Modernity: Religious and Ethical Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicos Mouzelis
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Perspectives

In Modernity: Religious and Ethical Perspectives Nicos Mouzelis examines the three unique structural features of modern societies: inclusion of the whole population into the nation state, top-down differentiation of institutional spheres and the expansion of individualisation from the top to the base of the social pyramid. The author shows how the above features relate to present day religious phenomena such as secularisation/desecularisation, the new religious movements and the forms of present day spiritualities. He examines the extent to which secularisation and rationalisation led to the “disenchantment of the world”. Later, however, one observes a reaction to the established, hierarchically organised churches and to the adherence, mainly of young people, to less structured religious groups, to religious syncretism and to individual seekers who tried to find “their own God”. From this perspective, one can argue that we have a partial “re-enchantment of the world”.

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.

Psychopathologies and the Attribution of Charisma: A Critical Introduction to the Psychology of Charisma and the Explanation of Violence in New Religious Movements

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorne L. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Charismatic Authority

ABSTRACT: Charismatic authority is widely held to be a defining mark of new religious movements (NRMs). It is also thought to play a crucial role in the onset of violence in some NRMs. We have begun to understand both the psychological and the social structural dynamices of this mode of leadership and how, under specific social conditions, it contributes to a dangerous cycle of deviance amplification. This paper presents a synthetic and critical analysis of several different theories of the charismatic bond. The central concern is why people attribute charisma to some leaders, and hence grant them special authority over their lives. The theories examined help to explain why charismatic relationships form, but they do not allow us to differentiate sufficiently between benign and potentially dangerous types of charismatic bonds, let alone how one may become the other. Scholars of NRMs need to take a closer look at the observable social psychological processes that prompt the attribution of charisma to a leader. A better grasp of these processes, it is argued, would help us understand how the mismanagement of charismatic authority has led some religious groups to see violence as an appropriate response to their concerns.

scholarly journals NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT: MELACAK SPRITUALITAS GERAKAN ZAMAN BARU DI INDONESIA

Tsaqofah ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (02) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Retno Sirnopati
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Psychological Symptom ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Spiritual Movement

The growth of new religious movements in various parts of the world, although not labeled as formal religion, is a socio-psychological symptom of loneliness and alienation. This study aims to understand how the influence of the new religious movement on the socio-culture of Indonesian society. The object of this research is every phenomenon of a new religious spiritual movement that has become a separate phenomenon in Indonesian society, especially in decades by identifying the various characteristics contained in it based on the perspective of the social analysis approach of Religion. This research is a qualitative study using a sociological and anthropological analysis approach. The results of this study indicate that the NRM movement emerged as a result of various factors in a society that is changing rapidly, hence efforts to overcome and resolve problems concerning various human lives, whether social, economic, political, educational, psychological, and so on. However, because the emergence of the NRM movement is a religious symptom, one way to overcome it is to seek healthier forms of upholding and living religious values, at least not causing a bad impact on society.

From Spiritualism to Theosophy: “Uplifting” a Democratic Tradition

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Prothero
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
American Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
The Status ◽  
Taboo Topics

The status reversal ritual that American religious historiography has undergone in the last two decades has done much to “mainstream” previously taboo topics within the field. Many religious groups once dismissed as odd and insignificant “cults” are now seen as “new religious movements” worthy of serious scrutiny. One subject that has benefited from this reversal of fortunes is theosophy. Thanks to the work of scholars such as Robert Ellwood and Carl Jackson, theosophists are now part of the story of American religion. Exactly what part they are to play in that story remains, however, unclear.

On the Volatile Relationship of Secularization and New Religious Movements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Holland
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Christian Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the complex relationship between secularization and the emergence of new religious movements. Drawing from countervailing research, some of which insists that new religious movements abet secularizing processes and some of which sees these movements as disproving the secularization thesis, the chapter presents the relationship as inherently unstable. To the extent that new religious movements maintain a precarious balance of familiarity and foreignness—remaining familiar enough to stretch the definitional boundaries of religion—they contribute to secularization. However, new religious movements frequently lean to one side or other of that median, either promoting religious power in the public square by identifying with the interests of existing religious groups, or emphasizing their distinctiveness from these groups and thus provoking aggressive public action by the antagonized religious mainstream. This chapter centres on an illustrative case from Christian Science history.

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 PRAISE OF THE CONVERT: BELIEVE AND BELONG FROM THE CATHOLICITY OF LATIN AMERICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-339
Author(s):  
Felipe Gaytán Alcalá
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

Latin America was considered for many years the main bastion of Catholicism in the world by the number of parishioners and the influence of the church in the social and political life of the región, but in recent times there has been a decrease in the catholicity index. This paper explores three variables that have modified the identity of Catholicism in Latin American countries. The first one refers to the conversion processes that have expanded the presence of Christian denominations, by analyzing the reasons that revolve around the sense of belonging that these communities offer and that prop up their expansion and growth. The second variable accounts for those Catholics who still belong to the Catholic Church but who in their practices and beliefs have incorporated other magical or esoteric scheme in the form of religious syncretisms, modifying their sense of being Catholics in the world. The third factor has a political reference and has to do with the concept of laicism, a concept that sets its objective, not only in the separation of the State from the Church, but for historical reasons in catholicity restraint in the public space which has led to the confinement of the Catholic to the private, leaving other religious groups to occupy that space.

Choosing a religion in the context of specificity of a religious experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-15
Author(s):  
V.Yu. Lebedev ◽  
A.L. Bezrukov
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Groups

The paper considers the process of choosing religion in a modern society. Factors that affect the behavior of an individual in the process of choosing religion are considered in the light of religious, psychological and social sciences. The classification of religions is divided into two types: personal experience religions and dogmatic religions. A modern man's motivation to be a follower of new religious movements is considered using the examples of neoprotestant, neohindu and neopagan religious groups.

“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.

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