Christopher Gérard

Christopher Gérard (born 7 July 1962) is a Belgian novelist, publisher and literary critic. He is known as a promoter of modern Paganism, drawing much inspiration from Hinduism, and published the journal Antaios from 1992 to 2001. He has written novels and non-fiction books where paganism and the city of Brussels are recurring elements.

Early life and education Christopher Gérard was born to an Irish mother and a Belgian father. At age twelve, he was the youngest member of a team of archeologists who searched a Merovingian necropolis in the Ardennes. He studied classical philology at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He became a language teacher by profession.

Pagan revivalism An important influence on Gérard's religious outlook has been Ram Swarup, a Hindu proponent of a pagan revival in Europe. After developing a correspondence, the two met during Gérard's first visit to India, when Swarup functioned as an introductor of Indian society.

Gérard is critical of the modern pagans who enforce Christian demonization by embracing phenomena such as Satanism and witchcraft. According to Gérard, these practitioners are predominantly American, and he has described their purported connection to pagan religiosity as "a historical hallucination". The political scientist Stéphane François used Gérard's Parcours païen (2000) and Alain de Benoist's On Being a Pagan (1981) as the two principal books in focus in his 2008 study on the neopagan currents within the Nouvelle Droite.

Publishing and writing career In 1992, Gérard created and became the editor of the journal Antaios, intended as a continuation of the magazine of the same name which Mircea Eliade and Ernst Jünger edited from 1959 to 1971. The new Antaios existed until 2001 and became the publication of the Société d'Etudes Polythéistes , founded in 1998. He lays out his approach to faith and ethics in the books Parcours païen and La Source pérenne, and has written several novels which reflect his religious views. Porte Louise (2010) and Vogelsang ou la Mélancolie du vampire (2012) are novels set in Brussels, the first a murder mystery and the second a vampire story. Le Prince d'Aquitaine (2018), a personal novel about a destructive father, received the special Grand Prix of the magazine L'Incorrect.

Awardas

2003: E. Martin Prize from the A.E.B. for Le Songe d'Empédocle. 2009: Félix Denayer Prize from the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature for Aux Armes de Bruxelles. 2012: Indications Prize for the best novel, for Vogelsang ou la mélancolie du vampire. 2018: Special Grand Prize from L'Incorrect for Le Prince d'Aquitaine.