International Journal for the Study of New Religions 5.2 (2014) 189–192 ISSN 2041-9511 (print) ISSN 2041-952X (online) doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v5i2.26144

Book Reviews

Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production, edited by Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, 2012. 790+xxxpp. Hb. €224/$298. ISBN-13: 9789004221871.

Reviewed by Eileen Barker, London School of Economics, E.Barker@LSE. ac.uk

Keywords New Religions, Cultural Production, Cultural Studies

The editors of this book open by telling us that its production was a Her- culean task. I would not question that claim for one second. Well over 800 pages and heavy enough to impede taking it on a train journey, let alone an airplane, it contains 30 full-length chapters and 47 illustrations. The con- tributors, both familiar and unfamiliar to scholars of religion, range from seasoned emeritus professor to young doctoral student and hail from North America, Europe, New Zealand, and, predominantly, Australia. The book is not about new religions and about cultural productions as those familiar with the senior editor’s excellent Invented Religions: Imagina- tion, Fiction and Faith might assume from a quick glance at the title. It is about the cultural productions of new religions. Furthermore, it is made clear that these are not just incidental by-products but innovations that can be seen as being in some way integral to the spiritual growth of the movement. It is admitted that such contributions could cover a far wider span, but among the examples with which we are presented are music, architecture, food, art, books, films, and video games. The concept of new religions is not actually defined; not all the movements are religious according to most conventional understandings of the term (Discordianism and “the sacred Chao” embrace a pretty unorthodox understanding; Scientology’s religious credentials have long been questioned in various quarters; Graham St John and Chiara Bal- dini argue that, while psytrance (psychedelic trance) is not an identifiable new religious movement, its cultural products, such as Portugal’s Boom festi- val, “are heterotopian religio-spiritual enclaves in a highly optimised, and yet

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2015, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX 190 Book Reviews rarely consensual, techno-mystical movement” (522). As for the “newness” of the movements, some of those included in the book have been around for a century or more, but it could be argued that the main focus is on cul- tural contributions that they produced in their formative years when they were more obviously new—however, Elisha McIntyre’s description of “Mol- lywood” productions, concentrates on the place of humour in twenty-first century Mormon films. The scope of the volume might be indicated by reporting that it is divided into nine parts, each part containing three or four chapters: (1) the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons); (2) the Theosophical Soci- ety; (3) Anthroposophy; (4) the work of Gurdjieff; (5) modern Paganism; (6) Afro-Carribean Religions; (7) new religious techniques and technologies; (8) new universal religions (Baha’i, Caodism, Sufism and the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON); and (9) modern Christian offshoots (Queer Theol- ogy; the Deep Sea Canoe Movement and “Visible Religion”). All the chapters provide not only a discussion about cultural products but also a succinct and useful introduction to the movements themselves. It is impossible to do justice to the variety that we are offered, but whilst it would be impracticable to cover all the chapters here, that does not mean that they are not all worth reading. Although, for purely personal interests I found some more absorbing than others, I found no bad apples. Let me select just a few brief examples to offer an introductory taster. One of the most widely innovative founders of a new religion was Rudolph Steiner, whose Anthroposophy celebrated the “wisdom of Man” (as opposed to Theosophy’s celebration of the “wisdom of God”). All his cultural produc- tions exemplified Steiner’s “spiritual science,” and the book’s editors, together with Liselotte Frisk, give us three complementary accounts of his undoubted genius, which embraced politics, banking, diet, medicine, costume, poetry, literature, drama, painting, sculpture, and dance (Eurythmy)—as well as the now-over-900-worldwide Waldorf Schools that reflect his educational ideas (described by Frisk), the Bio-dynamic agriculture widely adopted by vintners (as related by Norman), and distinctive architecture (particularly the first, then second, Goetheanum in the small Swiss town of Dornach explored by Cusack). A completely different but equally prolific founder was L. Ron Hubbard whose cultural productions included hundreds of books of science fiction. It is not entirely clear that Hubbard’s literature (apart, of course, from that spe- cifically about the techniques and beliefs of Dianetics and Scientology) result from LRH’s spiritual beliefs rather than the latter being a reflection of the

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2015 Book Reviews 191 former. An interesting argument is made, however, by Adam Possamai and Alphia Possamai-Inesedy that, in line with the cultural logic of late capital- ism as described by the Frankfurt school, the skills of efficiency developed in the promotion of Scientology have also been employed in the promotion of Hubbard’s other, non-Scientological products. According to Graham Harvey, to identify Paganism merely as a nature reli- gion is to risk ignoring the fact that the “central, defining activity of Pagan religiosity is the performance of rituals of human relationship with a world that can be defined as ‘nature’ ” (399). Harvey’s informative chapter explores the context within which one of several Pagan cultural productions has devel- oped into the competitive performance events that lead to the award of the Druidic “Bardic Chairs.” These, with their blend of poetry, story-telling and music-making can, he argues, be recognized both as expressions of Paganism and as contributions to the wider society. ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly referred to as the Hare Krishna movement) has nearly 100 restaurants around the globe and devotees can be found distributing free meals as part of their Food for Life program to victims in dangerous war zones, the homeless on street corners, and students on university campuses. Ben Zeller persuasively demonstrates the centrality of its theology of food for ISKCON: growing, cooking, distributing and consuming prasadam, the specially selected and prepared ingredients that have been offered to Krishna. He also describes how this becomes “food substantiated into grace” (683). Such distribution and the many cookbooks that ISKCON has produced have, arguably, con- tributed to the growing acceptability and even popularity of a vegetarian diet. Turning to music (which, of course, is another of ISKCON’s cultural pro- ductions), Kenneth Granholm explores connections between the symphonic metal band Therion and Dragon Rouge, a “Left-Hand Path magic order” founded in Sweden in 1990, which Granholm characterizes as “a specific combination of three distinct discourses: individualism as an ideology; the goal of self-deification; and an antinomian stance” (564). He draws on Christopher Partridge’s concept of “occulture” (itself a development of Colin Campbell’s notion of the cultic milieu), which involves the dissemination of esoteric material as part of popular culture. For those of us more familiar with the classics, this chapter provides a steep-curve educational introduction to heavy metal. In the end, Granholm’s conclusion would seem to be that while some, though by no means all of the members of Therion were members of Dragon Rouge, most, though not all, of the Therion lyrics could more accu- rately be described as having been drawn from and/or contributing to wider

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2015 192 Book Reviews occulture. Although all that “reggaes is not Rasta” (497), and “most consumers of the Rasta-reggae culture had only an elementary understanding of the theo- logical by-product of reggae music” (501), a far closer connection is spelled out between Rastafarianism and Reggae music, particularly as exemplified by Bob Marley, whose lyrics were rich in both biblical and political injunctions and, Nathaniel Samuel Murrell and Justin Snider tell us, singing Marley’s songs one can find oneself “in the theological consciousness zone of the roots- reggae of Rastafari” (517). A somewhat different fusion of “ethno-theology” and politics from that found in Reggae is disclosed in Jaap Timmer’s description of books and a film emanating from the Deep Sea Canoe Movement (DSCM), which is to be found among the To’abaita speakers on the Solomon Island of Malaita. Followers believe that they are descendants of biblical kings, brought on the Ark to the Pacific and that the Lost Temple of Israel lies hidden in the island’s mountainous interior. Whilst it is unclear that the documentary film has had much influence, Timmer’s analysis suggests that the books have played a significant role in raising such questions as how Malaitans might gain inde- pendence and access modernity, whilst, through the Israel connection, dif- ferentiating members of the DSCM from adherents of traditional Christian churches and more recent Muslim converts. On several occasions during the reading of this book I found myself Goog- ling to find out more about particular groups and/or their products. To admit this is undoubtedly a confession of my ignorance, but it is certainly not a complaint that the reader was not given enough information. It is an affir- mation that this is a thoroughly stimulating collection of essays. Whatever conclusions one might reach about the various movements and the cultural products to which we are introduced, one cannot but be left marvelling at the imaginative and inventive creativity of the human species. It is unlikely that many scholars will be able to purchase this volume for purely personal use, but anyone at all interested in the development and place of new religions in society, or in cultural studies in general, should ensure that they and others can have access to the book by persuading their libraries to purchase a copy.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2015