Reboot of The Family International

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-98
Author(s):  
Gary Shepherd ◽  
Gordon Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Viability ◽  
New Form ◽  
Dramatic Shift

Since its founding in 1968, The Family International (TFI) has been an important case study for social science investigation of new religious movements. Its persistence and adaptive organizational development throughout the world, in spite of periodically strong social opposition, initially suggested a long and increasingly stable career ahead. However, in 2009, TFI leaders announced a dramatic shift in belief, practice, and organization, which they termed The Reboot. As a consequence, most of the structures and previous functioning of TFI as a visible organization have been dismantled, leading to questions about the group’s future viability. This article summarizes the changes that have taken place, suggests some of the reasons for these, and assesses TFI’s prospects for continued existence in the new form it has assumed.

The Study of Hindu New Religious Movements

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Gene R. Thursby
Keyword(s):  
Transcendental Meditation ◽  
Social World ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Harmony ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Arya Samaj

The category of Hindu new religious movements is conventional and useful, but has imprecise boundaries. Scholars tend to include within it some groups that have claimed they are not Hindu (Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission) or not religious (Transcendental Meditation). Within its wide range are world-affirming groups dedicated to transforming the physical and social world as well as world-transcending groups that find the status of the world doubtful and their purpose at another level or in another realm. The four articles in this special issue of Nova Religio on Hindu new religious movements represent several aspects of this category, and the potential for accommodation of basic differences, social harmony, and even world-transcendence.

The Baltic Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 586-600
Author(s):  
Sebastian Rimestad
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
The North ◽  
The World ◽  
The Baltic

The three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have a varied religious history. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they were the last region of Europe to be Christianized. Today, they—and especially Estonia—are among the most secularized societies in the world. This is not only due to the Soviet past but also to Baltic German dominance at key moments in their history. While Lutheranism has dominated in the north (in Estonia and Latvia), the Roman Catholic Church is still the main religious player in the south (in Lithuania and parts of Latvia). Primarily due to Russian migration, the Orthodox Church also plays a significant role in Baltic affairs. There is, finally, a small but vibrant cluster of new religious movements, notably neo-pagan groups.

scholarly journals Patriarchy in the Digital Conjuncture: An Analysis of Google’s James Damore

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Little ◽  
Alison Winch
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
Software Engineer ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
High Status ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Belief ◽  
The World ◽  
New Form

Our case study looks at the events surrounding the sacking ofGoogle engineer James Damore who was fired for authoring a memo which stated that women are biologically less suited to high-stress, high-status technical employment than men. Damore, asserting that his document ‘was absolutely consistent with what he’d seen online’, instantly became an ambivalent hero of the alt-right. Like the men who own and run the companies of Silicon Valley, the software engineer subscribes to the idea that the world can be understood and altered through the rigorous application of the scientific method. And as he draws on bodies of knowledge from evolutionary psychology and mathematical biology, we see how the core belief structures of Silicon Valley, when transferred from the technical to the cultural and social domain, can reproduce the sort of misogynistic ‘rationalism’ that fuels the alt-right. We argue that Damore’s memo is in line with Google’s ideology of ‘dataism’: that is the belief that the world can be reduced to decontextualised information and subject to quantifiable logics.Through its use of dataism, the memo reveals much about the similarities and continuities between Damore, the ideas laid out n his memo, and Google itself. Rather than being in opposition, these two entities are jostling for a place in the patriarchal structures of a new form of capitalism.

scholarly journals Juxtaposing adherence to COVID-19 regulations and practising proper burial rites: a case study of Zulu Traditional Religion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangeline Bonisiwe Zungu
Keyword(s):  
Family Members ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
High Likelihood ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Inductive Thematic Analysis

The recent COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm. The rate of infection and prevalence of death struck fear in the hearts of many across the globe. The high likelihood of infection required continual testing whilst the trauma of bereavement left many distraught. For traditionalists, a principal concern was whether they would be permitted to exhaustively practise their burial rites in the course of mourning their loved ones. The importance of the custom, as it is believed, is to prevent unsettled feelings in family members. This article is aimed at stimulating consideration, reflection and understanding of the concerns experienced by traditional societies surrounding COVID-19 regulations and the non-performance of important burial rites. Surviving family members experience troubled thoughts as a result of the fear of repercussions, which may include the living-dead withholding their protection of the family which consequently will cause ailments and accidents. This article will utilise inductive thematic analysis to interpret the data collected .

scholarly journals The Closed Religious Community: the Strategy of Forming аnd the Principles of Functioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Riazanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
World View ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Total Community

The point of the author’s research interest is mechanisms for the formation of a private religious community on the example of the Intersession brotherhood. A group of believers was emerged as part of the revival of the Orthodox life of the Kama region, but transformed into specific organization with features of popular religion, new religious movements and so-called “historical sects.” Author reconstructs the history of the community involving elements of the biographical method. The study is based on interviews and correspondence with former members of the community, close people of the residents of the commune, as well as analysis of the materials of the closed group on the social network, some audio of the groups’ seminars, photocopies of the working notebooks of the group and a series of photographs made by the believers. The investigation is based on the theoretical constructions of E. Goffman and the concept of total community. Intersession brotherhood appears as a community with the features of totality – territorial and communication closure of the residents, their employment in internal jobs, perception of the group as a family. Lack of privacy is combined with the presence of “mother-child” connection to the leader. The practice of naming for adults, the creation of new marriages, participation in gender-oriented councils create a special micro-environment with the unification of the world view. The system of privileges for advanced residents is supplemented by a developed system of fines. It makes possible to speak about special tools that lead to a change of values, a narrowing of the set of social roles and a reduction of critical thinking.

“Groaning for the Latter Day”

2021 ◽  
pp. 212-246
Author(s):  
John Howard Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Inequities ◽  
American Protestantism ◽  
The World ◽  
Late Nineteenth

Two new religious movements, Mormonism and Millerism, established a foundation upon which a heretofore invisible, gloomy eschatology that had long occupied the margins of American Protestantism stepped out into the limelight in the late nineteenth century. Gaining popularity during and after the Civil War, dispensationalist premillennialism posited that the world is fundamentally fallen, and that only Christ’s personal intervention could bring on the Millennium. To some among this growing band of radical evangelicals, the United States’ spiritual failings, political corruption, and social inequities meant that it was beyond redemption. Others still clung to the belief in America’s millennial destiny, arguing that only the United States may stand against the Antichrist at the latter day, joining with Christ and his angels in the final assault against Satan in the inevitable Battle of Armageddon.

The Growth and Dissolution of a Large-Scale Business Enterprise

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Financial Structure ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Business Enterprise ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World

This book is an in-depth case study of the Furness Withy and Co Shipping Group, which operated both tramp and liner services and was one of the five major British shipping groups of the early twentieth century. It demonstrates how British shipowners of this period generated success by exploring Christopher Furness’ career in relation to the social, political, and cultural currents during a time of tremendous shipping growth in Britain and the establishment of some of the largest shipping firms in the world. It approaches the study from three angles. The first analyses how the Furness Group expanded its shipping activities and became involved with the industrial sector. The second illustrates the organisational and financial structure of the enterprise. Finally, the Group’s leadership and entrepreneurship is scrutinised and placed within the wider context of twentieth century British business. The case study begins in 1870, with an introduction explaining how Christopher Furness came to join the family company, Thomas Furness and Co. in order develop services, expand, and instigate the changes and mergers that brought the Furness Group into existence. There are thirteen chronologically presented chapters, a bibliography, and seven appendices of data including an ownership timeline, tonnage statistics, acquisitions, a list of maritime associates, and a timeline of Christopher Furness’ life. The book concludes in 1919 with the de-merging of the Furness Group’s shipping and industrial holdings, the resignation of the Furness family from the company’s board, the sale of their shares, and the move into managing the firm’s industrial interests.

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