08AR13-29

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Apologia Report 13:29

July 31, 2008

Subject - Neopaganism: Diverse and dynamic

In this issue:

ASTROLOGY - predictions, based on exactly what?

DISPENSATIONALISM - SCP picks a fight

NEOPAGANISM - academic summary sees reduced conflict with Christianity

NEW AGE MOVEMENT - stats show the New Age has hardly faded away

ORIGINS - Who says Intelligent Design isn't science?

RELIGION, GENERAL - generic transcendence eclipsing the sacred?

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ASTROLOGY

Olav Hammer's article in the 2006 magisterial Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism [1], acknowledges (1:137) that, in regard to current practice: "There is ... no agreement among astrologers, e.g. on what symbols should be used in interpreting a chart [horoscope] ..., which of several fundamental but conflicting technical systems is valid ..., how selected factors should be combined in chart interpretation, which factors should be accorded the greatest importance in the birth chart or, in the case of psychological astrology, what model of human personality is the most appropriate." (Just imagine the impact of an equivalent state of affairs on other professions. - RP)

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DISPENSATIONALISM

"Orchestrating the End" by Stephen Sizer -- this hostile essay concentrates over half its length on a historical overview which moves, in roughly equal portions, from John Nelson Darby to C.I. Scofield to Hal Lindsey. Sizer's evaluation of present-day "neoconservative" Christian dispensatonalism and its "call for America's military ventures in the Middle East" examines the influence of The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and Dallas Theological Seminary. Sizer's conclusion is a summary of his main argument: "advocating an apocalyptic eschatology [is] likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy." SCP Journal, 31:4/32:1 - 2008, pp52-70.

This reprinted 1999 essay is expanded by Sizer's book, Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? [2].

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NEOPAGANISM

One more study note from The Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Joanne E. Pearson's article on neopaganism (2:828-834) is an authoritative summary which offers significant concessions. For example, she reports that elsewhere Dictionary editor Wouter Hanegraaff argues that "the term 'neopaganism' itself contains a 'polemical thrust' towards Christianity." Pearson observes, "The attitude of 'being neopagan' in opposition to 'being Christian' is growing more rare" in the West today. Neopaganism "has adopted a less reactive posture which no longer requires legitimisation through false histories or hatred of the Christian Church."

After describing the development of modern witchcraft and differences between the main Gardnerian and Alexandrian streams of Wicca, Pearson mentions the evolution of The Pagan Front. The group's publication, The Wiccan [now named Pagan Dawn (see note 5)], went from "a print run of just twelve" in 1968 to "over 5000 by 2000." In 1989 "the organisation changed its name to the Pagan Federation, which even then saw itself as representing Wicca, rather than neopaganism, in the UK. By the end of the 20th century, the Pagan Federation had become not only a representative body for neopagans in the UK, but also for those in Europe, with more or less autonomous branches in France, the Netherlands, Austria, Scandinavia, and elsewhere."

Pearson explains that "Feminist witchcraft developed out of the feminist consciousness movement, as female witches took part in the Women's Movement and began to influence the nascent Goddess Movement, which despite witchcraft involvement does not associate itself with either occult, magical traditions or with neopaganism. Witchcraft and feminist/Goddess spirituality blend into each other, and in North America Wicca and neopaganism are virtually synonymous. ...

"After Wicca, perhaps the most popular form of neopaganism is Druidry. Modern neopagan Druids draw their inspiration from early evidence of Druidry gleaned from the works of writers such as Pliny the Elder and Julius Caesar, as well as from Celtic traditions....

"The third main grouping is that of the Northern Traditions, or Heathenism. ... Heathenry and Heathern [sic] witchcraft - the wiccecraeft and seidr - have been reconfigured since the 1980s, their attraction being that they are indigenous to northern European lands which were converted to Christianity much later than its homeland around the Mediterranean, and the they provide what are believed to be the only genuine paganisms to exist outside Christian constructs. ...

"Heathens follow the pre-Christian Pagan traditions of Northern Europe, centered around two distinctive groups of Norse divinities, the Aesir sky gods (such as the chief god Odin, Frigga, Thor and Baldur) and the Vanir earth gods (such as Frey and Freya). Some therefore call themselves by a more specific name, such as Asatru or Odinist."

A fourth group is identified: "In general terms, a distinctive Baltic neopaganism has developed since the late 1980s, becoming particularly strong after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. In newly re-emerging countries such as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, neopaganism has played an important part on efforts to establish national identities. ...

"As in neopaganism generally, Baltic neopaganism considers all of nature to be sacred, the Earth is regarded as the universal mother, and a seasonal cycle of eight festivals are celebrated...."

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NEW AGE MOVEMENT

According to Publishers Weekly (Apr 7 '08, p8), religion book sales were the the largest nonfiction category and the fourth most common genre purchase by unit overall in the U.S. for 2007, making up 5% of total sales; with Mystery/Detective #1 at 17%, followed by Romance 11% and Science Fiction 5.5%. The remainder of the total was comprised of 11 additional categories. Overall sales were divided 49% to 51% in terms of fiction vs. nonfiction.

For any who might think that the New Age movement is waning, the same issue of PW also reports (p29) that America's bestselling nonfiction book in 2007 was The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne [3] at 4.6 million copies. As for the international scene, the only country in which PW notes (p10) The Secret doing nearly as well last year was Germany, where it was #3 (no total sales figure given).

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ORIGINS

"Put 'Em to the Test" by Hugh Ross -- responds to the argument that Intelligent Design (ID) "is not science." Ross, big surprise, believes that cosmology says it all. "Despite its theological implications, its indications of a transcendent, personal (intelligent and intentional) causal agent, Big-Bang cosmology is now widely acknowledged as an accurate, thoroughly corroborated depiction of the universe. Each test applied since the early 1990s has only confirmed and amplified its details. And that process continues today."

Ross also briefly outlines "specific ID tests in diverse disciplines ... for determining the source of the designs [that] scientists see throughout the vast realm of nature." These are:

* - the "connection between human DNA and that of the hominids"

* - the "shrinking time window for the origin of life"

* - the "fine-tuning required to provide for and sustain global human civilization [vs.] that required for bacterial life"

Salvo, Spr '08, pp43-45.

Ross has much more to say about such tests in his book Creation as Science: A Testable Model Approach to End the Creation/Evolution Wars [4].

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RELIGION, GENERAL

"Spirituality and Popular Religion in Europe" by Hubert Knoblauch -- chronicles a subtle, yet epic cultural shift. As the abstract explains, "The concept of 'religion' is complemented by a more basic and less biased notion such as 'transcendence' ..., a notion that starts from the trajectory of subjective experience and action. ... [T]he author focuses on extreme yet quite diverse (western) 'religious' movements that are somewhat dynamic, such as marked Christianity [most notably Pentecostalism - RP] and alternative religiosity. ... It is concluded that the dissolution of the boundaries between the private and public as well as between religiously marked and unmarked communication indicates a basic transformation of religion that demands a reconceptualization in terms of transcendence instead of the binary code sacred/profane." Frustratingly brief. Social Compass, 55:2 - 2008, pp140-153.

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Sources, Monographs:

1 - Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, Wouter Hanegraaff, ed. (Brill, 2006, hardcover, 1230 pages in two volumes) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9004152318/apologiareport>

2 - Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? by Stephen Sizer (IVP, 2005, paperback, 298 pages) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0830853685/apologiareport>

3 - The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words, 2006, hardcover, 216 pages) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582701709/apologiareport>

4 - Creation As Science: A Testable Model Approach to End the Creation/Evolution Wars, by Hugh Ross (Navpress, 2006, hardcover: 291 pages) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576835782/apologiareport>

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