Category Archives: communications-pages

Coming to the Center

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Coming to the Center is your chance to listen and learn, as well as ask questions of contemporary figures in the community.

Each semester Executive Director, Holli Emore, hosts a live interview with thought leaders, scholars, & experts in Pagan spirituality. Each 60-minute session will be held on Zoom; a good internet connection and the latest version of Zoom is recommended.

Free and open to all, you don’t have to be a student to participate, but you may want to become one after attending!

Love what we do? Contributions to support the series are always welcome. Use the Donation box on the left (desktop) or the Give Now link to support Cherry Hill Seminary programs.

Upcoming Interviews

We’ll return in the next semester. Watch this space for an announcement. Meanwhile, scroll down to enjoy some of our previous interviews.

Previous Interviews

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Rev. Andras Corban Arthen

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Rev. Andras Corban Arthen,  founder and spiritual director of the EarthSpirit Community, Parliament of the World’s Religion longtime former board member, he was chosen to represent the pagan traditions at the United Nations Interfaith Conference on Religion and Prejudice in 1991, and sits on the advisory board of the Ecospirituality Foundation, a United Nations Consultative NGO based in Torino, Italy.

Discontents Revisited Web Panel

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Cherry Hill Seminary and the Univ. of S.C. Institute for Anthropology and Archaeology present on Sunday, December 13 at 2:00 PM Eastern (US) Time:

An online panel with Michael Strmiska, Diana Paxson, Gus DiZerega, Jon Leader and other Paganism and Its Discontents contributors, as well as Ethan Stark of Heathens Against Hate, as they revisit the rise in white nationalism and appropriation of Heathen symbols since the March 2019 symposium.

Contemporary Heathenry has held an attraction for proponents of white nationalism, many of whom claim the religious tradition as their own, to the dismay of inclusive Heathens. Since the March 2019 symposium Paganism & Its Discontents held by Cherry Hill Seminary and the University of South Carolina Institute for Anthropology and Archaeology racism has become more overt, with alarming increases in racist and anti-semitic hate speech, vandalism and outright violence. The publication of papers from the symposium has sparked renewed discussion about how to use our scholarship to inform strategies for reducing the threat and achieving more harmonious communities. There is no cost to attend, but guests must register to receive a link for the panel.

Classroom Conduct Policy

Instruction at CHS is conducted for the common good, with the aim of facilitating learning. Disruptive and/or abusive conduct inside a class can stifle the candid scholarly discourse required for exploration of divergent views, preventing all in the class from obtaining a meaningful learning experience . . . Prohibited conduct includes:

  • The disruption, obstruction or unauthorized interruption of class sessions, conferences, meetings, or any other institution.
  • Physical abuse, verbal abuse, intimidation, coercion, ad hominem insults, and threats.
  • Argument that goes beyond the scope of the topic under discussion after having been warned by the instructor.

The host of this online panel will mute, or if necessary, remove anyone who will not maintain these standards.

Cherry Hill Seminary Announces Release of “Paganism and Its Discontents: Enduring Problems of Racialized Identity”

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Columbia, S.C. — Cherry Hill Seminary announces the release of “Paganism and Its Discontents: Enduring Problems of Racialized Identity”, a volume containing papers presented at a 2019 symposium by the same name, plus a preface by sociologist Helen S. Berger. The symposium was a joint effort of Cherry Hill Seminary and the University of South Carolina Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology (SCIAA). The symposium was the first academic conference to address the specific issue of racialized identity theology in some contemporary Pagan religious traditions.

Proponents of racist interpretations of pre-Christian Norse-Germanic spiritualities have claimed to be preserving “heritage”, while others belonging to the contemporary Heathen movements have moved to distance themselves from “volkish” thinking. Long-simmering just beneath the surface of American Paganism, racialized Heathenry was on full display in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Tragically and ironically, news of the Christchurch, New Zealand shooting reached symposium attendees as they arrived for the opening session.

“Paganism and Its Discontents” is edited by Holli S. Emore and Jonathan M. Leader. Contributors include Michael F. Strmiska (keynote address for symposium); Jefferson F. Calico; Ben Waggoner; Diana L. Paxson (guest speaker for the symposium); Gus diZerega; Tahni J. Nikitins; Holli S. Emore; and Stephan Grundy.

“Symposium papers are presented not just for the purpose of scholarship, although they will add considerably in that regard,” states Seminary director Holli Emore. “But they are also shared in the hope that better knowledge of the ideas underlying white supremacy presenting as a religion will begin to turn back the ugly tide of rising hate and violence.” Co-editor Jonathan Leader, SCIAA director and S.C. State Archaeologist, noted that, “The book is the direct result of individuals who were engaged with the communities of concern. The information they provide is not simply from an academic standpoint but represents the communities themselves.”

Currently available in hardback from Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

For more information, contact Tracie Mooneyham, Marketing Coordinator at tmooneyham@cherryhillseminary.org.