Description
The search for an adequate understanding of the New Age phenomenon is fraught with difficulties when examined within the perspectives of sociology of religion which have shed light on religion in modernity. New Agers cannot be located easily in the secularisation narrative; they move through fluid networks rather than settled collectivities; they assemble personal syncretisms of belief, myth and practice rather than subscribe to codified doctrines and prescribed rituals. New Age is quickly found to be a label that is unacceptable to many of those designated as New Agers. This book advances our understanding of the so-called New Age phenomenon by analysing accounts of insiders' religious experience and orientations. This approach is brought to bear not only on the study of written documents relating to New Age and its putative antecedents, but on the analysis of in-depth interviews with thirty-five spiritual actors.
Table of Contents
Contents: Preface, Introduction; A profile of the respondents: social and spiritual aspects; A profile of the respondents: networking aspects; Keeping New Age at bay; Perennism; The spiritual knowledges; A sociological chart of the age of Aquarius; Neo-paganism and presentist perennism; Three perennist spiritualities; Perennist re-enchantment: the cultural logic of late capitalism and communicative action; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
