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Goddess Worship Witchcraft And NeoPaganism
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$ 7.03
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| Item Number |
55014 |
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Item Description...
Overview
This volume of the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements discusses Goddess Worship and the impact native religious traditions of Europe and tribal traditions from North America have on Neo-paganism.
Publishers Description
The twentieth century has seen a remarkable revival of 'the Old Religion,' as adherents of New-paganism call the native religious traditions of Europe and tribal traditions from North America that predated Christianity. Many neo-pagan groups identify with Celtic (Druidic), Egyptian, Native American, Norse, or Roman traditions; others with modern science-fiction motifs; and still others with witchcraft. Neo-paganism is occultic in nature. A central figure in much of Neo-paganism is the Mother Goddess, who has been introduced and worshiped among certain feminists even in some mainline Protestant churches. Why this series? This is an age when countless groups and movements, old and new, mark the religious landscape in our culture, leaving many people confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportunity to research these movements fully, these books provide essential information and insights for their spiritual journeys. Each book has five sections: - A concise introduction to the group - An overview of the group's theology -- in its own words - Tips for witnessing effectively to members of the group - A bibliography with sources for further study - A comparison chart that shows the essential differences between biblical Christianity and the group -- The writers of these volumes are well qualified to present clear and reliable information and help us discern religious truth from falsehood. This is an age when countless groups and movements, new and old, mark the religious landscape in our culture. As a result, many people are confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportunity to research these movements fully, the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements series provides essential information and insights for their spiritual journeys. The second wave of books in this series addresses a broad range of spiritual beliefs, from non-Trinitarian Christian sects to witchcraft and neo-paganism to classic non-Christian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. All books but the summary volume, Truth and Error, contain five sections: -A concise introduction to the group being surveyed -An overview of the group's theology --- in its own words -Tips for witnessing effectively to members of the group -A bibliography with sources for further study -A comparison chart that shows the essential differences between biblical Christianity and the group -- Truth and Error, the last book in the series, consists of parallel doctrinal charts compiled from all the other volumes. Three distinctives make this series especially useful to readers: -Information is carefully distilled to bring out truly essential points, rather than requiring readers to sift their way through a sea of secondary details. -Information is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow outline form with 'menu bar' running heads. This format greatly assists the reader in quickly locating topics and details of interest. -Each book meets the needs and skill levels of both nontechnical and technical readers, providing an elementary level of refutation and progressing to a more advanced level using arguments based on the biblical text. The writers of these volumes are well qualified to present clear and reliable information and help readers to discern truth from falsehood. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 96
Dimensions: Length: 8.5" Width: 5.49" Height: 0.28"
Weight: 0.25 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Mar 1, 1998
Publisher Zondervan Publishing
ISBN 0310488818
EAN 9780310488811
UPC 025986488819
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Availability 100 units.
Availability accurate as of May 26, 2012 10:23.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Accurate, but not Complete Sep 13, 2005 |
As a polytheist myself, I am wondering if the reviewers who accuse the author of misrepresentation and bigotry have actually read the book. Hawkins presents neopagan theology and practice thoroughly and well, with constant reference to respected primary texts from within the pagan community. He has obviously spent a great deal of time researching neopagan views and, with a few rather minor exceptions, presents them with as much accuracy as any neopagan would.
That said, I was under the impression from reading the description that this book would be mainly concerned with providing Christians with solid logical rebuttals of neopagan arguments, and was very surprised to find that it does not. It is not that Hawkins' arguments against neopaganism are inadequate - they simply aren't there. With two exceptions, Hawkins simply sets factual statements of what neopagans believe against factual statements of what Christians believe or what is asserted in the Bible. (Those two exceptions are the very interesting epistemological critique of neopaganism on pp. 32-34 and the section applying the "problem of evil" to polytheism, panentheism and pantheism on pp. 44-46, which unfortunately ignores the fact that Christianity suffers just as much from this argument as neopaganism, if not more.) Hawkins does not provide an argument for the truth of Scripture, which strikes me as very odd considering that such arguments do exist and his book is essentially useless as a witnessing tool without one. His Biblically-based arguments cannot function on their own without some other argument establishing the Bible as a reliable source.
That said, the information Hawkins presents on neopagan and Christian beliefs is generally quite accurate, and this book would certainly be a useful supplement for Christians who already have a grasp of some arguments for the reliability of the Bible. I can find little fault with the section at the end describing approaches to take when talking to neopagans about Christianity, and I would generally make the same recommendations myself. Neopagans would do well to read the epistemological critique I mentioned above (pp. 32-34), since responding to these objections would go a long way towards clarifying neopagan ideas of truth, belief and justification.
Generally, I can think of much worse treatments of neopagan religions in the literature of Christian apologetics and I would be pleased to learn that a Christian friend was reading this one. | | |  | In Response to the Celtic "Witch Witch" and others... Jan 31, 2005 |
For starters this book was published by a Christian publishing company (Zondervan) and is really for the most part intended for Christians to use to compare Christianity to neopaganism. Since Hawkins and Gomes come from a Christian worldview it makes sense that they don't spent time defending the "validity" of the Christian faith since that is not their intent. The implication that the Christian faith is indeed the "true" faith is something that is "implied" in the text since, once again it was published by Christians for Christians. This is not to say that the book doesn't have value as an "apologetic/evangelism" tool, because it does and is intended for that as well, but from the point of view of the Christian using it not necessarily the neopagan picking it up and reading it.
The thing that Celtic Witch and the other "negative" reviewers have to get over is that Christianity makes an "absolute truth" claim. Christians make that claim, because Christ made the claim about himself in John 14:6. We don't believe that neopaganism is a path to God in whatever shape/form/etc. that people take him/her to be. Another big problem that Christians have with neopaganism is in its use of magick, which is condemned in the Bible. Any kind of occultic worldview whether it be New Age, Satanism, Wiccan, etc. butts heads against Christianity, because of the "truth claims" they make which contradict what Christianity teaches.
Celtic Witch and the group most likely are not going to agree with the "truth claims" of Christianity, but they have to understand that we don't agree with the claims of their neopaganistic beliefs either. I am not a relativist nor do I believe that relativism is really a tenable belief. Therefore I don't believe in this "every path leads to God" nonsense that many people promote. Everyone has a worldview (even if that worldview is that they don't believe in worldviews). How we understand whether one worldview is true over and against another deals with issues of coherence and correspondence to reality and the like. Although this is not the place to discuss this in its entirety I would guide people to Geisler's "Christian Apologetics" book on more information concerning coherence and correspondence. Beware neopagan you won't like what you read! | | |  | Goddess Worship, Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism Nov 15, 2004 |
| This is the most misinformed intolerant religious right wing propaganda I have ever read. The author obviously took many assumptions about paganism and stereotyped the entire group. His arguments against it hold as little logic as he claims the pagan community uses in their own beliefs. I would strongly recommend not purchasing this book of intolerance and social hatred. | | | | Preaching to the Choir Aug 4, 2004 |
There is a saying that Hawkins apparently has no knowledge of.
"If you wish to know where the sparrow flies... ask the sparrow."
Most of the mis-information in this book is the same old tired arguements against Wicca and Paganism that have been regurgitated for years by Christians. Most of Hawkin's arguements are meaningless to anyone who is not already a Christian. These arguements are presented as if the precepts of Christianity were proven "truth", and any other religious concepts are therefore false. What Hawkins fails to recognise is that the Christian precepts he uses are not proven, and indeed cannot be shown to be more valid that the religions he decrys, thus his arguements are flawed from the outset. Wiccans , and adherants of any other religion for that matter, can easily recognise this type of fallacy, and so anyone trying to use the "truth" of Christianity to disprove Wicca will be simply dismissed from the outset.
This book is simply a tool to make Christians feel better about themselves, while demonising another religion. If you think you can use this book to "save" your children or friend from Wicca... then you are probably the reason they rejected Christianity in the first place. | | |  | Brief, educational treatise/format... Jul 29, 2003 |
| It seems that Craig Hawkins' book was written for classroom/educational purposes from the format in which it was written. He obviously knows his stuff very well from his own personal Protestant Christian tradition; however, I found his format difficult to read as it keeps the book from flowing. One must first read each heading, then listed neo-pagan claim before Hawkins' countered Protestant Christian rebuttal. The result for me was dry reading in spite of his thorough research and goodly amount of helpful information. If one doesn't mind this type of format, his book is absolutely full of valuable information. It's great to read both sides of the issue of Goddess worship, neo-paganism, and wicca. However, I personally prefer a flowing prose format which more naturally connects each section of the book. Hawkins' book would be invaluable in a church class/instructional setting for family and friends to gain a better insight and understanding into their loved ones' involvement in Goddess worship, neo-paganism, or witchcraft/wicca. | | | Write your own review about Goddess Worship Witchcraft And NeoPaganism
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