Paranormal America

This chapter from Paranormal America is dedicated to discussing what the paranormal is and how to define it. The authors begin the chapter by explaining the difficulty in naming the phenomenon of the paranormal. The list is seemingly endless and diverse, which includes the words such as: “supernatural,” “metaphysics,” “pseudoscience,” and “New Age” (Bader, Mencken, and Baker, pg. 20). The definitions of these words are not concrete and are often used interchangeably. People would make the argument that they are not the same, particularly the term “New Age.” New Age is more often meant to refer to a certain movement and it is not meant to be the label for all things paranormal (Bader, Mencken, and Baker, pg. 20). The authors did not want to use the term “New Age” because it is a movement and it implies that interest in paranormal phenomenon is new, which they assure the reader it is not (Bader, Mencken, and Baker, pg. 20). The authors explain that belief in anything paranormal has persisted through time, which connects to the idea that this subject is not “new. They discuss this with the example about Germanus which was documented in 488 CE (Bader, Mencken, and Baker, pg.23). With the confusion surrounding the labeling of …show more content…
If it has been accepted by the science community, it can be found in the appropriate science section. In the case it is not scientifically proven, but is associated with a mainstream religion, it would be found under the heading of religion. The authors denote this type of phenomena as religious. If the practices and experiences are not proved by science and are not associated with a major religion, it would be in the fiction or New Age section of a bookstore. This is called paranormal phenomena (Bader, Mencken, and Baker, pg. 23-24). This distinction is made by the believers themselves according to the