The Rise of Charismatic Heathenism: Power and Popular Culture in Contemporary Norse-Oriented Religion

Heathenism has changed. In the 2010s, the global popular culture market saw a surge in the production and consumption of Viking-themed and Norse-inspired media products, with music, movies, television series, and video games shaping public perception of Vikings, Norse mythology, and its often-presumed links to contemporary Heathenism. In this book, scholar of religion Jane Haug Skjoldli, Ph.D., traces and analyzes self-identifying Heathens' experiences of entering their religion, their encounters with deities they hold dear, their experiences with Norse-inspired music, movies, television series, and video games--and the roles such media products play in their religious conversion and practice. Using her innovative religious interaction framework to analyze Heathens' visual and aural practices, Skjoldli demonstrates how the influx of Norse-inspired media products--particularly music--give rise to charismatic authority as Heathens mix their religion to remix their reality. Offering an original way of critically studying Heathenism that challenges conventional wisdom in Pagan Studies, and to analyze links between aesthetics, media technology, and power dynamics within religious groups, this book is a must for scholars and students interested in the complex relationships between religion and popular culture.