Guthmüller, Bodo (Marburg/Lahn RWG) I. Literature (CT) [German version] A. Introduction (CT) In the Encyclopédie of the French Enlightenment (1751-1780) we read in the entry 'mythology' ( mythologie, fable): "The study of mythology is indispensable for painters, sculptors and particularly for poets. Mythology is the foundation of their works and from it they draw their principal ornaments (...). Our theatre plays and operas, all genres of literature constantly make allusions to mythology; the engravings, paintings and stat…

Mohr, Hubert A. Concept and Theory (CT) [German version] 1. Concept (CT) Paganism is the modern, scholarly term for the intentional resumption ('reception') and resurgence ('revitalisation', 'reconstruction') of ancient, or ethnic, religious traditions or of their constituent parts (cults, myths, symbols), insofar as these occurred outside of Christianity and Judaism, and opposed the two. The underlying concept of Judeo-Christian polemic, 'heathenism', should be distinguished from the religious-historical …

Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] A. Terminology (CT) Neither Greek nor Latin had a word that precisely corresponds to the modern term 'religion' in its academic sense, whether to designate a specific cultural subsystem ('the religion of the Aztecs') or to refer to the anthropological constant of religion. This modern concept was a result of the Enlightenment and ethnological discoveries, and dates only to the Early Modern era. Ancient concepts focused on individual areas: the Greek thrēskeía, 'worship', and the Greek eusébeia refer only to ritual in the collective…