Witchcraft and Paganism In Australia

By Lynne Hume

An absorbing anthropological study that examines paganism as a case study of religious difference and its place in modern society.

This book contributes in a most original way to the growing literature on comparative religion and new religious movements. More specifically, it draws attention to a new religious movement.

Neo-Paganism, or Paganism, is rapidly growing in membership throughout the Western world, and is gaining increasing interest throughout Australia. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Hume describes the emergence of a controversial worldview that has its roots in some ancient ideas but whose ideology is firmly rooted in the twentieth century.

Hume poses some interesting questions: is Paganism a religion? What do its practitioners believe and do? What place does it have in a modern nation like Australia? What are its historical roots? Is it dangerous? Is it legal? How do people learn about it? Why is it adopted as a belief system? What is the emic viewpoint; the view from the believer's perspective?

As an anthropological analysis of a social phenomenon, Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia is an intriguing and accessible study.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052284782X
• ISBN13: 9780522847826
• Release Date: October 1993
• Publisher: Melbourne University
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"