New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion

MaryCatherine Burgess completed her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, where she currently works as the Associate Chaplain. She has extensive training and experience in human relations, change management, shamanic practice, psychodrama and sociometry, retreat facilitation, mental health practice, and Celtic studies.

‘In A New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion MaryCatherine Burgess integrates her closely observed fieldwork on contemporary Scottish shamanic practice into an interpretative framework that draws upon the sociological theories of religion as mémoire developed by Maurice Halbwachs and Danièle Hervieu-Léger. Dr Burgess draws upon a wide range of relevant sources and argues that as a form of spirituality 'core shamanism' has an increasingly important role in developing awareness and practices that contribute to a global 'common good' in an era of acute crisis, both human and ecological.' Professor Richard H. Roberts, Lancaster University, UK

• 1. Religion, Spirituality and Contemporary Shamanic Practice in Scotland - Exploring the Relationships; 2. The Impacts of Transformational Cultural Change on Religion and Spirituality; 3. Seeking a New Definition of Religion; 4. What is Shamanism?; 5. A Case Study of Three Shamanic Practice Groups in Scotland; 6. Exploring Connections Between Cross-Cultural Shamanic Elements and Neo-Shamanic Expressions in Scotland: Interviews, Participant Observation, and Analysis; 7. Applying Hervieu-Leger's Analytical Model of Religion to Reveal a Lineage of Spirituality, not Belief, in the Shamanic Chain of Memory; 8. Patterns, Conclusions, and Resulting Issues; 9. Seeing Differently - A New Paradigm of Spirituality and Religion; Bibliography.