The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles
Religious history | |
| Publisher | Blackwell |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1991 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy is a book of
In keeping with what was by then the prevailing academic view, it disputed the widely held idea that ancient paganism had survived into the contemporary and had been revived by the Pagan movement. In turn, it proved somewhat controversial among some sectors of the Pagan community, with two prominent members of the Goddess movement, Asphodel Long and Max Dashu publishing criticisms of it.
Background
Hutton was born at
In 1981, Hutton moved to the
Synopsis
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In this work, Hutton attempted to "set out what is at present known about the religious beliefs and practices of the British Isles before their conversion to Christianity. The term 'pagan' is used as a convenient shorthand for those beliefs and practices, and is employed in the title merely to absolve the book from any need to discuss early Christianity itself."[4] The book contains chapters entitled The Mysteries Begin (c. 30,000 - c.5000 BC), The Time of Tombs (c. 5000 - c. 3200 BC), The Coming of the Circles (c. 3200 - c.2200 BC), Into the Darkness (c.2200 - c.1000 BC), The People of the Mist (c.1000 BC - c. AD 500), The Imperial Synthesis (AD 43 - 410) The Clash of Faiths (AD c.300 - c.1000), and Legacy of Shadows.
Reception
Dealing with both ancient pre-Christian religion and its influence on the contemporary Pagan, or '
The book proved controversial amongst some contemporary Pagans and
Other Pagans were less critical of Hutton's work. One American Pagan named Lorena Wolfe commented that the book touched "at the basis of our belief system – our
Meanwhile, whilst he faced criticism from some sectors of the Pagan community in Britain, others came to embrace him; during the late 1980s and 1990s, Hutton befriended a number of practising
References
Citations
- ^ a b Hutton 1991, dust jacket.
- ^ Hutton 1998.
- ^ a b Hutton 2009, pp. xii–xiii.
- ^ Hutton 1991, p. vii.
- ^ Long 1992.
- ^ Hutton 2010, p. 257.
- ^ Dashu 1998, p. [page needed].
- ^ Wolfe 1994, p. [page needed].
- ^ Hutton 2009, p. xiv.
- ^ Whitlock 2011, p. 33.
Works cited
- Dashu, Max (1998). "A Review of Ronald Hutton's The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles". Suppressed Histories Archives. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- Hutton, Ronald (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy. Oxford, UK and Cambridge, United States: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-17288-8.
- Hutton, Ronald (December 1998). "Roots and rituals". ISSN 0018-2753.
- Hutton, Ronald (2009). Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
- Hutton, Ronald (2010). "Writing the History of Witchcraft: A Personal View". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 12 (2): 239–262. .
- Long, Asphodel (Summer 1992). "Review of The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles". Wood and Water. 39. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- Whitlock, Robin (January–February 2011). "Is it time for Pagans to fight for their rights?". Kindred Spirit. 108: 32–34.
- Wolfe, Lorena (1994). "Some thought on the book The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles by Ronald Hutton". Pagan Network for the Inland Empire. United States. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
Further reading
- Hutton, Ronald (1999). The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820744-3.
- Lachman, Gary (13 May 2007). "Ronald Hutton – Wicca and other invented traditions". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- Lamond, Frederic (2004). Fifty Years of Wicca. Green Magic.