Today marks the publication of the paperback edition of Paganism Persisting: A History of European Paganisms since Antiquity, which I co-authored with Robin C. Douglas for Exeter University Press in 2024. The book tells the story of ‘pagan revivals’ (both successful and stillborn) attempted against the background of ascendant Christianity, from late antiquity to the twentieth century; in so doing it presents a new paradigm for understanding the continued significance of paganism in European culture. Rejecting the notion of paganism’s continual resurgence as a kind of ‘survival’ of pagan groups or practices, Robin Douglas and I propose instead a model of ‘persistence’ in which the idea of polytheistic worship endured and could be revived at any time, in spite of the suppression of specific individuals and groups who attempted its revival.

The paperback edition is much more affordable than the original hardback edition and it is to be hoped it will make the book accessible to a much wider range of readers.