Pagan resurrection - Richard Rudgley

"Pagan Resurrection" puts forward a fascinating and controversial idea - namely that it is the pagan god Odin and not Christ who is the single most important spiritual influence in western civilisation. Far from being just a New Age fad, paganism is fast becoming a major spiritual, intellectual, ecological and political force across the globe. Rudgely is an Oxford trained anthropologist and critically acclaimed author of "Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age", who has since presented three series on Channel 4. He takes the reader through the strange world of modern pagan cuts, the pagan beliefs that underpin important parts of modern culture, such as "Lord of the Rings" and the highly pagan counter culture that sprang up in the sixties and now offers an attractive alternative spiritual vision to millions alienated from Christianity. He explains the ancient idea of the Web - a cosmic field of energies that encompasses time, space and the hidden potentials of the human organism, and shows that this is a pagan equivalent to the eastern tradition of Tao. Our civilisation, our belief systems and attitudes indeed our psyche have been formed by Odin.;The influence of Christ, he says, has been relatively recent and shallow. Paganism, like Christianity, can be a force for good or evil. At this turning point in history we need to choose between the dark and destructive paganism that gave rise to Nazism and modern right-wing movements in American and, on he other hand, the green paganism of ecology and alternative spirituality. Every decade or so a new generation is inspired by a controversial classic of alternative history/spirituality - The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Fingerprints of the Gods... The time now is just right for Pagan Resurrection!