Why Reclaim Heathen in Heathen Christainity

At Chapel of the Open Hearth, we are intentionally reclaiming the word Heathen.

Historically, Heathen was a name Christians gave to those who stood outside the boundaries of Christian belonging. Over time, it also came to mean uncivilized, immoral, or dangerous.
Wrong. That’s the way I’ve heard it used.
I’ve been called a heathen for being queer, spending time with witches, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and going to punk shows.

Heathen.
Devil worshipper.
Disgrace.

I’ve heard it and so much worse, mostly from the church. Many of us have been named and shamed in the same ways.

Even after finding progressive Christian churches, much of that hurt remains. I can feel myself shutting down when I enter those spaces. I sit in the pews and squirm. The pressure to conform to respectability hits me almost as soon as I walk through the door.

I want to button my shirt.
Keep quiet.
Say nothing that might rock the boat.
Be as “normal” as possible.

All the weirdness and freeness I love about myself, and about my community, begins to wither. I know I’m not alone in this.

Heathen Christianity may sound like a contradiction between Christian and non-Christian worlds. But where those worlds bump against each other, the Christian and the Heathen, that is where we play. That is where we build bridges.

To call ourselves Heathen is to say that you do not have to become smaller, quieter, or more respectable to enter sacred community.

We celebrate the weirdness.
The queerness.
The witchiness.
You can bring your songs, your loves, your spiritual practices, and the other gods you travel with into this church, and be celebrated.

From the wild places and the heath, we are called.

Our use of Heathen is distinct from—and does not claim to represent- contemporary Germanic and Norse Heathenry. We respect those traditions and the people devoted to them. Some among us honor Odin, Thor, and other divinities.

Heathen Christianity is intentionally syncretic, bringing the Way of Jesus into relationship with the people, practices, myths, and divinities the church has denigrated. We reclaim Heathen because none of us should have to abandon what is wild, wondrous, or sacred within us to find a spiritual home.

What the church tried to suppress, we nourish and help flourish.