I recently read something saying that the word “church” is pagan in origin, and it gives honor to the daughter of some sun god. I was able to find basically two different ideas on where the word comes from. Some say from “circe<\/em>” which would have meant circle or been the name of this goddess, or “kuriakos<\/em>” which would have referred to the house of the Lord. I was wondering if you knew anything on this as it seems most websites that talk about this seem to be in favor of it having pagan origins.<\/p>\n\t The word “church” comes from the Greek word kyriakon<\/em> meaning “of the Lord.” It was used for houses of Christian worship since c.300 A.D. It came through the old Germanic languages and Dutch into English where spelling was loose and pronunciation changed.<\/p>\n Regardless of where a word originated in ancient history, the only important point is what does a word mean in the current language.<\/p>\n\t Thank you, Jeffrey. You have a good point.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I recently read something saying that the word “church” is pagan in origin, and it gives honor to the daughter of some sun god. I was able to find basically two different ideas on where the word comes from. Some say from “circe” which would have meant circle or been the name of this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,76],"class_list":["post-52410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55172,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/believing-the-bibles-creation-account-is-called-pagan-superstition\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":0},"title":"Believing the Bible’s Creation Account is Called “Pagan Superstition”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day\" (Exodus 20:11). WorldNetDaily released an article on May 6, 2006, titled \"Bible literalism 'pagan superstition'?\" In it are quotes from a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8389,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wasnt-abrahams-offering-of-isaac-because-of-pagan-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":1},"title":"Wasn’t Abraham’s offering of Isaac because of pagan beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Abraham \"offered\" Isaac to the mighty one (elohim) because he was still acting under a basic ancient pagan or heathen culture. This was a culture that believed that a great gift, such as one's only child late in life, or any great blessing deserved thanks to one's mighty one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21007,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-we-use-songs-by-writers-who-did-not-believe-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":2},"title":"Why do we use songs by writers who did not believe the truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The part I am not really understanding is why we choose to use songs by Fanny Crosby or Isaac Watts etc. They didn't even believe the truth. Using the words of false teachers in praise to our heavenly Father? There are other choices. I will be continuing to pray\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-churches-decide-where-preachers-should-teach\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":3},"title":"Do churches decide where preachers should teach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do preachers have to be sent out by churches according to Romans 10:15? Answer: \"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for \"Whoever will call on the name of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-comment-on-the-video-real-proof-that-jesus-is-not-real\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":4},"title":"Can you comment on the video “Real proof that Jesus is not real”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you just watch this video, \"Real proof that Jesus is NOT real\" and disprove it if you can? I'm a Christian but watching this tossed a curveball at me. I need your overview. Answer: It is so easy to forget that just because a claim is made, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ghosts-of-aaron\/","url_meta":{"origin":52410,"position":5},"title":"Ghosts of Aaron","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper Once again, a religious leader from the world's largest 'Christian' denomination has conceded to the pagan religions of the world in an effort to appear all-inclusive, non-confrontational, and \"loving.\" According to the Associated Press, a Roman Catholic 'Bishop' from the southern diocese of Breda [the Netherlands] \"has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n
Response:<\/h2>\n