USU 1320: History and Civilization |
©Damen,
2019 |
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The very word pagan hints at this, coming, as it does, from the Latin term paganus meaning "country" or "civilian" since people who lived outside Rome's cities and settlements tended not to serve in the army but work for their country in other ways. From that, the early Christian father Tertullian re-applied paganus to any who showed reluctance to join the "army of Christ," hence the connotation "heathen." |
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