A tension runs through Strange Rites unresolved. Sometimes, Burton, a theologian who wanted, she confesses, more, and who, judging by her other writings, is a believing Christian, seems to expect seriousness from ‘religion’. But more often than not, she appears to accept that if there is enough meaning to support ritual, community and purpose then, say, even fandom can be enough, though she misses the self-irony that comes with so much of it.

...excellent.

Strange Rites is a bracing tour through the myriad forms of bespoke spiritualism and makeshift quasireligions springing up across America: the ersatz piety and self-veneration of “wellness culture”; the startlingly earnest and deeply strange world of Harry Potter fan fiction; the newer, woker forms of sexual utopia, witchcraft and satanism that are now prevalent among the affluent young.

The title of this book is misleading as it has little, if anything, to do with sacred rites—at least not as most people envision them.

...[an] engaging if limited study. Burton’s approach mixes reportage and personal encounters to illuminate what’s happening with those looking for 'knowing, for belonging, and for meaning' in places readers might at first find unlikely.