With the approach of October and the Halloween season evangelical websites, blogs and other media will begin to focus in greater measure on Wicca, Neopaganism and other expressions of Western esotericism or "the occult." With this in mind I draw my readers attention to my previous critical interaction with a fairly recent evangelical book on the topic in the form of Generation Hex and here:
For an alternative treatment of this topic I recommend Philip Johnson and Gus diZerega's dialogue book Beyond the Burning Times which I had the privilege of editing.
Readers might also benefit from academic explorations of the topic from my previous interactions with the authors on this blog including The Sign of the Witch, The New Generation Witches, and Teenage Witches.
I hope these suggested resources contribute toward more sober analysis by evangelicals this Halloween/Samhain season.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Suggestions for a More Careful Evangelical Assessment at Halloween
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4 comments:
Interesting inclusions and omissions.
What about the elephant in the room that evangelicals persist in ignoring, given their Western heritage - the Saints?
The inclusions were based upon previous works discussed on this blog and the list is surely not intended as all inclusive. Who are you specifically referring to with your reference to the Saints? Help us evangelicals out if you would.
All of them!
All Hallows is All Saints Day in the West (the Orthodox Halloween is the Saturday after Pentecost).
So I'm wondering how evangelicals can assess Halloween without considering the communion of saints.
Great point and question. Evangelicals often equate Halloween with the "occult" and pagan aspects of its history without consideration of the variety of historical and ecclesiological influences.
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