Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft

Front Cover
James R. Lewis
SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1996 - Religion - 423 pages
This comprehensive anthology examines contemporary neo-paganism ranging from goddess theology to historical-critical essays. Many of the contributors are academically trained neo-pagans, and the resulting volume is a benchmark study of a significant movement that promises to reshape the religious landscape of the next century.
 

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Contents

The Contemporary NeoPagan Revival
9
Who on Earth is the Goddess?
25
Emergent Nature Spirituality An Examination of the Major Spiritual Contours of the Contemporary Pagan Worldview
35
Magic and Rituals
73
Spells of Transformation Categorizing Modern NeoPagan Witches
75
Ritual is My Chosen Art Form The Creation of Ritual as Folk Art Among Contemporary Pagans
93
Forging Magical Selves Gendered Bodies and Ritual Fires at NeoPagan Festivals
121
As I Do Will So Mote It Be Magic as Metaphor in NeoPagan Witchcraft
141
Ethics
267
What has Alexandria to do with Boston? Some Sources of Modern Pagan Ethics
269
The British Occult Subculture Beyond Good and Evil?
277
Christianity and NeoPaganism
297
Embracing Jesus and the Goddess Towards a Reconceptualization of Conversion to Syncretistic Religion
299
Where Christian Liturgy and NeoPagan Ritual Meet
327
Works of Darkness Occult Fascination in the Novels of Frank E Peretti
339
Literature Reviews
351

History
169
White Witches Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy
171
The Reconstruction of the Asatru and Odinist Traditions
193
The Resurgence of Magical Religion as a Response to the Crisis of Modernity A Postmodern Depth Psychological Perspective
237
Rationalizing the Margins A Review of Legitimation and Ethnographic Practice in Scholarly Research on NeoPaganism
353
Practitioners of Paganism and Wiccan Spirituality in Contemporary Society A Review of the Literature
373
Index
407
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About the author (1996)

James R. Lewis is Chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies at the World University of America. He has edited several academic anthologies, including The Gods Have Landed: New Religions from Other Worlds and, with J. Gordon Melton, Perspectives on the New Age , both published by SUNY Press. He has also authored a series of scholarly reference works on occult-religious topics, which have earned American Library Association and New York Times Book Awards.

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