Description
Book SynopsisNeopaganism is the fastest growing new religion in the West.
Between the World: Readings in Contemporary Neopaganism provides an engaging and well-rounded introduction to this often misunderstood spiritual tradition.
This provocative new volume breaks away from the negative doomsday cult focus of existing books on new religious movements and provides a clear focus on feminist spirituality, women and religion, and goddess worship. It offers a spiritual context for paganism and introduces the ""language"" of paganism and earth religions. This book examines contemporary paganism — not just the ""streams"" from the 1970s and 1980s, but also the increasingly important ""streams"" of Druidry and Heathenry.
For the first time ever, this book unites essential readings by leading academics and well-known practitioners from all over the world, including Canada. It features the work of Starhawk, Ronald Hutton, Michael York, Graham Harvey, Helen A. Berger, and Wendy Griffith, alongside contemporary Canadian scholars including Lucie Marie-Mai DuFresne, Lori G. Beaman, and Barbara Jane Davy.
Trade ReviewThis is a very important anthology to publish. No other anthology addresses Canadian Paganism to this extent. This volume certainly reflects the need to address the growing popularity of Paganism as a new religious movement in Canada."" - Chris Klassen, Wilfrid Laurier University
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I: The Voices That Inspired
- Chapter 1: Charge of the Goddess - Doreen Valiente
- Chapter 2: Sacred Narratives - Starhawk
- Chapter 3: I Am a Pagan - Selena Fox
- Chapter 4: A Religion without Converts - Margot Adler
- Chapter 5: Why Women Need the Goddess: Phenomenological, Psychological, and Political Reflections - Carol P. Christ
- Part II: Introduction to Nature or Earth Religions
- Chapter 6: We Cast Our Circles Where the Earth Mother Meets the Sky Father - Sarah Pike
- Chapter 7: Definitions and Expressions of Nature Religion in Shamanic Traditions and Contemporary Paganism - Barbara Jane Davy
- Chapter 8: Paganism as a World Religion - Michael York
- Part III: Contemporary Neopaganism and Witchcraft
- Chapter 9: Druidry - Graham Harvey
- Chapter 10: To the Tribe Let There Be Children Born - Helen A. Berger
- Chapter 11: Wicked Witches of the West: Exploring Court Treatments of Wicca as a Religion - Lori G. Beaman
- Chapter 12: In Defence of Magic: Philosophical and Theological Rationalization - Tanya Luhrmann
- Chapter 13: Witch Wars: Factors Contributing to Conflict in Canadian Witchcraft Communities - Sian Ried
- Chapter 14: Constructing Identity and Divinity: Creating Community in an Elder Religion within a Postmodern World - Jenny Blain
- Chapter 15: Weaving a Tangled Web? Pagan Ethics and Issues of History, ""Race,"" and Ethnicity in Pagan Identity - Ann-Marie Gallagher
- Part IV: Feminist Spirituality and Goddess Worship
- Chapter 16: Mother and Goddess: The Ideological Force of Symbols - Lucie Marie-Mai DuFresne
- Chapter 17: The Embodied Goddess: Feminist Witchcraft and Female Divinity - Wendy Griffin
- Chapter 18: Finding a Goddess - Ronald Hutton
- Chapter 19: The Roots of Feminist Spirituality - Cynthia Eller
- Chapter 20: The Colonial Mythology of Feminist Witchcraft - Chris Klassen
