Haven't had one of these for a while. A review of The Last Pagan by Robert Eddy:
“Anyone thinking that the fourth-century CE was a long time ago is both right and wrong. Right in that 1,700 years is a long time in human history, but wrong in that certain religious and cultural controversies of that era have loud echoes in our own.”
The similarity is in the battle between societies that promote – or at least tolerate diversity – and those that seek conformity. The impression I had from the standard histories was that Julian was trying to substitute a version of Hellenistic polytheism as the state religion for Christianity which at the beginning of his eighteen month reign held that position. The truth is, if Murdoch is right that Julian, who was raised a Christian, sought to be a “philosopher king” of all the nations in the empire and simply removed the special privileged position of the Christian hierarchy.
Seems to me we face a similar situation today. Maybe this time the poly-theists will win.
Full review here.
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