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Profane Egyptologists
It is widely believed that the practice of ancient Egyptian religion ceased with the end of pharaonic culture and the rise of Christianity. However, an organised reconstruction and revival of the authentic practice of Egyptian, or Kemetic religion has been growing, almost undocumented, for nearly three decades. Profane Egyptologists is the first in-depth study of the now-global phenomenon of Kemeticism. Presenting key players in their own words, the book utilises extensive interviews to reveal a continuum of beliefs and practices spanning eight years of community growth.
The existence of competing visions of Egypt, which employ ancient material and academic resources, questions the position of Egyptology as a gatekeeper of Egypt's past. Exploring these boundaries, the book highlights the politised and economic factors driving the discipline's self-conception. Could an historically self-imposed insular nature have harmed Egyptology as a field, and how could inclusive discussion help guard against further isolationism?
Profane Egyptologists is both an Egyptological study of Kemeticism, and a critical study of the discipline of Egyptology itself. It will be of value to scholars and students of archaeology and Egyptology, cultural heritage, religion online, phenomenology, epistemology, pagan studies and ethnography, as well as Kemetics and devotees of Egyptian culture.
The existence of competing visions of Egypt, which employ ancient material and academic resources, questions the position of Egyptology as a gatekeeper of Egypt's past. Exploring these boundaries, the book highlights the politised and economic factors driving the discipline's self-conception. Could an historically self-imposed insular nature have harmed Egyptology as a field, and how could inclusive discussion help guard against further isolationism?
Profane Egyptologists is both an Egyptological study of Kemeticism, and a critical study of the discipline of Egyptology itself. It will be of value to scholars and students of archaeology and Egyptology, cultural heritage, religion online, phenomenology, epistemology, pagan studies and ethnography, as well as Kemetics and devotees of Egyptian culture.
244 pages, Hardcover
Published December 21, 2017
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2026
كتاب أكاديمي بيتكلم عن ظاهرة إعادة إحياء الديانة المصرية القديمة
June 20, 2023
This book is an amazing read. However, if you don't like these kinds of books then the book can be very dry and boring. But, only if you don't like these kinds of books.
April 20, 2025
Neopaganism is a little-studied subject, and Kemetic groups, those that practice a reconstructed form of ancient Egyptian religion, are small enough that general surveys of neopaganism do little more than acknowledge their existence. As Harrison notes, and as I noticed years ago, before he started his research there was only one one academic work dedicated to Kemeticism, a sociological paper from 2004. His book thus fills a need, but his choice of scope makes it rather unsatisfying.
A good chunk of the book is taken up by a useful description of Kemetic communities, beliefs, and practices, which is the best academic treatment of those topics by dint of being the only one. But that's less than half the book, and before the reader even gets there, there are discussions of controversies and biases within Egyptology, a summary of ancient Egyptian religion as Egyptologists today understand it, and a brief history of how neopaganism emerged. All that preamble is needed because Harrison focuses on the relationship between Kemeticism and Egyptology.
There are good reasons to discuss this relationship. Ancient Egyptian religion has been dead for 1500 years, so anyone trying to reconstruct it has to rely on Egyptological studies, yet Kemeticists' goal is rather at cross-purposes with the detached, secular attitude required in academia. Harrison is implicitly somewhat critical of Egyptology—his title frames the Egyptological community as an insular priesthood that looks down on Kemeticists, when it notices them at all, for "practicing Egyptology" outside the sacred precincts of the academy. But putting this relationship at the center of the book feels, paradoxically, like another example of academic navel-gazing.
That said, there are interesting insights about Kemeticism here, such as the distinction between Kemetic Orthodoxy (the largest group) and the disparate communities that are unaffiliated with it, and how Kemeticists' focus on Egyptian religion as practiced in the New Kingdom and earlier (paralleling the focus in Egyptology) means they emphasize Isis and Osiris far less than the occultist groups that draw inspiration from Egyptian religion in Greco-Roman times.
Harrison hopes that this will be the first of many studies of Kemeticism, and on that score, I fully agree.
A good chunk of the book is taken up by a useful description of Kemetic communities, beliefs, and practices, which is the best academic treatment of those topics by dint of being the only one. But that's less than half the book, and before the reader even gets there, there are discussions of controversies and biases within Egyptology, a summary of ancient Egyptian religion as Egyptologists today understand it, and a brief history of how neopaganism emerged. All that preamble is needed because Harrison focuses on the relationship between Kemeticism and Egyptology.
There are good reasons to discuss this relationship. Ancient Egyptian religion has been dead for 1500 years, so anyone trying to reconstruct it has to rely on Egyptological studies, yet Kemeticists' goal is rather at cross-purposes with the detached, secular attitude required in academia. Harrison is implicitly somewhat critical of Egyptology—his title frames the Egyptological community as an insular priesthood that looks down on Kemeticists, when it notices them at all, for "practicing Egyptology" outside the sacred precincts of the academy. But putting this relationship at the center of the book feels, paradoxically, like another example of academic navel-gazing.
That said, there are interesting insights about Kemeticism here, such as the distinction between Kemetic Orthodoxy (the largest group) and the disparate communities that are unaffiliated with it, and how Kemeticists' focus on Egyptian religion as practiced in the New Kingdom and earlier (paralleling the focus in Egyptology) means they emphasize Isis and Osiris far less than the occultist groups that draw inspiration from Egyptian religion in Greco-Roman times.
Harrison hopes that this will be the first of many studies of Kemeticism, and on that score, I fully agree.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews