English historian,
Ronald Hutton, has been critical of the antiquity of Nature Worship since at least 1998 until the present. He has argued that the gods of Ancient Mediterranean were not Nature Deities of any sort; rather, they were gods of "civilization and human activity," meanwhile the "Earth-Mother goddesses" are characterized by him as mere literary figures as opposed to deities, because he believes they lack any temples dedicated to them or a priesthood to serve them. He strongly juxtaposes this view by differentiating ancient pagans from Neopagans and Wiccans who profess to be nature worshippers as an essential component of their faith, which he believes is unlike any other in recorded history.[13] Despite having been charged by New Zealand Wiccan, Ben Whitmore, with having disenfranchised those
Neopagans "who feel kinship and connection" with the gods and pagans of the Ancient World,[14] Prof. Hutton has reprised these views, virtually verbatim, in the second edition of his book, Triumph of the Moon.[15]
^Hutton, Ronald. "The Discovery of the Modern Goddess." Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World. Eds. Joanne Pearson, Richard H. Roberts and Geoffrey Samuel. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998: p.89.
^ Whitmore, Ben. Trials of the Moon: Reopening the Case for Historical Witchcraft. Aukland: Briar Books, 2010: p. 2-3.
^Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019: p. 33.