United Paganism?
Response to Esa’s article on Patheos on a the Question of a United Paganism posted August 21, 2023
Esa’s article on the Question of a United Paganism is a welcome perspective on our modern Paganism. Cursory research on the ancient world’s concept of spiritual leadership and a peek at Shinto and Buddhism can augment this discussion.
In ancient Greece, religion was promoted and overseen by the state. Civic religion was polytheistic and honoring the Goddess and Gods was a civic duty. In ancient Rome, there was a shift to Priests and Priestesses coming into the role of spiritual leadership. We probably can never know if those spiritual leaders met to discuss theology and they had no need to advocate for their religion since it was ubiquitous. In Scandinavia, the Seeress was the spiritual leader. Druids were scholars. In Shinto, we find priests are the leaders and in Buddhism, the spiritual leader is also the temporal leader. Clearly, all the Abrahamic faiths have clergy as their leaders. Judaism and Islam are more focused on scholarship among clergy and Christianity is more focused on clergy preaching their theology.
Spiritual leaders are not the same as a United Paganism discussed in the article, but I would argue that a United Paganism could be lead by Pagan clergy. Who better to advocate for our beliefs? Those trained in ministering to all Pagan peoples would be in an excellent position to advocate for all of Paganism. Such an organization would be capable of participating in inter-faith dialogue and pursuing activities to further position Paganism as a legitimate religion in our modern world and help others understand its spiritual ideas.
Cherry Hill Seminary is the only Pagan seminary training clergy to work with any Pagan or Nature-honoring spirituality. It is focused on pagan oriented scholarship as well as ministry. Cherry Hill Seminary is uniquely positioned to facilitate this conversation through its Coming to the Center programming and students interested in pursing such a question as a United Paganism in their MA programs.
Certainly, this discussion can also happen at other venues and discussion channels. Some Pagan traditions already have over-arching organizations, who could be brought together for this discussion.
While Esa’s article does a good job of identifying the challenges we may face, how we approach the question of a United Paganism is what I am advocating for here.
Churches, community and professional clergy were discussed at length in a few issues of Fireheart Magazine in the 1990's. (Issues 6 and 7are available at the Earth Spirit website. at http://www.earthspirit.com/articles) It was a spirited discussion between Isaac Bonewits, Judy Harrow, Sam Webster, Andras Corben and others.
Given the statistical indications of over roughly a million participants self-identifying as Neo-Pagan, it would be expected by now that these communities would have multiple seminaries that are fully funded, as well as a proportional number of professional clergy and staff. This hasn't happened.Unpacking the reasons is best left to sociologists, or long discussions at night over roast chicken, fresh bread and good tea.