Features of Discrimination Based on Racial, National and Religious Grounds
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Numen 67 (2020) 373–401 brill.com/nu Getting off the Wheel: A Conceptual History of the New Age Concept of Enlightenment Bas J.H. Jacobs Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected] Abstract Although many new agers believe that enlightenment is the end goal of spiritual devel- opment, the importance of this concept has largely been overlooked by scholars until now. This article contextualizes the concept of enlightenment historically. After a de- tailed description of what the new age concept of enlightenment entails, it traces the origin of the concept to the late 19th-century “Oriental reaction” to Theosophy, when “missionaries from the East” like Vivekananda and Suzuki drew on transcendentalism, Theosophy, and recent innovations in psychology to articulate a paradigmatic expres- sion of Asian soteriology. It highlights the importance of models of enlightenment in the transmission of Asian ideas and follows the trajectory that starts with Vivekananda and Suzuki to figures and currents like Aldous Huxley, 1960s counterculture, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and neo-advaita. Thereby, it provides an account of the formation of the new age concept of enlightenment. Keywords enlightenment – transcendentalism – Theosophy – Vivekananda – Suzuki – Huxley – Osho What is enlightenment? In January 1992, spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen (b. 1955) published a journal dedicated to clearing up the confusion surround- ing the concept — appropriately titled What is Enlightenment? — and in the first issue he tried to answer that very question. He tells us that © Bas J.H. Jacobs, 2020 | doi:10.1163/15685276-12341588 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NCDownloaded 4.0 License. -
Scientism, Humanism, and Religion: the New Atheism and the Rise of the Secular Movement
SCIENTISM, HUMANISM, AND RELIGION: THE NEW ATHEISM AND THE RISE OF THE SECULAR MOVEMENT STEPHEN LEDREW A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2013 © STEPHEN LEDREW, 2013 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the New Atheism as a secular fundamentalism that is both a utopian ideology and a social movement. It situates New Atheist thought within the context of the historical development of atheist thought and outlines the features of the ideology it promotes. It also examines the New Atheism’s role in the secular movement through research on major movement actions, campaigns, and debates on goals and strategies. It argues that the New Atheism comes into conflict with two other movement discourses: secular humanism and libertarian rationalism. These ideological conflicts are propelling the movement away from the New Atheism’s aggressive critique of religion toward more a more accommodating and inclusive approach that emphasizes basic humanistic values. ii DEDICATION For the love and support they have given me all my life, I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Paul and Daphne LeDrew. In the final months of writing, during the most difficult time, they gave me what no one else could: the comfort of home. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due first and foremost to my supervisor, Ratiba Hadj-Moussa. Her contribution to this dissertation as a scholarly mentor cannot be measured, but just as importantly, without her support and guidance through the difficult times that emerge during the course of completing a graduate degree, I never would have achieved this goal. -
The New Age Movement (1994)
THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT (1994) CONTENTS Introduction Part 1 Characteristics and Origins of the New Age Movement I Characteristics II Origins Part 2 New Age Perceptions of Creation: A Christian Response Part 3 Humankind, Salvation and the Person of Christ: A Christian Response I Humankind and Salvation II The Person and Work of Christ Part 4 Missiological and Pastoral Questions Raised by the New Age Movement Part 5 Concluding Reflections Resolution Recommended Reading INTRODUCTION 1 The Conference of 1990 referred to the Faith and Order Committee the following Memorial (M.8) for consideration and report not later than the Conference of 1992: The Pickering (29/22) Circuit Meeting (Present 32. Vote: unanimous) request that Conference examine the New Age Movement with respect to its theological content and socio-political ambitions, in order that the Methodist people may receive guidelines as to its compatibility with the Christian faith and Methodist doctrines. 2 In 1992 the Faith and Order Committee expressed its regret that, for a number of reasons, it was not in a position to present a recommended reply to the Memorial, and requested that it be allowed a further two years in which to prepare its report. The Conference directed the Faith and Order Committee to bring a reply to Memorial M.8 to the Conference of 1994. 592 PART 1: CHARACTERISTICS AND ORIGINS OF THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT I Characteristics 3 New Age ideas are all around us on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines. We meet them in the shopping place, possibly – depending on the work we do – during training. -
The Postmodern Phenomena of New Age Spirituality: Examples in Popular Literature by Mark Bair*
The Postmodern Phenomena of New Age Spirituality: Examples in Popular Literature by Mark Bair* This paper is an attempt to better understand the new brand of spirituality that is being written about on a popular level today. My concern is that we better understand it so that we can both avoid deception in the church and communicate the Christian gospel more clearly in the present context. I believe we need updated apologetics rather than update theology for the 1990's, as some have suggested. The first step in improving our apologetics is trying to decipher what fonn the "fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God" are presently taking. As Francis Shaeffer said before there even was a tenn "New Age:" If a man goes overseas for any length of time we would expect him to learn the language of the country to which he is going. More than this is needed, however, if he is really going to communicate with the people among whom he is living. He must learn about another language--that of the thought fonns of the people to whom he speaks. Only so will be have real communication with them. So it is with the Christian church. Its responsibility is not only to hold to the basic, scriptural principals of the Christian faith, but to communicate these unchanging truths 'into' the generation in which it is living. Every generation of Christians has the problem of learning how to speak meaningfully to its own age. It cannot be solved without an understanding of the changing existential situation which it faces. -
NEW AGE to POSTMODERN AGE the Cultural Location of Metaphysical Belief Submitted for the Award of Master of Arts in Communicatio
NEW AGE TO POSTMODERN AGE the cultural location of metaphysical belief Submitted for the award of Master of Arts in Communication Studies (Research) to the School of Communications, Dublin City University. Fiona Smyth July, 2001 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Master of Arts in Communication Studies (Research) is entirely m y own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr. Bill Dorris for valued input and total support throughout this project. Thanks also to Dr. Bill Campbell for extending the co-operation of Manchester Metropolitan University and for helpful suggestions and recommendations made. Finally, thanks to all others who assisted in any way in the production of this thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE - THE NE W AGE 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1.1.1 2 1.1. 2.................................................. 4 1.2 ROOTS OF THE NE W AGE - THE OCCULT METAPHYSICAL TRADITION 1.2.1 6 1.2. 2 8 1.2. 3.................................................. 8 1.2.4 .................................................. 9 1.3 THE MODERN NEW AGE 1.3. 1.................................................. 12 1.3. 2.................................................. 14 1.3. 3.................................................. 15 1.3. 4.................................................. 16 1.4 COMMON BELIEFS OF THE MOVEMENT 20 1.5 THE EMERGING CULTURE OF THE NE W AGE 1.5. 1.................................................. 24 1.5. 2.................................................. 25 1.5.3 .................................................. 26 1.5. -
Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960S
Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s CAMILLE PAGLIA 1. eclipse by politics Commentary on the 1960s has been mas- sive. Law and politics in that turbulent decade are well doc- umented but remain controversial, and the same thing can be said of contemporary innovations in mass media and the arts. One major area remains ambiguous or poorly assimi- lated, however—the new religious vision, which for a tanta- lizing moment in the American sixties brought East and West together in a progressive cultural synthesis. Its promise was never completely fulfilled, for reasons I will try to sketch here. But the depth and authenticity of that spiritual shift need to be more widely acknowledged. A political model currently governs interpretations of the sixties because of the enduring reform movements born in that period, including environmentalism, feminism, and gay liberation. Their mobilizing energy, as well as the organiza- tional style that would also be adopted by antiwar protests, initially came from the civil rights movement sparked by the us Supreme Court’s 1954 decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In that crusade, it must be remembered, ordained Protestant ministers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., played a leading role, as they also had in nineteenth-century abolitionism. The civil rights movement, with its hymns and anthems, appealed not just to secular standards of social justice but to a higher moral code. An expanded version of a lecture delivered on 26 March 2002 at Yale University, sponsored by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at Yale. -
Christian Yoga As a Product of Hinduism and the New Age
LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AND THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL CHRISTIAN YOGA AS A PRODUCT OF HINDUISM AND THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT A THESIS SUBMITTED TO DR. C.F. SMITH IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL APOLOGETICS DEPARTMENT OF GRAUATE PROGRAMS BY INJIB KIM LYNCHBURG, VIRGINA AUGUST, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ii Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Chapter One. The Origin of Hindu Yoga Practice 4 Yoga: Traceable to Ancient Hinduism 4 The Foundation of Hindu Beliefs 6 Yoga & Liberation from Bondage 7 The Image of a Chariot Driver 8 Penetrating the Layers of the Self with Yoga 10 Primary Ways of Liberation 11 The Purpose of Yoga in the Sacred Texts 11 The Methods of Yoga 13 Classical Yoga 13 Yoga Sutra by Patanjali 15 Chapter Two. Yoga Comes to the Western World 17 The Influence of Popular Hindu Yogis 18 Mohandas Gandhi 18 Vivekananda 19 The Influence of Hindu Culture 20 Indian Music 20 New Age Movies 21 Hippies 22 Hare Krishna 23 ii Transcendental Meditation 24 The Practical Teachings of Yoga in the Western World 25 Yoga for Health 25 Yoga for the Mind 26 Yoga as a Science 28 The Most Popular Yogas in America 29 Iyengar Yoga 29 Integral Yoga 30 Chapter Three. Yoga in American Churches 33 Christian Yoga Basics 34 Origins 34 The Meaning of Christian Yoga 35 The Methods of Christian Yoga 38 The Importance of Breathing 38 Breathing Practice 40 Methods of Meditation 42 Meditation to Prayer 44 Examples of Christian Yoga Classes 46 Parkwood Baptist Church, NC 46 St. -
The New Age Movement
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Jury: Klaus EDER, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, FR Germany (Supervisor) Mario DIANI, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom Christian JOPPKE, European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy Ákos RÓNA-TAS, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, United States The New Age Movement: Genesis of a High Volume, Low Impact Identity Dissertation May 5, 2000 Thomas König Department of Social and Political Sciences European University Institute Via dei Rocettini 9 I-50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (Fi) Italy tel. +49 (551) 39 7221 fax. +49 (55) 39 7341 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 New Age: A High Volume, Low Impact Identity..........................................1 A First Glimpse at New Age......................................................................................................6 The Societal Context.................................................................................................................. 6 2 Theory: The Literature ...................................................................................9 2.1 The Concept of a Social Movement..............................................................................9 2.1.1 Types of Collective Action ................................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 Social Movements............................................................................................................... 11 2.1.3 New Movements?............................................................................................................... -
Bible Study Christianity Vs. New Age Movement
CHRISTIANITY VS. EVERYBODY Christianity vs. The New Age Movement January 16, 2019 Origin of the New Age Movement 1. During the 1960s, A tidal wave of Eastern ideas swept over the United States; and people became open to new ideas regarding religion. People became interested in transcendental meditation, reincarnation, chanting, channeling, visualization, and the idea that all reality is divine or sacred. These ideas have their origins from the Eastern religions of Hinduism & Buddhism. During the 1970s, these ideas became even more popular as they became the teachings of several mystics including an American philosopher named David Spangler. Consequently, the embrace of these new ideas into western culture led to the rejection of traditional morality. This momentum of new ideas served as the groundwork for what is known today as the New Age movement. 2. The New Age Movement gets its name from Astrology; and it refers to the coming Aquarian age; which is replacing the old age, or the Pisces age. An ‘age’, according to astrology, is defined as a period of 2000 years. Thus New Agers predict the coming age will be a time of Utopia; ie peace & harmony. Beliefs/Practices of the New Age Movement 1. The New Age Movement’s doctrine on God is based on two terms: monism & pantheism. The first term means all is one. The second term means All is God & God is All. From this perspective God, humanity, & nature are viewed as waves made up of the same water in one big cosmic ocean. 2. New Agers refer to God as Universal Mind/Self or Oneness; which is the force & energy from which all things flow. -
New Atheism As a Case of Competitive Postsecular Worldviews
New Atheism as a Case of Competitive Postsecular Worldviews Alan G. Nixon 98061264 A dissertation submitted to the School of Social Sciences and Psychology The University of Western Sydney In part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Social Sciences 2014 Acknowledgements I would firstly like to thank my interview participants for their time, as I would not have been able to have a well-rounded thesis without their views. Secondly, my family and friends for their support throughout this long process. I would especially like to thank my mother Kim for her tireless editing. I would also like to thank my primary supervisor Adam Possamai for his efforts in helping this project to come to completion. Last, but certainly not least, my partner Megan, who supported me through all the ups and downs that such a large project entails. I could not have done it without all of you. Statement of Authorship The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part for a degree at this or any other institution. Alan Nixon Date: …………………………………………. Signature: ………………………………….. Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ V LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................................VI -
Spirituality, Fundamentalism, Liberty: Religion at the End of Modernity
DePaul Law Review Volume 54 Issue 4 Summer 2005 Article 6 Spirituality, Fundamentalism, Liberty: Religion at the End of Modernity Frederick Mark Gedicks Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review Recommended Citation Frederick M. Gedicks, Spirituality, Fundamentalism, Liberty: Religion at the End of Modernity , 54 DePaul L. Rev. 1197 (2005) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol54/iss4/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Law Review by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPIRITUALITY, FUNDAMENTALISM, LIBERTY: RELIGION AT THE END OF MODERNITY Frederick Mark Gedicks* And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. -John 1:14 INTRODUCTION Our world has fallen apart. Not literally, of course, but metaphysi- cally. We no longer possess an understanding of the place and pur- pose of humanity that would infuse every life with the same ultimate meaning. References to this metaphysical crisis appear throughout the arts and humanities. We are described as living "at the end of an age,"' and in the "twilight of Being,' '2 struggling through an "after- math of confusion and helplessness."'3 Ours is a time of "slackening," a "splintering of culture" and a "shattering of belief, ' 4 marked by "pastiche," "dissonance," and "atonal experiment."' 5 Our existence is "unbearably light," 6 our thought is "weak," 7 and even the "real" * Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; e- mail: [email protected]. -
The New Age Movement: a Scholarly Construction
http://www.diva-portal.org Postprint This is the accepted version of a chapter published in Post-Secular Society. Citation for the original published chapter: Frisk, L., Nynäs, P. (2012) Characteristics of Contemporary Religious Change: Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Interpretative Tendencies In: Peter Nynäs, Mika Lassander, Terhi Utriainen (ed.), Post-Secular Society (pp. 47-70). New York: Routledge https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127095 N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published chapter. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-10682 1 Characteristics of Contemporary Religious Change Globalisation, neoliberalism and interpretative tendencies1 Liselotte Frisk and Peter Nynäs Introduction In this chapter, we focus on changes in contemporary religion and in particular in relation to the globalisation process. Globally, one aspect of recent religious change is that fundamentalist religious movements are thriving, aiming at reviving tradition and making religion influential again in contemporary society. While these movements can be conceived of as responses to globalisation in the particularistic mode, in this paper we will explore the more vague religious expressions of Western culture, related to New Age and the spirituality discourse, as responses to globalisation in the universalistic mode. In addition to this, we will also discuss the concepts of New Age and spirituality, and argue that essentialising a New Age category no longer makes sense in a globalised society. Instead, we attempt a focus on the dichotomy of institutionalised religion on one hand, and uninstitutionalised, or popular religion, on the other hand. Finally, we will raise some critical questions. In the final part of the chapter we will point to some significant similarities between, on the one hand, the characteristics of contemporary religious change and, on the other, neoliberal politics and culture.