Definition of "Heathenry"

In Britain, Heathenry is the most common name used for an emergent religion based on the old gods, goddesses, and spirits (wights) that were part of everyday life in Northern Europe before the coming of the Christian era. Thus, Heathenry is, in some sense, a reconstructed religion. People often discover Heathenry through finding the mythology of Northern Europe and attempting to learn more about the culture and spirituality of this part of the world.

2005, Jenny Blain, “Chapter Five: Heathenry, the Past, and Sacred Sites in Today's Britain”, in Michael Strmiska, editor, Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, page 181

Comparatively, they are understanding, if not accepting, of Neo-Pagan influence; many Universalists even consider Heathenry to fall under the Neo-Pagan umbrella—a position most Folkish Heathens and Tribalists reject.

2005, Galina Krasskova, Exploring the Northern Tradition‎, page 23

Thus Paganism has come to be an umbrella term for a diverse spiritual network, which also includes modern Shamanism and Heathenry.

2007, Melissa Harrington, “Paganism and the New Age”, in Daren Kemp, James R. Lewis, editors, Handbook of New Age, page 436

I've seen several Heathenry 101 booklets and articles that made a lot of comparisons between Heathenry and Christianity. And this brings to mind the question, "Isn't Heathenry rich enough and complete enough that we can describe it without having to compare and contrast it with Christianity?"

2009, Mark Ludwig Stinson, Heathen Gods - Version 1.0‎, page 28

Heathenry is a reconstructionist religious movement whose practitioners align themselves with ancient Germanic and Norse cosmology using literary, archaeological, and historical research to reconstruct a premodern worldview as they honor gods such as Thor, Odin, and Freya. In the United States, several distinct groups emerged including Ásatrú (Norse Heathenism), Odinism (focusing on worship of Odin), Irminism (German Heathenism), Fyrnsidu (Anglo-Saxon and English Heathenism), and Theodism (Neotribal Heathenism).

2013, Jennifer Snook, “Reconsidering Heathenry: The Construction of an Ethnic Folkway as Religio-ethnic Identity”, in Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, volume 16, number 3, pages 52–53