© Columbia University Press
New Age and Neopagan Religions in America
Paper, 256 pages, 25 illus
ISBN: 978-0-231-12403-4
$28.00
/ £19.50
June, 2004
Cloth, 256 pages, 25 illus
ISBN: 978-0-231-12402-7
$85.00
/ £58.50
"This work offers general readers a scholarly assessment of Neopaganism and the New Age movement. . . . Pike provides an overview of key themes of these movements and traces their beliefs back to 19th-century traditions of mesmerism, seances, Swedenborgianism, and Theosophy. . . . her book provides a necessary complement to Margot Adler'sDrawing Down the Moon and Paul Heelas'sThe New Age Movement." — Library Journal
"A view from the mountain...an admirable job of weaving together multiple strands of New Age practice into a single pattern." — Michael F. Brown, Natural History
"Pike's study is fascinating in all its detail." — Dan Barnett, Enterprise Record
"A superb introduction to the visions and practices of both neopagan and New Age movements.... Highly recommended." — W. L. Pitts Jr., Choice
"[A] lucid and interesting survey of esoteric and New-Age religions." — Philip Jenkins, Journal of American History
"Pike makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of New Age and Neopagan religions in America..." — David H. Vila, Religious Studies ReviewJohn Brown University
"[Pike] offers a succinct, thorough introduction to the wolrds of Neo-Pagan and New Age practices." — Ed Cook, Journal of Church and State
"This book works wonderfully to introduce readers to the fascinating and still developing religions... An excellent text for courses." — Cynthia Eller, Journal of Religion
"A clear and well-written primer for what is a bedazzling array of religious worldviews and practices." — Guy Lancaster, Mission Studies
"Sarah Pike's New Age and Neopagan Religions in America is less a comparative work than it is a fascinating study of the convergence of two highly variegated belief systems: the fantastically diverse universe of Wiccan and (neo)pagan religions with the no less disparate milieu of New Age believers. The book is enlivened by extensive fieldwork and yet it retains a remarkable analytical and theoretical sophistication. This approach allows Dr. Pike's many interviewees to tell their own stories, which she then weaves into a seamless theoretical narrative. The result is the best of all possible worlds: a book which will be of immense value to scholars concerned with new religious movements in America and to professors looking for an undergraduate or graduate level textbook in courses broadly focused on American religion or more narrowly focused on new religious movements and/or New Age cultures. Moreover, New Age and Neopagan Religions in America is beautifully written and completely accessible to a broad mainstream audience. I recommend it highly to scholars, practitioners and the general reader alike." — Jeffrey Kaplan, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
"Sarah Pike's New Age and Neopagan Religions in America is required reading for everyone who thinks that the story of religion in the United States can be told exclusively in terms of churches and/or ecclesiastical institutions. Pike provides a perceptive analysis of the history and contemporary expressions of these two alternative spiritual subcultures that are thriving in America today. She traces the roots of these movements back into the nineteenth century. Pike also guides the reader into the contemporary worlds of healing and ritual activities that dominate these subcultures, and she explains the ways in which issues of sexuality and gender, which are of concern, reflect and influence the debates on these topics in the larger culture. Pike brings to this study her own fieldwork and a balanced, even-handed approach. Her account alerts us to the fact that these spiritual subcultures are likely to thrive in the context of the twenty-first century. She also provides valuable resources which will assist us in the further study of these movements." — Stephen J. Stein, Chancellor's Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University at Bloomington
"Sarah Pike's book is a totally absorbing investigation of understudied though extremely important segments of American religious culture: the New Age and Neopaganism. Pike provides a fine historical analysis of the roots of these religious cultures, particularly in the post-1960s era, and offers a compelling portrait of religious life within New Age and Neopagan communities. She also engages in an illuminating thematic discussion, exploring gender, healing, sexuality, and other significant common elements found in both "new" but old movements. This is an informative, intriguing, and innovative study that fills a striking gap in the literature on religion in America." — Gary Laderman, author of Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America