Heathen

Versions of ‘heathen’ appear in all the Germanic languages to indicate ‘non-Christian, pagan’ peoples and practices, with its origins often traced back to Gothic haiþi (‘dweller on the heath’). As such, it is a counterpart of the Latin paganus (originally ‘villager’, ‘rustic’, ‘rural’), differentiated from the more urban spread of Christianity. A recurrent concept in the Old Testament and in the texts of the early Christian Church, ‘heathen’ played a central role in English post-Reformation theological debate. English travel and expansion in the sixteenth century added further potency to longstanding associations between heathenism and idolatry or religious error. The word often served as a catch-all to describe those perceived to have strayed from, or who remained ignorant of, the teachings of Christ. Translations of Continental cosmographies from the second half of the sixteenth century, alongside the popular compendia of Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas – both of them Protestant clergymen – served to define and synthesise cultural hierarchies that made clear to readers that ‘heathen’ beliefs existed throughout the world. ¹ While closely related to ‘pagan’, ‘heathen’ focused more on theology, while the latter often featured in discussions about classical literature, objects, and visual art. The Anglican clergyman and future Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Tenison, seemed to acknowledge this in his preface to his treatise on idolatry. ‘If I have but misspelled the name of some Heathen-god’, he wrote, ‘I expect severe usage from such Grammarians’ and zealous ‘Religious men’, whereas the imaginative license of poets and orators were the vehicles through which ‘Pagan Heroes were Deified’. ²