Navigating Praxis
Pagan Studies vs. Esoteric Studies
Keywords:
esoteric studies, methodology, Pagan studiesAbstract
Pagan Studies and Esoteric Studies, while having somewhat different academic institutionalization patterns and methodological foci, are experiencing a greater convergence of subject matter and potential research approaches. This article compares the positions of the two fields with respect to their relationship to lived communities, academic objectivity and scholar activism, taking as a starting point the critiques of Pagan Studies made by scholar Markus Davidsen.
References
Bado, Nikki. Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/0195166450.001.0001
Berg, Herbert. “The Essence of Essentializing: A Critical Discourse on ‘Critical Discourse in the Study of Islam’.” Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 24 (2012): 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341235
Blain, Jenny, Douglas Ezzy, and Graham Harvey, eds. Researching Paganisms. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Davidsen, Markus Altena. “What is Wrong with Pagan Studies?” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 24 (2012): 183–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006812X634881
Davy, Barbara Jane. Introduction to Pagan Studies, 1–3. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press, 2007.
Granholm, Kennet. “Ritual Black Metal: Popular Music as Occult Meditation and Practice.” Correspondences 1, no. 1 (2013): 5–33.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “The Power of Ideas: Esotericism, Historicism, and the Limits of Discourse.” Religion 43, no. 2 (2013): 252–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2013.767607
——. “Teaching Experiential Dimensions of Esotericism.” In Teaching Mysticism edited by William B. Parsons, 154–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751198.001.0001
Harrington, Melissa. “Paganism and the New Age.” In Handbook of the New Age, edited by Daren Kemp and James R. Lewis, 435–52. Leiden: Brill, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004153554.i-484.151
Pasi. Marco. Review of The Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, edited by Murphy Pizza and James R. Lewis. Journal of Religion in Europe 3 (2010): 375–92.
Senholt, Jacob. “Radical Traditionalism and the New Right: An Examination of Political Esotericism in America.” In Esotericism, Religion and Politics, edited by Arthur Versluis, Lee Irwin, and Melinda Phillips, 155–75. Minneapolis: Association for the Study of Esotericism, 2012.
