New Religious Movements

Astronism: the religion of the stars is a technical summary of the Astronist religion and philosophy that uses terminology unique to the Astronists and specialised knowledge of Astronist beliefs. It is the perfect brief introduction to Astronism for those with prior understanding of the academic disciplines of eschatology, soteriology, theology and philosophy as the Astronist view on all of these subject areas and more is provided. Astronism: the religion of the stars attempts to explain the narrative that underlies Astronist beliefs and presents a particular conception of how humans should not only lead their lives but also how we as an entire species should consider our collective future on planet Earth, and more importantly, all beyond. The untechnical summary of the Astronist religion and philosophy titled The Astronist Statement (full title: The Astronist Statement on the Situation of the Human Species) is coming soon in 2022.

The International Journal for the Study of New Religions owes a per- manent debt to Liselotte Frisk (1959–2020), who was its founding co-editor with me. Jim Lewis, then at University of Tromsø, pro- posed that a journal devoted to the study of new religions be estab- lished with a professional body attached to it. Initially Jim and Liselotte were going to be the editors, but he introduced me to Liselotte via e-mail and proposed that we work together to edit IJSNR. We divided the editor role into two distinct sets of tasks and what fol- lowed was a four-year tenure (2010–2013) that produced some excel- lent journal issues with wide-ranging content that encouraged new and emerging scholars and introduced Anglophone readers to work by Euro- pean scholars that might otherwise not have made it into an English language journal. Working together meant that we developed a friend- ship that became stronger after we met in the “real world” at CESNUR in Taiwan in 2011. That conference is for me a happy memory overlaid with great sorrow. The event was organized by Clyde Forsberg (Aletheia University) who died in February 2021, the same month my partner Donald Barrett (who in 2011 aided Liselotte with booking her flights and accommodation in Taiwan) died in hospital in Sydney.

This article distinguishes between a secular anti-cult movement and a religious counter-cult movement, and explores the changes within the counter-cult movement between the tragedies of Jonestown (1978) and Waco (1993). While at the time of Jonestown the anti-cult and the counter-cult movements could have been easily confused, religious counter-cult activists have increasingly noticed that their alliance with the secular anti-cultists could only be uneasy and superficial. Counter-cultists, in fact, challenge the relevance of the distinction between deeds and creeds which lies at the very heart of the anti-cult argument. The paper surveys the developments within the counter-cult movement in the last 15 years in four main areas. The first area concerns the definition of “cult” and the selection of the most important targets. Here, increasingly, the theological (rather than social) definition of “cult” by the counter-cult movement has emphasized the importance as targets of Mormonism a...

This research explores how marketplace dynamics affect religious authority in the context of Neopagan religion. Drawing on an interpretivist study of Wiccan practitioners in Italy, we reveal that engagement with the market may cause considerable, ongoing tensions, based on the inherent contradictions that are perceived to exist between spirituality and commercial gain. As a result, market success is a mixed blessing that can increase religious authority and influence, but is just as likely to decrease authority and credibility. Using an extended case study method, we propose a theoretical framework that depicts the links between our informants’ situated experiences and the macro-level factors affecting religious authority as it interacts with market-mediated dynamics at the global level. Overall, our study extends previous work in macromarketing that has looked at religious authority in the marketplace) and how the processes of globalization are affecting religion.

The Neo-Sannyas Movement, founded by Chandra Mohan Jain, who called himself Bhagwan from 1972 and Osho from 1989, changed its organizational structure and aesthetics twice in the course of its history.  Bhagwan/Osho was first an Indian guru, then from 1981 in the USA his appearance resembled that of a pop star. Again in India from 1985, he cultivated the image of a mystic. But Osho is still the most successful author of the "New Religious Movements" with 2000 book titles. What constitutes his identity? What are the core concepts of his message? What ensured the continuity of his movement and enabled it to become part of a larger religious-alternative scene without having to deny its origins?

This article discusses the development and the influence of tarekat in societal life of rural Javaness. Some researchers on modern tarekat in Indonesia, like Bruinessen and Howel, argued that practicing tarekat now shifts from rural to urban community, which is known as urban Sufism. The unique relation between sheikh and student gradually being left by the urban Sufism and being changed by ability in rhetoric and connecting religious teaching to modern life issues by using spiritual approaches. Based on my field experience, this argument is not totally relevant and true, especially in rural community of Javaness. Tarekat is not influenced by the development of modern communication and telecommunication. Tarekat remains as inseparable part of rural religious social life. This research was conducted in January 2012 in a remote village of Pekalongan, Central Java. While I took part in various activities of the Tarekat Shiddiqiah members, I interviewed some of the members. By doing thi...

The official shutting down of the Eleusinian mysteries around 400 CE after a millennium of worship did not bring an end to Eleusis or the mysteria. What began as a ritual in honor of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone ramified over deep time and across geographical expanses into a variety of discourses that have shaped the concept of mystery as we know it today. This includes the incorporation of the term into Christian theology, Gnosticism, and secret societies whose lore sometimes connected them with a “golden thread” of esoteric wisdom extending back to Eleusis. Beyond religion, mystery has been sexualized to sell romance, exoticized to promote the exploration of strange places, and cosmologized in narratives about the enigmas of the universe. What about these associations is related to ancient meanings that grew out of the Eleusinian cult? Why has mystery continued, long after the suppression of the mysteria, to pique our imagination and resist domestication?

While scholarship on the ancient mysteria abounds, none of it has tackled such questions from the perspectives opened by translation studies. Particularly relevant is the recent turn toward cultural translation, which explores how ideology, modes of production, the currency of cliques and trends, and tensions between the local and the global affect intra- and interlingual exchange. This paper seeks to advance the discussion of mystery and the mysteria within such a theoretical frame by juxtaposing two historical moments: 1) the ancient intralingual translation of mysteria-vocabulary in Greek into philosophy, particularly in Plato, and 2) the contemporary interlingual translation of this vocabulary into the discourses of new religious movements and cognitive neuroscience, which has begun exploring the phenomenology of extraordinary spiritual encounters through brain mapping.

Linking these two recent discursive fields is what some have called the “archaic revival” in our time, which has been marked by a return to festival and ritualized forms of liminality. Here Eleusis has helped structure a set of loosely connected tropes in the cultural imaginary that combine postmodern forms of expression with a reverence for the pagan past. It has also functioned as a conduit for the return of initiation as a vital dimension of mystery—one that modern subjects are attempting to recreate in alternative culture heterotopias and that science is studying because of the light it casts on altered states of consciousness and transformational experience. This invites a closer look at the relationship between initiation and secrecy, the two main vectors of the Eleusinian mysteria.

The official shutting down of the Eleusinian mysteries around 400 CE after a millennium of worship did not bring an end to Eleusis or the mysteria. What began as a ritual in honor of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone ramified over deep time and across geographical expanses into a variety of discourses that have shaped the concept of mystery as we know it today. This includes the incorporation of the term into Christian theology, Gnosticism, and secret societies whose lore sometimes connected them with a “golden thread” of esoteric wisdom extending back to Eleusis. Beyond religion, mystery has been sexualized to sell romance, exoticized to promote the exploration of strange places, and cosmologized in narratives about the enigmas of the universe. What about these associations is related to ancient meanings that grew out of the Eleusinian cult? Why has mystery continued, long after the suppression of the mysteria, to pique our imagination and resist domestication?

While scholarship on the ancient mysteria abounds, none of it has tackled such questions from the perspectives opened by translation studies. Particularly relevant is the recent turn toward cultural translation, which explores how ideology, modes of production, the currency of cliques and trends, and tensions between the local and the global affect intra- and interlingual exchange. This paper seeks to advance the discussion of mystery and the mysteria within such a theoretical frame by juxtaposing two historical moments: 1) the ancient intralingual translation of mysteria-vocabulary in Greek into philosophy, particularly in Plato, and 2) the contemporary interlingual translation of this vocabulary into the discourses of new religious movements and cognitive neuroscience, which has begun exploring the phenomenology of extraordinary spiritual encounters through brain mapping.

Linking these two recent discursive fields is what some have called the “archaic revival” in our time, which has been marked by a return to festival and ritualized forms of liminality. Here Eleusis has helped structure a set of loosely connected tropes in the cultural imaginary that combine postmodern forms of expression with a reverence for the pagan past. It has also functioned as a conduit for the return of initiation as a vital dimension of mystery—one that modern subjects are attempting to recreate in alternative culture heterotopias and that science is studying because of the light it casts on altered states of consciousness and transformational experience. This invites a closer look at the relationship between initiation and secrecy, the two main vectors of the Eleusinian mysteria.

Japon Yeni Dini Hareketleri (YDH’leri) alanındaki konumu açısından önemli bir değere sahiptir. Bu önemin bir kısmını tarihi-kültürel özelliklerinden alan Japon dini hareketleri, diğer kısmını da dünya akademisindeki yeni ilgisinden almaktadır. Bu anlamda onlar, Batı’daki örneklerinden daha önce ortaya çıkan, halk inançlarına önem veren, eklektik senkretizmi benimseyen, üyelik sisteminde daha rahat bir yapıya sahip olan ve maneviyata önem veren hareketlerdir. Japon YDH’leri Japonya Tarihi’nde Geç Edo Dönemi (1800-1868), Meiji Dönemi (1868-1912), Taishō Dönemi (1912-1927), Shōwa Dönemi (1927-1945) ve Modern Dönem’deki (1945-) sosyoekonomik, sosyopolitik ve sosyodini gelişmelerinin izlerini taşımaktadır. Araştırmayla Japon YDH’leri geniş bir bakış açısından ele alıp tasvir ederek alana katkı sağlamak amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmamız “Ortaya Çıkış Nedenleri”, “Tarihi” ve “Karakteristik Özellikleri” olmak üzere üç ana bölümden oluşmaktadır. Makalenin Japon YDH’lerine olan akademik ilginin artışına ve yeni araştırmalara fayda sağlaması beklenmektedir.

R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint's supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the US. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HY3LMVS/ref=cm_sw_s_fa_dp_KJ2B43FQ82C8BECFE45F#_=_

On September 29 and 30, 1941 thousands of Jewish victims were murdered at the Babyn Yar ravine by the Nazis, throughout the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. The estimated number of victims murdered at Babyn Yar is around 100,000: this is Europe's largest mass grave.The articledelvesinto the reasons for oblivion.