Research

Research

Annelies Lannoy

Christianity, the Oriental Religions and the Mystery Cults in the thought of Franz Cumont, and his work within the context of Liberal Theology and Modernism (Alfred Loisy)

Franz Cumont is still considered one of the most important 20th century historians of religion. His importance in the field of history of religion can clearly be deduced from his numerous publications, many reviews and the vivid correspondence he carried on with prominent German, French and Italian contemporary academics. Cumont examined the pagan mystery religions and his religions orientales, a term he coined, in a time when there was much discussion about their alleged connection to the origins of Christianity. Within the Catholic Church, a historical survey of Christianity’s roots, as brought up by progressive exegetes, was even a significant cause of the modernist crisis. Cumont himself remained rather reticent about the issue as he mentioned Christianity only incidemment. However, his correspondence with modernists like Alfred Loisy indicates that Cumont was well informed about the whole crise de l’origine and kept up with the related debates. Hence our first intention is to trace back his opinion about the origin and evolution of Christianity: what were his views on the relation between early Christianity and the eastern religions and mystery cults? Did he, too, conceptualize it as a mystery cult? Secondly, we aim to thoroughly define the position he took in the above-mentioned disputes as well as in the modernist crisis. In order to do so, we will both study his publications and focus on the stands he took up in the less known published reviews on the one hand and the private context of his letters on the other hand.