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1
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- Mystery religions
- Required secrecy from members
- Built on dying and rising gods
- Promised that members could be deified
- Mithraism: popular with roman
soldiers
- Based on righteousness, law and order
- Mithra: the “unconquerable sun god”
- Born Dec 25
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2
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- Only open to men
- 7 stages of initiation before eternal life
- The evil would be consumed by a great fire
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3
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- Called for “worship” of the emperor
- Began with Augustus – declared Julius Caesar to be divine
- Made sacrifices to the ‘genius’ of the emperor
- Were called “savior’, “lord”, “son of god”
- Several emperors were deified during their life times- at their
insistence - Caligula, Nero,
Domitian
- Jews were generally exempt from observing this religion
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4
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- Epicureanism: true pleasure came from a life well lived
- But, this is life is all there is
- When we die we simply dissolve as we are all made of atoms
- Stoicism: goals are duty and freedom from passions
- We obligated to treat others well as we are all related
- No place for God
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5
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- Many believed that life was ruled by chance – fate
- So, many wished to determine what fate had in store for us
- Done with astrology, magic words, seances
- The world was a mystery and this gave some sense of knowledge
- Gave a sense of security, control, and power
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Notes