Paganism

===Modern history===
====Early Modern Renaissance====
Interest in pagan traditions was first revived during the [[Renaissance]], when [[Renaissance magic]] was practiced as a revival of [[Greco-Roman magic]]. In the 17th century, the description of paganism turned from a theological aspect to an [[ethnology|ethnological]] one, and religions began to be understood as part of the [[ethnic]] identities of peoples, and the study of the religions of so-called primitive peoples triggered questions as to the ultimate historical [[origin of religion]]. [[Jean Bodin]] viewed pagan mythology as a distorted version of Christian truths.<ref name="Franklin 2017 p. 413">{{cite book | last=Franklin | first=J.H. | title=Jean Bodin | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-351-56179-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA413 | access-date=2023-01-24 | page=413}}</ref> [[Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc]] saw the pagan [[religions of Africa]] of his day as relics that were in principle capable of shedding light on the historical paganism of Classical Antiquity.<ref>"It would be a great pleasure to make the comparison with what survives to us of ancient {{sic|hide=y|reason=Miller used lower case; verified with online copy found in search results.|paganism}} in our old books, in order to have better [grasped] their spirit." Peter N. Miller, "History of Religion Becomes Ethnology: Some Evidence from Peiresc's Africa" ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 67.4 (2006) 675–96.[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_ideas/v067/67.4miller.html]</ref>

====Late Modern Romanticism====
{{rquote|right|Great God! I'd rather be<br>A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;<br>So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,<br>Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;<br>Have sight of [[Proteus]] rising from the sea;<br>Or hear old [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] blow his wreathèd horn.|[[William Wordsworth]], "[[The World Is Too Much with Us]]", lines 9–14}}

Paganism resurfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th-century [[Romanticism]], in particular in the context of the literary [[Celtic Revival|Celtic]], [[Slavic reconstructionism|Slavic]] and [[Viking Revival|Viking]] revivals, which portrayed historical [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic]], [[Slavic paganism|Slavic]] and [[Germanic polytheism|Germanic]] polytheists as [[noble savage]]s.

The 19th century also saw much scholarly interest in the reconstruction of pagan mythology from folklore or fairy tales. This was notably attempted by the [[Brothers Grimm]], especially [[Jacob Grimm]] in his ''Teutonic Mythology'', and [[Elias Lönnrot]] with the compilation of the ''[[Kalevala]]''. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian [[Alexander Afanasyev]], the Norwegians [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen]] and [[Jørgen Moe]], and the Englishman [[Joseph Jacobs]].<ref>Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p. 846, {{ISBN|0-393-97636-X}}</ref>

Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity coincided with the rise of [[Romantic nationalism]] and the rise of the [[nation state]] in the context of the [[1848 revolutions]], leading to the creation of ''[[national epic]]s'' and [[national myth]]s for the various newly formed states. Pagan or folkloric topics were also common in the [[musical nationalism]] of the period.