ABSTRACT
A. Biblical Theology The adjective “pagan” comes from the Latin paganus, which means “country-dweller,” often with a negative connotation. Its meaning as “non-Christian,” idolater, appeared in the third century in the context of a Christianity that was primarily urban. Previously, in biblical history*, other oppositions had been presented: Israel* confronts foreign “nations” or gôyim. The Greek Bible translates this Hebrew word with the plural ethnè. The New Testament adds (five times) the adjective ethnikos (belonging to the nations), and the Latin versions translate these two terms respectively by gentes (the Gentiles) and gentilis.
