Jason Wills

                 Jones, P., & Pennick, N. (2009). A history of pagan Europe. Routledge.

                I choose the Book of Pagan Europe because it looked like it would cover all the Cultures of Pagan Europe and I was not disappointed. Prudence and Pennick covered the History of all the known European Pagan religions well going back all the way back to when we first had a written record. Prudence and Pennick used Extensive Sources in writing this book. From Current Scholars of Religious History to the Library of the Cambridge University Library and they cite all references at the back of the book, it will be an outstanding reference book to me in the future.

Prudence and Pennick separated the book into Chapters. Each chapter covered each culture, starting with the Gods and goddesses they worshipped, what their shrines looked like, and what sacrifices were common in those periods. A History of Pagan Europe also goes into detail how each culture would celebrate each religious holiday. Many of the cultures had a feast and games in common. The Book has quite a lot of pictures in it. Each picture varied from statues representing the Gods and goddesses, and many examples artwork from the eras. Each picture had a description of what they were and where they came from, which was quite neat to see what they had during those periods.

It is fascinating how even to this day, many of the holidays’ Christians celebrate today still have pagan roots, and we still base even our calendar on the Romans customs. Throughout the book, Christianity is a religion that was prevalent; I saw it as the religion that was forced onto the masses. Where eventually an event would happen, either a deal with another city to increase its military powers, or political. Ultimately, but not always, the culture went back to their pagan roots, this happened in almost every culture.

Many Pagans died from their Beliefs, and it seems after a while they just gave up and practiced Dual Religion, not fighting Christianity any longer. Yet many became martyrs for their beliefs. They often enforced Christianity in a city, killing thousands of non-believers of Christianity for not giving up their religion for the modern one.

The greatest strength in the book is how explains the timeline of events. How each culture expanded its religion throughout the ages. And how each culture overcame or succumb to other religions integrating with them. I also enjoyed how each chapter has stories, engaging the reader in the history of Pagan Europe. As this is my first Primer book on European Religion, I felt I learned quite a lot, and I have no negative connotations to add to what they have written. I feel the book will come in handy for future reference.