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Paganism Today by Graham Harvey
The number of practising Pagans is increasing dramatically, but still Paganism is shrouded in a cloak of fear and misunderstanding. This collection of views from a wide range of Pagans and academics reflects the diversity of traditions and thinking that characterize modern Paganism.
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First published January 25, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 18, 2025
A collection of essays on Paganism in the 90's in Britain.
Obviously this is now slightly out of date and I think some of the authors of the essays would be pleasantly surprised by the growth of Paganism in Britain from the time of writing to now.
This collection of essays suffers from what a lot of academic writing suffers from: A culturally and politically left-wing slant.
It's got all the trappings of the usual nonsense we've all come to expect from pseudo-academics.
It's got stuff about racism, patriarchy, gender ideology etc etc.
Some of the essays actually get down to the praxis and theory of Paganism 'theology' for want of a better word. It's just a shame a few of the essays were wrapped in the above mentioned turgid politics and culture.
What's refreshing to see is now an intellectual and cultural blowback to this. Don't misunderstand me, these ideologues are still around and they will be for a while. The educational and publishing institutions have been taken over by their ilk and they won't go quietly from the nests they've all feathered for each other's careers.
The bright spot are people waking up to this nonsense and I'm seeing and reading quite regularly, writing which gets back to the detail of the text and proper analysis without the pseudo-analysis of the all the isms and phobes that were so in vogue for many decades.
Obviously this is now slightly out of date and I think some of the authors of the essays would be pleasantly surprised by the growth of Paganism in Britain from the time of writing to now.
This collection of essays suffers from what a lot of academic writing suffers from: A culturally and politically left-wing slant.
It's got all the trappings of the usual nonsense we've all come to expect from pseudo-academics.
It's got stuff about racism, patriarchy, gender ideology etc etc.
Some of the essays actually get down to the praxis and theory of Paganism 'theology' for want of a better word. It's just a shame a few of the essays were wrapped in the above mentioned turgid politics and culture.
What's refreshing to see is now an intellectual and cultural blowback to this. Don't misunderstand me, these ideologues are still around and they will be for a while. The educational and publishing institutions have been taken over by their ilk and they won't go quietly from the nests they've all feathered for each other's careers.
The bright spot are people waking up to this nonsense and I'm seeing and reading quite regularly, writing which gets back to the detail of the text and proper analysis without the pseudo-analysis of the all the isms and phobes that were so in vogue for many decades.
April 12, 2020
Published 1995, so probably a bit out of date in places. A collection of chapters written by different authors, some are very readable, but others are so full of uncommon words and jargon that they are almost incomprehensible
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews