Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion

Sociology of Religion, Fall, 2004 by Mary Jo Neitz

Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion, by MICHAEL YORK. New York: New York University Press. 2003, x +239 pp., $40.00 (cloth).

In this book Michael York argues that paganism ought to be counted as one of the world religions. Using figures from David Barrett's World Christian Encyclopedia, York claims six percent of the world's population to be pagan, thus giving paganism its place among the six world religions. He also argues that certain pagan practices are universal human activities essential to worship, and that these pagan practices can therefore be seen as a kind of primal religious attitude underlying all religion. An important part of York's project is to "rescue paganism from its historically negative connotations to be a useful and affirmative endorsement of neglected practices and marginalized worldview" (p. 7).

The body of this book is divided into two long chapters and a conclusion. In the first chapter, "Paganism as Religion," York develops a working definition of paganism and then gives a brief description of the various religions that he considers constitutive of world paganism: Paganism tends to "honor local manifestations of deity;" it emphasizes experience and the "performance of cult acts" over belief and dogma; it is often, but not always, polytheistic; and deities are immanent rather than transcendent (pp. 12-13). The latter characteristic leads to what York terms "corpospirituality," a quality which "allows for perception of the divine in nature, for idolatry, for appreciation of the sacredness of place ..., and for multiplicity of manifestations," (p. 13). Having established a set of core characteristics, York then examines the major pagan traditions. He begins with the religions of the Greeks and Romans, which he argues, "constitute the paradigm of paganism," (p. 11). In the space of 45 pages, he then moves quickly through the following categories of pagan religion: Chinese Folk religions, Shinto, Primal Tribal religions (African), Shamanism, American Indian Spirituality, Afro-American Spiritism, finally arriving at contemporary Western Paganism. This latter encompasses both the Neopagan movement as well as western folk practices. York concedes that a distinguishing feature of Neopaganism, in contrast to the other traditions, is a lack of idolatry, yet he argues that it too can reasonably be classed as a part of the pagan world religion.

In the second chapter, "Paganism as Behavior," York advances the argument that "the fundamental urge to express honor and homage is cultic or pagan," (p. 66). York argues that veneration, more than magic, is the essence of cultic behavior and of all religion. For York, paganism is there-fore a fundamental impulse at the root of all religious behavior. This second chapter undertakes to examine what York refers to as the venerative modes of behavior that can be found within the non-pagan religious traditions: York argues that Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are all "infused with identifiable pagan practices" (p 72). This section of the book includes a large section (pp. 74-133) based on a first person account of the author's own experiences of venerative aspects of Buddhism and Hinduism in Asia. The chapter ends with relatively short accounts of Christianity and Islam, and a concluding section on agnosticism, atheism and secularism. Regarding the latter, York notes how, upon returning to the West after his trip to Asia, he was able to perceive the cultic aspects of apparently secular activities such as gatherings at pubs, or theater, film and television with its veneration of "stars."

I share with Michael York the belief that paganism is a legitimate category of religion for both practitioners and for those of us who study religion. I am not, however, drawn to the project of establishing universal definitions of paganism as a world religion or an essential practice. I feel that such universalizing projects, including this one, gloss over significant differences within categories, and in fact divert us from understanding what is most interesting and informative about religion: the ways in which belief and practice are located in time and place. For me, the task of rescuing paganism from the negative connotations put upon it by centuries of Christian polemics is better done by the ordinary activities of practitioners and by researchers studying local activities as they are organized in specific contexts. York's book, however, does raise the question of what it means to talk about "world religion." Given that York's project originated in the ways paganism has been marginalized and/or exoticized, I can imagine using this book in a world religions course to ask what scholars mean by the category of world religion itself, and who is served by maintaining the traditional boundaries which establish those belief systems and practices that count as insider and those which must be cast outside.

Mary Jo Neitz

University of Missouri