This ain't your mama's paganism: understanding modern witchcraft, nature religions and ‘neopaganism’

As part of sweeping transformations in American religion and renewed interest in New Age spiritualities, modern paganism is tapping into a deep desire for self-empowerment, social engagement and reconnection with the natural world. 

Inspired by, or derived from, historical pagan and nature religions, modern paganism is an undeniably broad, collective category that covers a diverse range of groups that can differ greatly in belief and practice.

While Wicca and astrology have enjoyed a certain popularity for several decades, a wave of new publications has highlighted how personalized spiritual practices, home-brewed magic and shamanistic self-discovery are now enjoying their own renaissance. 

The latest edition of ReligionLink explores this new “neopaganism,” what some are calling a broader “re-paganization of religion.”

NEW Essays: Global Islamic Reformism & Religion in the Black Atlantic

What does conservative Islam reformism look like in Yemen? In South Asia? In Egypt? In the United States? Do they differ in significant ways? Or, is Islamic reformism an unstoppable transnational religious force that erases all signs of local adaptation and innovation in its wake? In this essay I present a mosaic approach to assessing global Islamic reformism as a way to balance the contestation and agreement between translocal and local expressions of Islamic neofundamentalism worldwide. 

Read it at Academia.edu

As is evinced by the above paper on Islam, approaches are important. The "Black Atlantic" is a diverse and wide-ranging, trans-Atlantic, and multi-hemispheric discipline that requires careful thought and various approaches to apperceive the various religious currents at work across it. In this paper, I examine four approaches to religion in the Black Atlantic, paying special attention to Candomblé, Umbanda, sorcery/witchcraft, and Vodou. 

Read it at Academia.edu