2012
Homecoming Experience: Retroactive Interpretation or Valid Analytical Category?
VENCÁLEK, MatoušBasic information
Original name
Homecoming Experience: Retroactive Interpretation or Valid Analytical Category?
Authors
VENCÁLEK, Matouš (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)
Edition
Towards a Symmetrical Approach : The Study of Religions After Postmodern and Postcolonial Criticism, 2012
Other information
Language
English
Type of outcome
Presentations at conferences
Field of Study
60300 6.3 Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Country of publisher
Czech Republic
Confidentiality degree
is not subject to a state or trade secret
RIV identification code
RIV/00216224:14210/12:00067553
Organization unit
Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English
Homecoming Experience; Paganism; Conversion
Tags
International impact, Reviewed
Changed: 7/8/2013 19:38, Mgr. Matouš Vencálek
Abstract
In the original language
Margot Adler stated that contemporary Paganism is “a religion without converts”. More recently, Graham Harvey wrote that “people do not convert to Paganism”. So called “Homecoming Experience” or “Coming Home Experience” narrative – a subject of great discussion in the field of Pagan Studies – is very common among the Contemporary Pagans; many of them describe that they have “always been Pagans, they just didn’t know it had a name”, and the acceptance of Pagan identity and finding a community of like-minded people often feels like “coming home”. But how to grasp such narratives? Is it acceptable for the academic Study of Religions to consider such narratives as accurate descriptions of the process of one’s affiliation to Paganism? Or should we see it as constructed personal mythology of Pagan affiliates? Aren’t contemporary Pagans affected by Margot Adler and other authors and scholars in their claims about the process of their affiliation?