Julian's Religious Objectives

[Julian the Faithful]

Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum, but it pertains to religion in the late Empire. I have been reading "Julian the Apostate, Documents and Debates in Ancient History", by Shaun Tougher.

 

He poses several questions that must be answered given the polarity over Julian in documents and debates pertaining to him. These are a few questions that he said fuel the fascination with the Pagan Emperor.

 

1. Was Julian attempting to replace Christianity with his own demanding brand of pagan monotheism, in which Mithraism was the key?

 

2. Or was he in fact a much more traditional Pagan, happy for the plethora of Gods to have their devotees?

 

I would like your learned opinions on the matter.

[Ursus]

Julian belonged to a very philosophical bent on paganism that was practiced by some of the intellectual elite in Late Antiquity. Julian wanted a paganism whose theology and ontology were heavily influenced by the pantheistic and theurgic Hellenic philosophies. Most telling of all, he wanted a structure and clergy similar to Christianity (bishops, priests, etc), and he wanted paganism to take a new social charitable role.

 

Obviously mainstream Greco-Roman paganism was beginning to lose out to the assorted mass of mystery cults, of which Christianity was one. I honestly think by his day it was a question of whether the Isaic cult or Christianity would become the dominant religion. Julian wanted to make paganism as a whole more competitive by reforming it along all the lines that made Mystery religions so appealing - a definite guiding purpose and moral code attached to a belief in salvation, a definite clergical hierarchy to ensure control, and an emphasis on providing aid and comfort to members in the face of crumbling social institutions.

 

Mithraism per se could never have become the main religion as it excluded half the human race - women.

[Julian the Faithful]

He was trying to modernize Paganism eh? Clever. If he had won we could well have seminaries devoted to Jupiter or Athena, rather than to christian studies.

 

Does anyone know much about this Pagan Advisor of his, Maximus?