An Outsider Inside
Becoming a Scholar of Contemporary Paganism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v17i1-2.27798Keywords:
Contemporary Paganism, Pagan scholarshipAbstract
This article explores how serendipity resulted in one sociologist becoming a scholar of a minority religion of which she is not a member. As one of the early scholars of contemporary Paganism, Berger describes both its transformation in the past thirty years and her contribution to that change. She argues that contemporary Paganism, with its lack of rigid structures and use of virtual space to create a “disorganized community” with a network of interactions, learning, and sharing is an excellent venue for studying many aspects of religion, culture, and political action in late modernity
References
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Bainbridge, William S. The Endtime Family: Children of God. Albany: State University of New York Press, 20002.
Beckford, James. “Holistic Imagery and Ethics in New Religious and Healing Movements.” Social Compass 31 (1984): 259–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00377686 8403100209.
——. Religion and Advanced Industrial Society. London: Routledge, 1992.
——. “Religion and Modernity, Post-Modernity.” In Religion: Contemporary Issues edited by Bryan Wilson, 1–23. London: Bellew, 1992.
Berger, Helen A. 1999. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.
——. Evan. A. Leach, and Leigh. S. Shaffer. 2003. Voices from the Pagan Census: Contemporary: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States. Columbia, S.C.: The University of South Carolina Press.
——. ed. Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
——. and Douglas Ezzy. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007.
Gidden, Anthony. Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
——. Social Theory and Modern Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987. Kermani, S. Zohreh. Pagan Family: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism. New York: New York University Press, 2013.
Kirkpatrick, George R. Rich Rainey, and Kathryn Rubi. 1986. “An Empirical Study of Wiccan Religion in Postindustrial Society.” Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 14, no. 1 (1986): 33–8.
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London: Routledge Press, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203249451.
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979.
Strmiska, Michael. “Putting the Blood Back into Blot: The Revival of Animal Sacrifice in Modern Nordic Paganism.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 9, no. 2 (2007): 154–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pome.v9.i2.3921.
Woodhead, Linda. “New Forms of Religion and Society.” International Studies in Religion and Society 20 (2013): 29–52.
——. “Old, New, And Emerging Paradigms in the Sociological Study of Religion.” Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 22, no. 2 (2009): 103–21.
Bainbridge, William S. The Endtime Family: Children of God. Albany: State University of New York Press, 20002.
Beckford, James. “Holistic Imagery and Ethics in New Religious and Healing Movements.” Social Compass 31 (1984): 259–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00377686 8403100209.
——. Religion and Advanced Industrial Society. London: Routledge, 1992.
——. “Religion and Modernity, Post-Modernity.” In Religion: Contemporary Issues edited by Bryan Wilson, 1–23. London: Bellew, 1992.
Berger, Helen A. 1999. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.
——. Evan. A. Leach, and Leigh. S. Shaffer. 2003. Voices from the Pagan Census: Contemporary: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States. Columbia, S.C.: The University of South Carolina Press.
——. ed. Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
——. and Douglas Ezzy. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007.
Gidden, Anthony. Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
——. Social Theory and Modern Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987. Kermani, S. Zohreh. Pagan Family: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism. New York: New York University Press, 2013.
Kirkpatrick, George R. Rich Rainey, and Kathryn Rubi. 1986. “An Empirical Study of Wiccan Religion in Postindustrial Society.” Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 14, no. 1 (1986): 33–8.
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London: Routledge Press, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203249451.
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979.
Strmiska, Michael. “Putting the Blood Back into Blot: The Revival of Animal Sacrifice in Modern Nordic Paganism.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 9, no. 2 (2007): 154–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pome.v9.i2.3921.
Woodhead, Linda. “New Forms of Religion and Society.” International Studies in Religion and Society 20 (2013): 29–52.
——. “Old, New, And Emerging Paradigms in the Sociological Study of Religion.” Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 22, no. 2 (2009): 103–21.
Published
2016-02-08
Issue
Section
Special Section - Paths into Pagan Studies: Autobiographical Reflections
How to Cite
Berger, H. A. (2016). An Outsider Inside: Becoming a Scholar of Contemporary Paganism. Pomegranate, 17(1-2), 128-140. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v17i1-2.27798
