scholarly journals You may be the right one? New religions and the alternative religious concepts

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
Danijel Sinani
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
New Religions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Religious Concept ◽  
The Right ◽  
New Religion

This paper discuses the attempts of redefining the basic notions and determining the study subject of the new religions studies. The advantages and disadvantages of using the term "new religious movements" are pointed, and a retrospect is given on the basic conceptualizations supported by the most influential authors in the field of new religion studies, but the new terminology and a new approach to the problem are given as well. This paper promotes the use of phrase "alternative religious concept" and arguments are given to support the advantages of such defining of the subject we are engaging in.

Conversion to Islam in Papua New Guinea

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
Scott Flower
Keyword(s):  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Conversion To Islam ◽  
New Religions ◽  
Conversion Rates ◽  
New Religion

Papua New Guinea is famous for its religious diversity, innovation, and role as the intellectual home of the “cargo-cult.” Contrary to the dominant contemporary trend toward localized and syncretized forms of Christianity, one of the fastest-growing new religious movements in Papua New Guinea is the not so “new” religion of Islam. From 2000–2012, the Muslim convert population grew more than 1,000 percent, and data from fieldwork between 2007 and 2011 suggests that globalization factors, especially missionaries and media, are contributing to increased conversion rates. Transition from traditional life to modernity is sparking a range of social and personal crises leading people to search for new religions more closely aligned with traditional, local, cultural and material dimensions. This makes future conversion growth in Papua New Guinea likely.

The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
New Religions ◽  
New Age Movement ◽  
Book Award ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Scientific

The first edition ofThe Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movementsappeared in early 2004. At the time, it was a much-needed overview of a rapidly-expanding area of study; it received recognition in the form of aChoicebook award. The second edition brings this task up to date. In addition to updating most of the original topics, the new edition takes in more topics by expanding the volume from 22 to 32 chapters, and enlarges the scope of the book by doubling the number of contributors from outside of North America. Following an introductory section devoted to social-scientific approaches to New Religious Movements (NRMs), the second section focuses on what has been uppermost in the minds of the general public, namely the controversies that have surrounded these groups. The third section examines certain themes in the study of NRMs, such as the status of children and women in such movements. The fourth section presents religious studies approaches by looking at NRM mythologies, rituals and the like. The final section covers the subfields that have grown out of NRM studies and become specializations in their own right, from the study of modern Paganism to the study of the New Age Movement. Finally, the present volume has a thematic focus; readers interested in specific NRMs are advised to consult the second edition of James R. Lewis and Jesper Aa. Petersen’s edited volume,Controversial New Religions(Oxford University Press 2014).

scholarly journals Freedom for me and, perhaps, you – but surely not them? Attitudes to new religions in contemporary democracies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Barker
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
European Convention ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
New Religions ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Freedom Of Belief

Throughout history, new religious movements (NRMs) have been treated with suspicion and fear. Although contemporary democracies do not throw members of NRMs to the lions or burn them at the stake, they have ways and means of making it clear that pluralism and freedom of religion have their limits. The limits to pluralism are evident enough in countries such as Saudi Arabia or North Korea that have regimes stipulating that citizens must adhere exclusively to their one and only True religion or ideology. Limitations to pluralism have also been manifest in countries such as Northern Nigeria, Sri Lanka or Myanmar (Burma), where terrorists have used violence to eliminate religions other than their own. Even otherwise peaceful democracies – that have signed the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and other statements affirming freedom of belief (and non-belief) for all – can discriminate against religions, especially the new religious movements in their midst, and this they do in a variety of ways [Richardson 1994; Lindholm 2004; Kirkham 2013]. This paper outlines, from the perspective of a sociologist of religion, some of the ways in which such attitudes toward, and treatment of, NRMs can demonstrate more subtle, but nevertheless marked and serious limitations to freedom, even in societies that pride themselves on their progressive and inclusive approach to diversity.

The Role of Women in the Development of New Religious Movements in Latin America

2021 ◽  
pp. 346-364
Author(s):  
Angel Belzunegui Eraso ◽  
David Dueñas Cid
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Plurality ◽  
New Religions ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Latin American Countries

In this chapter we focus on the growth of “new religions” and new religious movements in Latin America and attempt to find explanations for this growth. Although other explanations for the increase in religious plurality exist, we focus on the role of women in this development. The expansion of movements such as Pentecostalism is challenging the centrality of Catholicism in many Latin American countries. Basically, we therefore aim to answer the following question: Why has Pentecostalism grown so much in some Latin American countries while Catholicism has experienced a certain decline? One possible explanation for this is the role of women in this expansion, which has fostered greater social cohesion within families and communities. Pentecostalism has led to a certain empowerment of the women living in precarious conditions, affording them greater visibility and importance within their communities and giving them a role in the re-education of behaviours that are rooted in male domination.

Psychology and New Religious Movements

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Saliba
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Fourth Edition ◽  
Statistical Manual ◽  
Positive Approach ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
New Religions

In “Psychology and the New Religious Movements,” John Saliba begins by contrasting psychology/psychiatry’s traditional antagonism toward religion with the newer, more positive approach reflected in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1994). After a brief survey of relevant studies, he then explores the problems involved with psychological approaches to members of new religions through the example of studies of followers of Bhagwan Rajneesh. He concludes by outlining a series of unresolved issues regarding the psychology of NRM membership.

New Religious Movements and Science

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Zeller
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
New Religions ◽  
Cultural Power ◽  
Scientific Systems

The notion or idea of science, quite aside from actual scientific enterprises, has achieved tremendous cultural power and prestige in modern society. The four studies in this special issue of Nova Religio on science and new religious movements indicate not only this newfound power, but also the contentious nature of its definition as well as its limits. The four articles reveal how founders, leaders and practitioners of new religious movements seek the authoritative mantle of science, and with it a perceived legitimacy, as well as challenge normative (Western) approaches to science assumed in much of modern society. In fact, these new religions generally seek to supplant normative Western science with the alternative religious-scientific systems they champion.

New Religious Movements and Scripture

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene V. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
New Religions

In their efforts to establish legitimacy, many new religious movements link themselves to an authoritative past by producing interpretations of established scriptures or holy books. In the process, they sometimes produce holy books of their own that can be accorded the same status for their adherents as other, better known well-established, scriptural texts. As they do for established religions, in new religions scriptural texts serve as vehicles for the expression of fundamental practices and beliefs and support the efforts to gain the attention, approval, and even allegiance of a particular audience. This essay analyzes multiple examples of how new religious movements both offer innovative commentaries on existing sacred texts and produce their own, new scriptures.

New Religious Movements and the Visual Arts

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Massimo Introvigne
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
New Religions ◽  
Modern Artists

Contrary to popular conceptions, modern artists are often religious. Some of them are part of mainstream religions including Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam. Others try to establish new religions and forms of spirituality based on art itself. A significant number of artists, while alienated from traditional religions, were either part of, or deeply influenced by, new religious movements and esoteric groups. Scholars have particularly focused on the influence of the Theosophical Society on the visual arts, but other movements have also been significant.

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