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The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (review)
I wrote this look at of Roger Becks book: The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire – Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun for the Logbook of Roman Studies (2009). the book is interesting because it uses cognitive science to throw light on summary. This was also the approach I took in my PhD dissertation “The Dissemination of Divination in the Roman Republic”
I really like the eclectic close of Beck, but eventually you get caught up in too many views on the subject. Some views are not consistent with each other, and it is difficult to find out what is what. That is the problem with eclecticism. Ok. Here it is:
Roger Beck: The Dogma of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire – Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, Oxford University Press 2006
By Anders Lisdorf
Roger Beck should be no alien to anyone who have even the slightest knowledge on Roman Mithraism. Indeed one could legitimately claim that he is one of a handful of “grand old men” who have been invigorating in shaping contemporary research on Mithraism and he has dedicated several decades to the study of Mithraism. This is why it is all the more impressive to see him provide a new look at this substance without stubbornly clinging to old views, but with an open explorative mind set worthy of a true scholar. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire is a combining of Beck’s earlier work with new theoretical advances particularly in the field of the cognitive science of religion. This makes for an enchanting eclectic journey through one of the most mysterious cults in the Roman Empire.
Beck starts by showing that contemporary schooling, with a few exceptions, has reached a dead end in interpreting the meaning of Mithraism mainly because of the paucity of textual evidence. This has resulted in reading being replaced with a narrow positivism focusing purely on the material evidence which exists in abundance compared to the textual. This...
