Contemporary Paganism, or Neopaganism, is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe. Although they do share commonalities, contemporary Pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, and there is no set of beliefs, practices or religious texts shared by all of them.

Contemporary Paganism has been characterized as "a synthesis of historical inspiration and present-day creativity", in this manner drawing influences from pre-Christian, folkloric and ethnographic sources in order to fashion new religious movements. The extent to which contemporary Pagans use these sources differs; many follow a spirituality which they accept is entirely modern, whilst others attempt to reconstruct or revive indigenous, ethnic religions as found in historical and folkloric sources as accurately as possible.

Neopagan movements emerged in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, influenced by the wider occult movement; these included Thelema, Wicca and Adonism. With the rise of the counterculture during the 1960s, Paganism continued to adapt and spread, particularly throughout the U.S., where radical new approaches emerged that dealt with contemporary social issues and interests, such as Neoshamanism, the Goddess movement and the Radical Faeries. At the same time, some ethnic nationalist groups began to adopt pagan religions during the 20th century, leading to the rise of forms of Heathenry and Slavic neopaganism, which were centered primarily in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Today, there are active Pagan groups in the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and other parts of the world.

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart (b. Timothy Zell, November 30, 1942, in St. Louis, Missouri, also formerly known as Otter G'Zell) is a co-founder of the Church of All Worlds, as well as a writer and speaker on the subject of Neopaganism. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in 1965. In 1967, he received a Doctor of Divinity from Life Science College in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, then a teaching certificate from Harris Teacher's College in St. Louis in 1968. He also attended graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

In an interview with Natalie Zaman in 2008, Zell described himself as a "Wizard". Distinguishing his practice from the wizards of fiction, Zell added a "k" to his spelling of "magick", and claimed that his interest therein began at an early age with the reading of Greek myths and fairy tales. As a child, Zell had visions, which his mother told him were derived from the life of his grandfather.

An early advocate of deep ecology, Zell-Ravenheart articulated the Gaia Thesis (preferred spelling Gæa or Gaea) in 1970, independently of Dr. James Lovelock, who is usually credited therewith. Along with his wife Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart and the other members of his group marriage, he has been influential in the modern polyamory movement.

Irving Hexham (April 14, 1943) is a Canadian academic and writer who has published twenty-three books and numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews in respected academic journals. Currently, he is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, married to Dr. Karla Poewe who is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Calgary, and the father of two children, Jeremy and Janet. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship.

Hexham was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. After leaving school at the age of fifteen he spent six years (1958–1964) as an apprentice gas fitter with the North Western Gas Board, and obtained his City and Guilds and advanced diplomas in Gas Technology. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was offered a management position with the Gas Board. During his industrial career he also served as a union representative.

Hexham qualified for university matriculation by correspondence study and entered the University of Lancaster in 1967 where he majored in Religious Studies with minors in History and Philosophy. He graduated with a B.A.(Hons) in 1970. He then proceeded to post-graduate studies, obtaining his M.A. "with commendation" in religious studies and theology from the Bristol University in 1972. His M.A. was based on anthropological methods and theories and involved a short dissertation on Glastonbury. He obtained a Ph.D. in History from the University of Bristol in 1975. His Ph.D. thesis was on Afrikaner Calvinism and the origins of apartheid as an ideology. In the course of his studies he lived in the Republic of South Africa and studied the languages of German and Afrikaans. His M.A. supervisor was F.B. Welbourn; his Ph.D. supervisor was Kenneth Ingham. When he was in South Africa Elaine Botha at Potchefstroom University was appointed his local supervisor by the University of Bristol.

William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist. He is known for his work in the philosophy of religion, philosophy of time, and the defense of Christian theism. One of his most notable contributions to the philosophy of religion is his defense of the Kalām cosmological argument, which is the most widely discussed argument for the existence of God in contemporary Western philosophy. In theology, he has also defended Molinism and the belief that God is, since Creation, subject to time.

Craig has authored or edited over 30 books, including The Kalām Cosmological Argument (1979), The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz (1980), Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (with Quentin Smith, 1993), Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (with J.P. Moreland, 2003) and Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics (3d edition, 2008).

Craig received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1971 and two summa cum laude master's degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, in 1975, in philosophy of religion and ecclesiastical history. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy under John Hick at the University of Birmingham, England in 1977 and a Th.D. under Wolfhart Pannenberg at the University of Munich in 1984.

William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was a journalist, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian.

Lane was born in Bristol, England, eldest son of James Lane, from Ireland a Protestant Master Gardener, and his English wife Caroline, née Hall. When Lane was born his father was earning a miserable wage, but later his circumstances improved and he became an employer. The boy was educated at Bristol Grammar School and showed ability, but he was sent early to work as an office boy. Lane's mother died when he was 14 years of age, and at age 16 he migrated to Canada, then to the United States, where he worked first as a printer, then as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press (1881), there meeting his future wife Ann MacGuire. In 1885 they migrated to Brisbane, Australia, where Lane immediately got work as a feature writer for the weekly newspaper Queensland Figaro, then as a columnist for the newspapers Brisbane Courier and Evening Telegraph, using a number of pseudonyms ("Lucinda Sharpe", which some consider to be the work of Annie Lane, William Wilcher and "Sketcher").