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Comparative Religion is deeply rooted in historical-philological
studies, but since the inception of the discipline in the late
nineteenth century, a continual development has taken place. Since
that time, the discipline has moved into many different areas of
the social, humanistic, psychological and biological sciences, and
debates on theory and method are as intense as ever. As scholars of
religion get to grips with some aspects of the phenomenon in
question, new problems arise, and new challenges must be met. At
the same time, however, the virtues of the past should not be
forgotten, and a double orientation, back and forth, becomes
necessary. Rather than pursuing a systematic discussion of how to
go about such problems, this volume celebrates the diversity and
multi-methodological approaches in comparative religion by
including empirical, as well as theoretical, approaches.The
authors, among whom are many of the world's leading scholars, have
been asked to contribute essays on the current state of comparative
religion, and thanks to their efforts the reader is offered a
pathway to exciting, but quite diverse, examples of the discipline,
from the well-known to the most recent academic frontiers.
The scholarly study of new religious movements focuses on the
contemporary period, but religious innovation is nothing new. This
Element explores a historical epoch characterized by a multitude of
emergent religious concepts and practices – the Hellenistic and
Roman periods. A precondition for the intense degree of religious
innovation during this time was a high level of cultural exchange.
Religious elements crossed porous cultural borders and were adapted
to suit new purposes. The resulting amalgams were presented in a
vast corpus of texts, largely produced by a literate elite.
Charismatic leaders played a particularly important role in
creating new religious options and were described in genres that
were infused with ideological agendas. Novel religious developments
were accepted by the Roman authorities unless suspected of
undermining the social order. The rise of one of the many new
religions of the period, Christianity, ultimately changed the
religious landscape in profound ways.
In quite a few corners of the academic world, the study of religion
has not emancipated itself entirely from religious, especially
Christian theological, perspectives and agendas. In this book a
number of prominent scholars present their ideas of how religion
should be perceived from a non-religious (secular), academic and
scientific point of view, how the studies should be undertaken and
what role, if any, the scholar of religion can or should play in
public debates. This book is primarily directed to students in
classes of theory and method and to scholars engaged in the current
debate and the emancipatory efforts. It is the hope of the editors
that the present volume can help pave the way for more critical and
more analytical studies of religion.
This volume presents a selection of papers read at the CESNUR 1997
conference in Amsterdam. The articles are divided into four
sections each with its own relevance to the study of new religions
in contemporary society; esotericism, millennialism and
eschatology, religious leaders, and, more broadly, social aspects
of the new religions. The contributors work in the fields of
sociology, sociology of religion, history of religion, anthropology
and theology, thus reflecting the well established tradition for
interdisciplinary efforts in the study of new religions. The
contributors are Judith Coney, Jean Duhaime, Robert Ellwood,
Liselotte Frisk, Massimo Introvigne, Constance A. Jones, Reender
Kranenburg, Albertina Nugteren, David Piff, Mikael Rothstein, Mark
Sedgwick, Jan A.M. Snoek, Cristine Steyn and Margit Warburg.
New religions emerge as distinct entities in the religious
landscape when innovations are introduced by a charismatic leader
or a schismatic group leaves its parent organization. New religious
movements (NRMs) often present novel doctrines and advocate
unfamiliar modes of behavior, and have therefore often been
perceived as controversial. NRMs have, however, in recent years
come to be treated in the same way as established religions, that
is, as complex cultural phenomena involving myths, rituals and
canonical texts. This Companion discusses key features of NRMs from
a systematic, comparative perspective, summarizing results of forty
years of research. The volume addresses NRMs that have caught media
attention, including movements such as Scientology, New Age, the
Neopagans, the Sai Baba movement and Jihadist movements active in a
post-9/11 context. An essential resource for students of religious
studies, the history of religion, sociology, anthropology and the
psychology of religion.
New religions emerge as distinct entities in the religious
landscape when innovations are introduced by a charismatic leader
or a schismatic group leaves its parent organization. New religious
movements (NRMs) often present novel doctrines and advocate
unfamiliar modes of behavior, and have therefore often been
perceived as controversial. NRMs have, however, in recent years
come to be treated in the same way as established religions, that
is, as complex cultural phenomena involving myths, rituals and
canonical texts. This Companion discusses key features of NRMs from
a systematic, comparative perspective, summarizing results of forty
years of research. The volume addresses NRMs that have caught media
attention, including movements such as Scientology, New Age, the
Neopagans, the Sai Baba movement and Jihadist movements active in a
post-9/11 context. An essential resource for students of religious
studies, the history of religion, sociology, anthropology and the
psychology of religion.
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