ultimate foundations of their respective religions.16 Religious nominalism generally describes those who identify with a religious tradition they are not currently practicing. The terms fundamentalism and nominalism are not normally used to describe Pagans. Yet, I remember hearing a Wiccan high priestess at the Coffee Cauldron once describe how a certain man present was a true believer. I understood her to mean that she thought he was a particularly zealous and spiritually powerful Pagan. Paganism’s broad boundaries, explains Reid, provide room for those whom other religions might consider nominal.17 The varying degree of religious adherence or participation among Pagans makes it complex for Christians to accurately describe a practicing Pagan or the contours of Paganism.
Accurately describing the religions of others, notably Paganism, is complex and difficult work. Yet love compels Christians to study and accurately seek to understand Paganism, realizing that inaccuracy can hinder an effective gospel witness.
describe Christianity, will likely hear a biased or unfair assessment. The worst scenario is a Christian writing about another religion without demonstrating familiarity with the other
religion.18 The portrayal of the non-Christian religion is unlikely to be fair. A fairer approach to Christians studying other religions is modeled by the Handbook of Religion.19 The three
Christian editors welcomed fifty-five Christian and non-Christian scholars to contribute essays.
Significantly, the editors included an adherent essay from each religion studied in the book.
Another example of fairness is modeled by Beyond the Burning Times.20 The book features a substantive dialogue between a Pagan and a Christian and is a model for interfaith dialogue, discussion, and learning.
Second, fairness involves Christians experiencing something of the of the non-
Christian religion they describe. My study of Paganism is limited by being an outsider and by not participating in Wiccan rituals.21 Studying a given religion while not experiencing it should lead a fair-minded researcher to exercise caution describing the religion. A popular textbook on world religions describes the challenge of portraying religious experience from an outsider’s
perspective,
18 Steve Russo, What’s the Deal with Wicca? A Deeper Look into the Dark Side of Today’s Witchcraft (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 2005). Tim Baker, Dewitched: What you Need to Know about the Dangers of Wicca and Witchcraft (Nashville, TN: Transit, 2004). Roberta Blankenship, Escape from Witchcraft (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972). Baker cites three Pagan sources but does not meaningfully interact with them.
Russo and Blankenship do not cite Pagan sources. All three books are written in a highly polemic and exaggerated manner and are not fair engagements with Paganism.
19 Terry C. Muck, Harold A. Netland, and Gerald R. McDermott, eds., Handbook of Religion: A Christian Engagement with Traditions, Teachings, and Practices (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2014).
20 Philip Johnson and Gus diZerega, Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue (Oxford, UK: Wilkinson House, 2008).
21 On pages 6-7, I described the limitation of being an outsider, and the delimitation of not participating in Wiccan rituals for my research.
Some such elements are tangible and readily observable and describable, such as a ritual like exchange of marriage vows or the procession of pilgrims to a shrine. Others are highly personal and therefore hidden from the outsider’s view. One of the great challenges of studying religions rests precisely in this personal, private quality. Modes of experience such as Buddhist nirvana are by definition beyond the reach of empirical observation and
description. Rudolf Otto throughout his analysis, emphasizes the impossibility of describing the “numinous” experience fully. Even common practices such as prayer and meditation tend to involve an inner aspect that is highly personal and quite inaccessible to anyone who is not sharing the experience. A book such as this one can do its best to illustrate and to explain these experiential phenomena but cannot be expected to provide a dull disclosure at certain points. Such is the nature of religion.22
Limitations exist in describing a religion one has not experienced. A fair approach for a Christian studying Paganism is to describe what can be known but to admit that they do not understand what an individual Pagan may experience during rituals.
Third, fairness involves Christians appreciating some of the positive contributions the non-Christian religion provides its members. Stark and Bainbridge argue that some people follow a religion that comforts them for missing out on societal rewards, while others follow a religion that provides its own set of rewards.23 Either way, religions compensate adherents.
People follow a religion for a reason and receive a benefit from the religion. A fair approach for a Christian studying Paganism is to understand the positive benefit Paganism provides for the Pagan.
Fourth, fairness involves Christians understanding the quintessence of Christianity and of the non-Christian religion. The quintessence of Christianity involves faith in the gospel of
22 Jeffrey Brood, et.al., Invitation to World Religions, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 21.
23 Rodney Stark and Williams S. Bainbridge, A Theory of Religion (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987), 51.
Jesus Christ. Christians rightly evaluate others claiming to be Christian by their adherence to the gospel and to historic biblical orthodoxy.24 However, when Christians apply this same evaluation process to non-Christian religions two results occur. First, if the quintessence of the non-
Christian religion is doctrinal in nature like Christianity, this may be a helpful approach to understand the other religion. If, however, the other religion is concerned with practice–even affirming a wide range of practice, and is not concerned with doctrinal matters, then evaluating the non-Christian religion through a Christian doctrinal lens is unhelpful–even unfair, to understanding the other religion.25 Morehead helpfully explains,
Many treatments of paganism, and new religions in general, from a Christian perspective approach the topic from the starting point of various core beliefs that are then presented in summary form in relation to categories of Christian doctrinal concerns. This gives Christian readers the impression that paganism is primarily a system of beliefs, whereas in reality it is focused on ritual–to which diverse beliefs are connected. In addition, the beliefs in question do not have a direct connection to Christian doctrinal concerns. In order to provide a more accurate understanding of paganism, Christian authors would do well to describe it in ways that represent the terminology and priorities of praxis for practitioners, even as they also strive to communicate the essence of paganism.26
For a Christian to gain a fair understanding of a non-Christian religion, therefore, it is important to evaluate the non-Christian religion considering its own quintessence. Second, considering Christianity’s quintessence, it is not only fair but essential to judge the truthfulness of non- Christian religions considering Christian doctrinal confession. Therefore, to gain a fair
24 It should be noted that if a religious group claims to belong to the Christian tradition (e.g.,
Mormonism or Jehovah Witnesses), then it is a legitimate approach for a Christian to show in what ways the other group is heterodox and different than orthodox Christianity.
25 For example, Bob Larson, Larson’s New Book of Cults (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1989), 464–7. Walter Martin, Jill Martin Rische, and Kurt Van Gordon, The Kingdom of the Occult (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008).
Both books are examples of Christian writers showing that the problem with other religious groups is that they are not orthodox Christians.
26 Morehead, “Paganism and Neopaganism: History, Beliefs, Practices,” 540.
understanding of a non-Christian religion like Paganism, a Christian will need to evaluate Paganism by the quintessence of Paganism and not Christian orthodoxy. To make a judgment concerning the truthfulness of Paganism, Christians will need to evaluate Paganism by the quintessence of Christian orthodoxy and not Paganism.