Description
Peter B. Clarke’s in-depth account explores the innovative character of new religious movements and new forms of spirituality from a global vantage point. Ranging from North America and Europe to Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, it is the perfect introduction to NRMs such as Falun Gong, Aum Shirikyo, the Brahma Kumaris, the Ikhwan or Muslim Brotherhood, Sufism, the Engaged Buddhist and Engaged Hindi movements, Messianic Judaism and Rastafarianism.
Charting the cultural significance and global impact of NRMs, he discusses the ways in which various religious traditions are shaping, rather than displacing, each other’s understanding of notions such as transcendence and faith, good and evil, of the meaning, purpose and function of religion, and of religious belonging. He then examines the responses of governments, churches, the media and general public to new religious movements, as well as the reaction to older, increasingly influential religions, such as Buddhism and Islam, in new geographical and cultural contexts. Taking into account the degree of continuity between old and new religions, each chapter contains not only an account of the rise of the NRMs and new forms of spirituality in a particular region, but also an overview of change in the regions’ mainstream religions.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Global Perspective, New Age, and Society’s Response 1. New Religious Movements: A Global Perspective 2. The New Age Movement (NAM): alternative or mainstream? 3. Accounting for Hostility to New Religious Movements Part 2: New Religions in the West 4. New Religious Movements in Europe 5. New Religious Movements in North America 6. New Religious Movements in Australia, New Zealand and Melanesia (New Guinea) Part 3: The New Religions of the Middle-East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean 7. New Islamic Movements in North Africa and the Middle-East 8. New Religious Movements in Africa South of the Sahara 9. New Religious Movements in South and Central America and the Carribean Part 4: New Religions of South, Southeast and East Asia 10. New Religious Movements in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) 11. NRMs in South East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia) 12. East Asia (1): Japanese New Religious Movements 13. East Asia (2): New Religious Movements in Japan, Taiwan and Korea Part 5: Conclusions 14. Conclusion: The Uncertain Impact of Old and New Religions Select Bibliography Index
