Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives

Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives

Volumn , Issue , 2005, Pages 1-382

  Strmiska, Michael F ^a  

^a CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 65849181377     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: None     Document Type: Book

References (18)

1. Adler, Margot. 1988 (1979). Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, GoddessWorshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. Boston: Beacon. The first detailed treatment of the different varieties of Paganism in the United States. It remains a classic in the field.
2. Ankarloo, Bengt, and Stuart Clark. 1999. Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Indispensable collection of essays for those interested in learning about the state of Witchcraft belief and magical practice in Europe in the twentieth century.
3. Berger, Helen A., Evan S. Leach, and Leigh S. Shaffer. 2003. Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of NeoPagans in the United States. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. The best statistical study of Paganism in the United States to date, illustrating the difficulties in numbering religious believers who often consciously defy categories.
4. DiZirega, Gus. 2001. Pagans and Christians: The Personal Spiritual Experience. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn. Thoughtful, personal discussion of the antagonism between Christianity and Paganism, both in ancient and modern times, with some suggestions for possible ways of building bridges between the two religious worldviews and communities.
5. Fletcher, Richard. 1997. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. New York: Henry Holt. Best singlevolume account of the decline of Paganism and the rise of Christianity in Europe. Despite a certain proChristian bias, a solid historical work.
6. Gimbutas, Marija. 1982. The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. Rev. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
7. Gimbutas, Marija. 1989. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco: Harper and Row. Gimbutas’s theory of a prehistoric, goddess-centric civilization in Old Europe has been highly influential to feminist Pagans and controversial among academics who question her interpretations of archaeological remains.
8. Harvey, Graham, and Charlotte Hardman, eds. 2000. Pagan Pathways: A Guide to the Ancient Earth Traditions. 2nd ed. London: Thorsons. A fine collection of essays on different varieties of Pagan religion in the United Kingdom, including Wicca, Heathenry/Asatru, and Celtic Druidry.
9. Hume, Lynn. 1997. Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press. An excellent account of the development of different varieties of Pagan religion in Australia, including Wicca, goddess worship, Neoshamanism, and Celtic Druidry.
10. Hutton, Ronald. 1999. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Muchacclaimed account of the development of modern Witchcraft in Britain with relevance to other Pagan traditions as well.
11. Magliocco, Sabina. 2004. Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Although focused on Wicca and Stregheria, the author’s analysis of ethnic identity issues relates to Paganism in general.
12. Mallory, James P. 1989. In Search of the IndoEuropeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. London: Thames and Hudson. Modern-day Pagans from Ireland and Iceland to Russia and Central Asia have imagined their ancient forebears as coming from a prehistoric “Indo-European” culture, often believed to have been located in the Eurasian steppe region. Mallory provides the most comprehensive and balanced overview of the various theories and reconstructions of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language and its speakers.
13. Pearson, Joanne, ed. 2002. Belief beyond Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age. Bath, UK: Open University/Ashgate. Another worthwhile collection of essays by multiple authors on Pagan religion in the United Kingdom, including Wicca, Heathenry/Asatru, and Celtic Druidry.
14. Pennick, Nigel, and Prudence Jones. 1995. A History of Pagan Europe. London: Routledge. Best single-volume history of pre-Christian religious traditions in Europe, with chapters divided by region or ethnological group.
15. Pike, Sarah M. 2001. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. Berkeley: University of California Press. Sympathetic anthropological investigation of Pagan festivals in the United States based on extensive fieldwork by the author.
16. Rabinovitch, Shelley, and James Lewis, eds. 2002. The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and NeoPaganism. New York: Citadel. Rich collection of essays by both scholars and practitioners about different forms of Pagan religion in numerous countries, including a number of the Pagan traditions treated in Modern Paganism in World Cultures.
17. Salomonsen, Jone. 2002. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London: Routledge. Sympathetic anthropological investigation of Goddess religion in the San Francisco area with thoughtful analysis of the mythologized, feminist version of history central to this form of Paganism.
18. York, Michael. 2003. Pagan Theology. New York: New York University Press. Innovative attempt to define Paganism in terms of common characteristics of native and indigenous religions worldwide, going beyond the Eurocentric focus of the current volume to classify Paganism as a “world” religion. This approach is open to question for reasons laid out in the introduction of the current volume, but the work tackles fundamental and important issues and is thought-provoking as the first major theological analysis of modern Paganism.