{"id":4387,"date":"2012-07-01T23:09:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T05:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2012-07-01T23:12:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-02T05:12:43","slug":"critiquing-pagan-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4387","title":{"rendered":"Critiquing Pagan Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several friends mentioned today an essay based on the\u00a0Handbook of Contemporary Paganism<\/a><\/em> \u00a0 (Leiden: Brill, 2009) which in its abstract makes this critique<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[The essay] demonstrates that pagan studies is dominated by the methodological principles of essentialism, exclusivism, loyalism and supernaturalism, and shows how these principles promote normative constructions of \u2018pure\u2019 paganism, insider interpretations of the data, and theological speculations about gods, powers, and a special \u201cmagical consciousness.\u201d It seems thus that the methodological discussions in MTSR have little effect on pagan scholars. In the concluding discussion, I raise the questions why this is so, and how we might do better in promoting a naturalist and theoretically oriented approach to studying religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I made an interlibrary-loan request for the article \u2014 or extended book review, whichever it is\u2014 and will read it with interest. Off-hand, I see a couple of issues. First, the one source is a reference book, one that sells for a high price and will be available in limited places.<\/p>\n

In my experience, contributors (and I was one) to such books tend to summarize their work but not to break new ground. The new thinking appears in conference papers, in journals such as The Pomegranate, <\/em>i<\/a>n monographs, and in more focused edited collections, as opposed to reference books.<\/p>\n

Second, Pagan studies includes more than potential readership of Method & Theory in the Study of Religion<\/em>. In\u00a0 Pomegranate<\/em> alone you will find anthropologists, sociologists, folklorists, scholars of Western esotericism, and historians publishing as well as religious-studies scholars of various sorts. Their methodologies and theoretical perspectives are going to be different as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nevertheless,\u00a0Markus Altena Davidsen<\/a>‘s\u00a0 accusations of essentialism, exclusivism, loyalism, and supernaturalism are calculated to discredit the field by suggesting that its practitioners lack (from his perspective) theoretical rigor.<\/p>\n

Ironically, those are the qualities that critics such as Ben Whitmore<\/a> want to accuse scholars of Paganism of failing<\/em> to display in sufficient quantity.<\/p>\n

Without having yet read the article, I would say that Davidsen identifies a possible cliff that Pagan studies could <\/em>go over. That it has indeed gone over such a cliff, I dispute.<\/p>\n

To switch metaphors, I would not want to see scholars of Paganism build the walls of their own ghetto, and as much as I can, I will struggle against that impulse when it arises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several friends mentioned today an essay based on the\u00a0Handbook of Contemporary Paganism \u00a0 (Leiden: Brill, 2009) which in its abstract makes this critique: [The essay] demonstrates that pagan studies is dominated by the methodological principles of essentialism, exclusivism, loyalism and supernaturalism, and shows how these principles promote normative constructions of \u2018pure\u2019 paganism, insider interpretations of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,4],"class_list":["post-4387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-paganism","tag-scholarship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-18L","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12836,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12836","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":0},"title":"CFP: Pagan Studies Conference at Masaryk University","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Paganism and its Others 13-14 June 2022 Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Brno, Czechia The Department for the Study of Religions at Masaryk University invites your participation in a conference on the overall theme of \u201cPaganism and its Others\u201d to be held in Brno, Czechia, 13-14 June, 2022, with in-person\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1101,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1101","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":1},"title":"A New 3-Volume Work in Pagan Studies","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Barbara Jane Davy, author of Introduction to Pagan Studies (The Pagan Studies Series) has a new edited collection out of source documents for Pagan studies.Paganism (Critical Concepts in Religious Studies) lists on Amazon at an \"institutional\" price, like the other edited collection that I recently mentioned.From the publisher's site:This new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2371,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2371","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":2},"title":"Seeking AAR Pagan Studies Papers","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After reading the Call for Papers, now is the time to submit proposals for the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group's sessions at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting. We have two topics this year: What does Pagan studies offer to academic analysis and critique? How do historical constructions of \u201cpaganism\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7494,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7494","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":3},"title":"New Issue of The Pomegranate Published","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The newest issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, has been published online and is at the printer. Book reviews may be downloaded free. There is a charge for longer articles \u2014 or request them (after an interval) from your library's interlibrary loan service. Table of Contents:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pom cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Pom-cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":798,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=798","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":4},"title":"New Pomegranate Contents","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In the rush of travel and then preparing for the spring semester, I forgot to post the contents of the latest issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies (Volume 8, no. 2, Nov. 2006).So here is what's happening in Pagan Studies:\"Santeria Sacrificial Rituals: A Reconsideration of Religious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7706,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7706","url_meta":{"origin":4387,"position":5},"title":"Contemporary Pagan Studies 2016 Call for Papers","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is our call for papers for the next annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, which will be November 19-22, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas. For all the calls, go here, just in case you are interested in \"Vatican II Studies.\" Statement of Purpose:\u00a0 The Contemporary Pagan Studies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4387"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4389,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions\/4389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}