Celebrating Planet Earth: A Pagan/Christian Conversation | a book review

First of all, I would like to say that I was raised a Roman Catholic. This helped to give me my fair share of faith but it did give me my more than fair share of guilt as well. Now this is just personally speaking. The more I read the more I understand why so many ‘now’ Pagans were once Christians. So when I can upon this book I had to give it a read. Truthfully, the first thing that struck me, was the cover. Being a very visual person and deep lover of nature, I was drawn to the image of these beautiful, tall trees touching the sky and glowing with energy…

Who would ever have thought that a group of Christians and Pagans could come together to have a civilized conversation about their own and each others’ religion? I myself would find it hard to imagine, without a lot of nasty words about who is right and who is wrong. One is always looking to convert the other, it seems, especially when that one is standing on your front porch. (But that’s another story)

Eleven people have come together from different backgrounds in order to contribute to the writing of this book, some being Druid, others professors of Religion or researchers, chaplains or founders of new churches.

I had taken note of a lot of great quotes from this book that I wanted to share but if I did that, there wouldn’t be much need for you to read the book! That being said, I couldn’t help but share some quotes that I found very thought-provoking.

Here’s a little something I found interesting about Wicca:

Gerald Gardner, who promoted and almost certainly invented the religion of Wicca, was also ordained in an obscure church, and the Christian influences on the system he developed are clear. Joanne Pearson’s fascinating book Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual, Sex and Magic (2007) goes into great detail about the influence of Christianity on the evolution of Wicca and only goes to strengthen any case for the value of syncretism…some Pagans may feel that Christians are ‘stealing’ aspects of their tradition, while some Christians might no doubt feel horrified that fellow Christians have started casting circles and calling the directions. But for some people, this is just what they feel they need!”

I do want to say that this book has opened my eyes to some misconceptions I have had about the Christian religion and its relation to Paganism. Not all parts of history tell of pagans being forced to convert to another religion, nor were their religious yearly celebrations completely wiped off the calendar to be replaced by the Christian ones. Not quite yet, anyway:

In all cases Christianity came as a new faith that sought converts, but how this was done also varied. Possibly much early mission led to the adoption of pagan elements along with local culture within highly localised expressions of church. This is partly why the extent of the early church in places like China has been obscured as churches were so radically enculturated. In the West however, whilst early mission seems to have followed a similar pattern, the development of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 fused state and religion, making religious expansion part of military conquest and religious dissent an act of treason. This accompanied a gradual rejection of indigenous expressions of Christianity and more aggressive approaches to paganism. This marked a gradual shift from the rooting of Christianity in the context of local pagan sites and stories to their destruction and replacement.

The decline of mythical thinking throughout much of the industrialised world has resulted in the unfortunate loss of a sense of transcendence and of the value of human life. Some people argue that this has been responsible for much of the devastation of the last one hundred years.

I did find the book a pretty heavy read and had to sit down multiple times when my mind wasn’t already exhausted from the day, or distracted by wanting to paint (!). But it gave me some new insight into the history of Christianity and Paganism, their relation to each other through history and what some groups are doing to bring the two together.

We could imagine, for example, a religious community who identified themselves as both Druids and Christians, who had developed a sustainable way of living, generating their own power off the grid, growing their own food, raising bees, drawing water from their own well, burying their dead naturally in woodland, celebrating the Eucharist every day, but also communing with the trees that surround them, the plants they grow, the creatures around them.

Celebrating Planet Earth: a Pagan/Christian Conversation is due to be released in just a few days, on May 29. I have added the Moon Books link but it is also available on the usual book sites.

 

Happy reading!

Moongirl xx