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Regarding European paganism, In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives Michael F. Strmiska writes that "in pagan magazines, websites, and Internet discussion venues, Christianity is frequently denounced as an antinatural, antifemale, sexually and culturally repressive, guilt-ridden, and authoritarian religion that has ...
Modern paganism, also known as "contemporary" or "neopagan", encompasses a wide range of religious groups and individuals. These may include old occult groups, those that follow a New Age approach, those that try to reconstruct old ethnic religions , and followers of the pagan religion or Wicca .
Using sociological classifications of world-affirming and world-rejecting religious movements, York says that modern paganism and New Age represent two rival theologies, [26] and that New Agers in particular tend to underestimate the "gnostic–pagan divide", where New Age teachings are part of a gnostic tradition that de-emphasises or negates ...
Strmiska's "Comparative Perspectives" In his opening chapter, which shares its name with the book, Michael Strmiska discusses the significance of Paganism to the contemporary world, although notes that this volume deals specifically with the movement in Europe and North America, "in the belief that this regional focus provides a coherent frame of discussion with a number of intriguing ...
Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry". [1] [5] During and after the Middle Ages, the term paganism was applied to any non-Christian religion, and the term presumed a belief in "false gods". [6] [7] The origin of the application of the term "pagan" to polytheism is debated. [8]
Pagan studies scholar Chas S. Clifton argued that the discipline had developed as a result of the increasing "academic acknowledgement" of contemporary Paganism's "movement into the public eye", referring to the emergence of pagan involvement with interfaith groups and the pagan use of archaeological monuments as "sacred sites", particularly in the United Kingdom. [7]
Religion and Nature in the Modern World" contained papers from scholars such as Peter Beyer, Steven Sutcliffe and Wouter J. Hanegraaff and dealt with the relationship between contemporary Paganism and various features of contemporary society, such as globalisation and the secularisation of the natural world. The second part, entitled "The Pagan ...
Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion is a taxonomical study of various world religions which argues for a new definition of the word "paganism". It was written by American religious studies scholar Michael York of Bath Spa University and first published by New York University Press in 2003.