Pagan Studies Series
Editor(s): Wendy Griffin and Chas S. Clifton
The label "Pagan Studies" marks the coming of age of scholarly inquiry into a diversity of religious expressions formerly considered new religious movements. The definition of paganism advocated by sociologist of religion Michael York,"an affirmation of interactive and polymorphic sacred relationship by individual or community with the tangible, sentient, and nonempirical" emphasizes what these spiritual traditions have in common: a feeling for "the sacred" that is non-monotheistic, based on relationship rather than revelation and scripture, and often including an immanent dimension to landforms, plants, and animals.



The common approach to the study of religions assumes that formal religious traditions are normative and so miss the religious phenomena that are inherently more fluid and more ambiguous. The approach taken by Pagan Studies permits examinations of highly dynamic and mutable religious communities within a hypermodern society, ones that demonstrate the increasing religious pluralism of our times. This shift in perspective will be a welcome addition to the growing intellectual endeavor to understand and give meaning to a wide variety of religious experience.



The series in Pagan Studies will be interdisciplinary in nature and include both junior scholars who seek to turn strong dissertations into publishable monographs and senior scholars who are looking for the kind of attention a small academic press can give their work. One of its most exciting strengths is that it will take the lead in focusing research on this topic as a legitimate field at the same time that it helps build it into one.