A nature-based religion in the city: contemporary North American pagan relationships with urban environments

Furney, Mandy (2004) A nature-based religion in the city: contemporary North American pagan relationships with urban environments. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

As a nature-based religion, it is often assumed that contemporary Paganism would be antithetical to urban life. Yet, Paganism has developed and grown in urban centers as the majority of Pagans continue to dwell there. This seeming paradox is resolved through an examination of the basic tenets of Pagan beliefs, specifically the cosmologies and worldviews of Paganism, and the realities of daily Pagan practices. Despite dichotomies between nature and civilization or rural and urban habitats, Paganism's holistic worldview, in which all things are interconnected and the divine is immanent in all of creation, re-envisions cities as participating in the 'Nature' that Pagans honour. As a defining worldview, Paganism is a lived religion that not only influences perceptions of the city but is in turn influenced by regular interactions with the urban world. A study of urban expressions of Paganism is crucial to understanding Paganism as a viable, dynamic, contemporary religion.

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