Mystery Religions and Christianity
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Published: February 2003
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 380
ISBN-13: 9780766131019
Subjects: Comparative Religion; Religion - World Religions
First sentence: IN order to a proper understanding of the strange phenomenon presented by the rapid spread of the Eastern Mystery-cults in the Graeco-Roman world, the conflict of Christianity with, and ultimate triumph over, its competitors, the gradual and finally almost complete subjugation of the West to Oriental ways and thoughts and modes of worship, we must take into account the political, social, and religious history of the Mediterranean world during the period of approximately seven centuries, from the invasion of the East by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. until the foundation of Constantinople by the first Christian emperor in A.D. 327.