of lambs as "kourbania" offering ...
. Sacrifice of a lamb, or less commonly a rooster, is a common practice in the Armenian Church
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
,[Burkert, Walter (1972), '' Homo Necans'', pp. 8-9]
google books
/ref> and the Tewahedo Church of Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
and Eritrea. This tradition, called matagh
In Armenian Christian tradition, matagh ( hy, մատաղ ''mataġ'') is a lamb or a rooster slated for slaughter as thanksgiving to God, a practice which has continued from Armenia's past. In many regions of Armenia today, this practice is ver ...
, is believed to stem from pre-Christian pagan rituals. Additionally, some Mayans following a form of Folk Catholicism
Folk Catholicism can be broadly described as various ethnic expressions and practices of Catholicism intermingled with aspects of folk religion. Practices have varied from place to place, and may at times contradict the official doctrines and pr ...
in Mexico today still sacrifice animals in conjunction with church practices, a ritual practiced in past religions before the arrival of the Spaniards.
A thorough analysis of Christian reinterpretation of ancient learning was carried out by Hervé Inglebert, with special attention to cosmography, geography, ethnography, and historiography.
Scholarship
Humanistic studies of Antiquity and the Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
combined in the 16th century to produce works of scholarship marked by an agenda that was occupied with identifying Roman Catholic practices with paganism, and identifying the emerging Protestant churches with a purgative "re-Christianization" of society. The Lutheran scholar Philip Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
produced his ''Apologia Confessionis Augustanae'' (1530) detailing the rites derived from pagan practices. Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss R ...
, ''De origine erroris libris duo'' (1539) detailed the pagan "origins of (Catholic) errors".
Isaac Casaubon
Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England.
His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar.
Life Early life
He was born in Geneva to two Fr ...
, ''De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticus exercitationes'' (1614) makes a third familiar example, where sound scholarship was somewhat compromised by sectarian pleading. Thus such pagan precedents for Christian practice have tended to be downplayed or even sometimes dismissed by Christian apologist
Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
s as a form of Protestant Apologetics.
The 20th century saw more purely historical inquiries, free of sectarian bias; an early historicist classic in this field of study was Jean Seznec
Jean Seznec (19 March 1905, in Morlaix – 22 November 1983, in Oxford) was a historian and mythographer whose most influential book, for English-speaking readers, is ''La Survivance des dieux antiques'' (1940), translated as '' The Survival of t ...
's ''The Survival of the Pagan Gods: the mythological tradition and its place in Renaissance humanism and the arts.''.Jean Seznec
Jean Seznec (19 March 1905, in Morlaix – 22 November 1983, in Oxford) was a historian and mythographer whose most influential book, for English-speaking readers, is ''La Survivance des dieux antiques'' (1940), translated as '' The Survival of t ...
*''The La Survivance des dieux antiques'', 1940
*English translation: ''The Survival of the Pagan Gods: Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art'', 1953
See also
*''Interpretatio graeca
''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient G ...
'', recasting of myths and traditions of other peoples in terms of the traditions of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
, in an attempt to understand them
*Inculturation
In Christianity, inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics, whereas Protestants, especially associated with the World Council of Churches, prefer to use th ...
* :Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints
References
Further reading
*Norberto Gramaccini, ''Mirabilia: das Nachleben antiker Statuen vor der Renaissance'', 1996,
*Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime.
Panofsky's work represents a high ...
, ''Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art'', 1960 and later re-editions
{{Cultural assimilation, sp=ize
Christianity in the Middle Ages
Christianization
Christian terminology
Christianity and religious syncretism
Religious interpretation