{"title":"Editor’s introduction","authors":"Bernadette Rigal-Cellard","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.26002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.26002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135215290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Slavic Gods and Heroes by Judith Kalik and Alexander Uchitel","authors":"C. Cusack","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25964","url":null,"abstract":"Slavic Gods and Heroes by Judith Kalik and Alexander Uchitel. Routledge, 2019. 198pp., Hb. US$136.00, ISBN-13: 9781138493193; Pb. US$52.95, ISBN-13: 9780367588649; eBook, US$52.95, 9781351028707.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43213708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the context of modern secularization, Legendism can be defined as a cultural form adjacent to traditional religion, taking supernatural narratives seriously but not devoting faith or authority to them. Design teams in South Korea have been creating massively multiplayer online games inspired significantly by the folk religion of their country, but well-integrated into the cultural diversity of their worldwide audience. Extensive description of the first case provides a conceptual grounding for the others, based on both qualitative ethnography and quantitative collection of statistics. With that introduction, the diversity of games is demonstrated through brief consideration of five others. Deeper explorations of two currently very popular theocratic virtual worlds affirm the continuing significance of Korean integration into legendary global culture. Primary themes include the relationship between magic and religion, the personal characteristics attributed to avatars and deities, and the cultural dynamics of globalization.
{"title":"Global Revival of Legendism","authors":"W. Bainbridge","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25716","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of modern secularization, Legendism can be defined as a cultural form adjacent to traditional religion, taking supernatural narratives seriously but not devoting faith or authority to them. Design teams in South Korea have been creating massively multiplayer online games inspired significantly by the folk religion of their country, but well-integrated into the cultural diversity of their worldwide audience. Extensive description of the first case provides a conceptual grounding for the others, based on both qualitative ethnography and quantitative collection of statistics. With that introduction, the diversity of games is demonstrated through brief consideration of five others. Deeper explorations of two currently very popular theocratic virtual worlds affirm the continuing significance of Korean integration into legendary global culture. Primary themes include the relationship between magic and religion, the personal characteristics attributed to avatars and deities, and the cultural dynamics of globalization.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49426949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A new religion was founded in 2013 that goes by the name of Astronism while its community of followers are known as Astronists. This article gives a rigorous account of the eschatology, soteriology and worldview of this new space religion while contextualizing its emergence as part of a broader Astronic religious tradition. This proposed tradition may itself possess prehistoric roots in the Upper Palaeolithic in the earliest human observations of the night sky. Human beings in turn came to establish a relationship with celestial phenomena, one of both spiritual and secular utility that has since produced systems of astrotheism and astrology. In the contemporary, the projection of the Astronist theory of history onto the Astronic tradition has meant that Astronism’s salvific doctrine of transcension is established as a grand narrative and universal ethic that unites the Astronic tradition. In essence, this article considers how Astronism, as a new religious movement, is working to revive astronomical religion, albeit in ways relevant in an age of space exploration and appropriate to modern scientific knowledge about humanity’s true place in the universe.
{"title":"Astronism and the Astronic Religious Tradition","authors":"Cometan, Michael York","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25395","url":null,"abstract":"A new religion was founded in 2013 that goes by the name of Astronism while its community of followers are known as Astronists. This article gives a rigorous account of the eschatology, soteriology and worldview of this new space religion while contextualizing its emergence as part of a broader Astronic religious tradition. This proposed tradition may itself possess prehistoric roots in the Upper Palaeolithic in the earliest human observations of the night sky. Human beings in turn came to establish a relationship with celestial phenomena, one of both spiritual and secular utility that has since produced systems of astrotheism and astrology. In the contemporary, the projection of the Astronist theory of history onto the Astronic tradition has meant that Astronism’s salvific doctrine of transcension is established as a grand narrative and universal ethic that unites the Astronic tradition. In essence, this article considers how Astronism, as a new religious movement, is working to revive astronomical religion, albeit in ways relevant in an age of space exploration and appropriate to modern scientific knowledge about humanity’s true place in the universe.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45419594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents an interview study of self-dissolution experiences induced by entheogenic or psychedelic drugs, with the aim of broadening our understanding of the nature and characteristics of such experiences. Respondents (N=37) were recruited at various online fora for individual interviews via private messaging. They reported a wide variety of experiences that involved some form of self-dissolution, ranging from the disruption of self-related illusions to experiences of bodilessness and total immersion in another reality. Several interviewees also reported a temporary transformation of their identity, where they went from seeing themselves as a separate individual to an experience of oneness with all of humanity or with a transcendent force. There were also reports of telepathic contact between friends or partners who used entheogens together, and in their most intense form, these experiences involved what was described as a mind blending where one’s usual sense of selfhood dissolved into the telepathic unity.
{"title":"How to Disappear Completely","authors":"P. Johnstad","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25490","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents an interview study of self-dissolution experiences induced by entheogenic or psychedelic drugs, with the aim of broadening our understanding of the nature and characteristics of such experiences. Respondents (N=37) were recruited at various online fora for individual interviews via private messaging. They reported a wide variety of experiences that involved some form of self-dissolution, ranging from the disruption of self-related illusions to experiences of bodilessness and total immersion in another reality. Several interviewees also reported a temporary transformation of their identity, where they went from seeing themselves as a separate individual to an experience of oneness with all of humanity or with a transcendent force. There were also reports of telepathic contact between friends or partners who used entheogens together, and in their most intense form, these experiences involved what was described as a mind blending where one’s usual sense of selfhood dissolved into the telepathic unity.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44244062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Jehovah’s Witnesses: A New Introduction, by George D. Chryssides","authors":"Z. Knox","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.23266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.23266","url":null,"abstract":"Jehovah’s Witnesses: A New Introduction, by George D. Chryssides. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. Pb. 208pp. £21.99. ISBN-13: 9781350190894.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44555166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article seeks to expand our view of the New Testament’s Jesus by tentatively comparing him to present day sect leaders. With reference to ancient Christian writings, the article shows how the texts’ Jesus seems to share a significant number of traits with his modern peers, and that he is best understood in that context. It is thus—time and place taken into consideration—suggested that the historical Jesus was forged in sociocultural processes rather similar to those that form present day sect leaders, but also that his presumed mindset reflects that of a typical sect leader. In order to show one particular benefit from this comparative exercise, it is suggested that Scientology’s founder and leader, L. Ron Hubbard, is reaching his post–mortem apotheosis in ways similar to those detectable in the ancient case of Jesus. Finally, it is suggested that the characteristics of Jesus the godhead, developed from the characteristics of Jesus the sect leader.
这篇文章试图通过试探性地将新约中的耶稣与当今的教派领袖进行比较，来扩展我们对他的看法。参考古代基督教著作，这篇文章展示了文本中的耶稣似乎与他的现代同伴有很多共同的特征，并且在那个背景下他是最好的理解。因此，考虑到时间和地点，这表明历史上的耶稣是在社会文化过程中形成的，与形成当今教派领袖的过程非常相似，但他假定的心态也反映了典型教派领袖的心态。为了展示这种比较练习的一个特别好处，有人认为，山达基的创始人和领袖l·罗恩·哈伯德(L. Ron Hubbard)正在以与古代耶稣类似的方式达到他的死后神化。最后，认为耶稣的神性特征是由耶稣的教派领袖特征发展而来的。
{"title":"Jesus the Sect Leader in Comparative Perspective","authors":"M. Rothstein","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.20216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.20216","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to expand our view of the New Testament’s Jesus by tentatively comparing him to present day sect leaders. With reference to ancient Christian writings, the article shows how the texts’ Jesus seems to share a significant number of traits with his modern peers, and that he is best understood in that context. It is thus—time and place taken into consideration—suggested that the historical Jesus was forged in sociocultural processes rather similar to those that form present day sect leaders, but also that his presumed mindset reflects that of a typical sect leader. In order to show one particular benefit from this comparative exercise, it is suggested that Scientology’s founder and leader, L. Ron Hubbard, is reaching his post–mortem apotheosis in ways similar to those detectable in the ancient case of Jesus. Finally, it is suggested that the characteristics of Jesus the godhead, developed from the characteristics of Jesus the sect leader.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44584349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the United States and elsewhere, Zen (Chan) has often been positioned as coupled to, if not synonymous with, Japanese and other martial arts. This essay is a critical exploration of the Buddhist concepts of emptiness and no-self as they relate to Zen and martial arts, drawing upon Lila Abu-Lughod’s “ethnographies of the particular” to articulate the author’s own experience as a Jujutsu instructor and Buddhist practitioner. It offers several modes of understanding the ways in which Zen and the martial arts may be simultaneously incompatible with and reaffirming of one another, concluding with a re-envisioning of how the two diverse traditions may be woven together to benefit self and others in what the essay calls “active compassion.”
{"title":"Active Compassion","authors":"Som Pourfarzaneh","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25848","url":null,"abstract":"In the United States and elsewhere, Zen (Chan) has often been positioned as coupled to, if not synonymous with, Japanese and other martial arts. This essay is a critical exploration of the Buddhist concepts of emptiness and no-self as they relate to Zen and martial arts, drawing upon Lila Abu-Lughod’s “ethnographies of the particular” to articulate the author’s own experience as a Jujutsu instructor and Buddhist practitioner. It offers several modes of understanding the ways in which Zen and the martial arts may be simultaneously incompatible with and reaffirming of one another, concluding with a re-envisioning of how the two diverse traditions may be woven together to benefit self and others in what the essay calls “active compassion.”","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47503267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Religion of Falun Gong, by Benjamin Penny, University of Chicago Press, 2012. 272pp. Hb. US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655017; PDF US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655024; ePub US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655024.
{"title":"The Religion of Falun Gong, by Benjamin Penny","authors":"C. Cusack","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.26004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.26004","url":null,"abstract":"The Religion of Falun Gong, by Benjamin Penny, University of Chicago Press, 2012. 272pp. Hb. US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655017; PDF US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655024; ePub US$62.00, ISBN-13: 9780226655024.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44636775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article offers a brief introduction to the institutional history of the Church of Scientology in France (1959–present) before turning attention to the current state of Scientology in relation to state-sponsored anti-cultism and laïcité. In France, groups regarded as “sectes” (cults) are monitored by the French government’s MIVILUDES (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Cultic Deviances). As of late 2022, MIVILUDES is overseen within the French government by Sonia Backès, Secretary of State (Deputy Minister) for Citizenship. Backès, a former Scientologist, was raised in the Church of Scientology, completed Scientology courses, and attended a “Study Tech” school that made use of the educational methods of L. Ron Hubbard, among other aspects of participation, before ceasing activity in the group as a teenager. Backès has become a vocal opponent of Scientology, claiming she escaped from the group in an exit narrative that is disputed by family members. Backès’s apparent transformation from an “ordinary leave-taker,” “defector,” or “invisible former member” to a highly vocal “apostate” serves as a case study of a new expression of Scientology ex-member identity that is not well examined in the NRM literature on apostasy and disaffiliation—that of a second-generation (former) member in a position of political power. In a country like France, this form of political power can be operationalized and weaponized against new or minority religions such as Scientology, all with the backing of the state.
这篇文章简要介绍了法国山达基教会的制度历史(1959年至今)，然后将注意力转向与国家支持的反邪教和laïcité有关的山达基的现状。在法国，被视为“教派”(邪教)的团体由法国政府的MIVILUDES (Mission interministeracrielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les ddamrives secres，警惕和打击邪教越轨行为部际特派团)监督。截至2022年底，MIVILUDES在法国政府内部由公民事务国务秘书(副部长)索尼娅·巴克斯特(Sonia back)监管。back曾是一名山达基教徒，在山达基教会长大，完成了山达基课程，并参加了一所“学习技术”学校，该学校采用了L.罗恩贺伯特的教育方法，在其他方面也参与其中，直到十几岁时停止了该组织的活动。back斯已经成为山达基教的直言不讳的反对者，她声称自己是从该组织逃离的，但她的家人对此表示异议。back从一个“普通的休假者”、“叛逃者”或“隐形的前成员”到一个高调的“叛教者”的明显转变，作为一个新的山达基前成员身份表达的案例研究，在NRM关于叛教和脱离的文献中没有得到很好的研究——第二代(前)成员在政治权力的位置上。在像法国这样的国家，这种形式的政治权力可以在国家的支持下被运作和武器化，以对抗新的或少数宗教，如山达基教。
{"title":"War is Not Over","authors":"Donald A. Westbrook","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.25965","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.25965","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a brief introduction to the institutional history of the Church of Scientology in France (1959–present) before turning attention to the current state of Scientology in relation to state-sponsored anti-cultism and laïcité. In France, groups regarded as “sectes” (cults) are monitored by the French government’s MIVILUDES (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Cultic Deviances). As of late 2022, MIVILUDES is overseen within the French government by Sonia Backès, Secretary of State (Deputy Minister) for Citizenship. Backès, a former Scientologist, was raised in the Church of Scientology, completed Scientology courses, and attended a “Study Tech” school that made use of the educational methods of L. Ron Hubbard, among other aspects of participation, before ceasing activity in the group as a teenager. Backès has become a vocal opponent of Scientology, claiming she escaped from the group in an exit narrative that is disputed by family members. Backès’s apparent transformation from an “ordinary leave-taker,” “defector,” or “invisible former member” to a highly vocal “apostate” serves as a case study of a new expression of Scientology ex-member identity that is not well examined in the NRM literature on apostasy and disaffiliation—that of a second-generation (former) member in a position of political power. In a country like France, this form of political power can be operationalized and weaponized against new or minority religions such as Scientology, all with the backing of the state.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43303434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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