Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (2006)

Edited by Peter B. Clarke

ew religious movements (NRMs) can involve vast numbers of followers and in many cases are radically changing the way people understand and practise religion and spirituality. Moreover, they are having a profound impact on the form and content of mainstream religion.

The Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements provides uniquely global coverage of the phenomenon, with entries on over 300 movements from almost every country worldwide. Coverage includes neo-traditional movements as well as movements that derived from the major religions of the world, which are often overlooked in the study of NRMs.

In addition to the coverage of particular movements there are also entries on broad classifications and themes, and key topics, thinkers and ideas - the New Age Movements, Neo-Paganism, gender and NRMs, cyberspace religions, the Anti-Cult Movement, Swedenborg, Jung, de Chardin, Lovelock, Gurdjieff, al-Banna, Qutb.

The marked global approach and comprehensiveness of the Encyclopedia enable and appreciation of the innovative energy of NRMs, of their extraordinary diversity, and the often surprising ways in which they can propagate geographically. The most ambitious publication of its sort, the Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements is a major addition tot he reference literature for students and researchers in the field of religious studies and the social sciences.

Entries are cross-referenced, many with short bibliographies for further reading. There is a full index.

Entries include:
African Charismatic Churches, After-Life Beliefs, Agonshu, Al-Qaeda (The Base), Anti-Cult Movement, Arya Samaj, Asahara Shoko (Matsumoto Chizuo), Aum Shinrikyo, Baha'i, Black Muslims, Brahma Kumaris, Brainwashing, Branch Davidians, Candomble, Celestial Church of Christ, Chopra Deepak, Christian Science, Cult and New Religions, Dalai Lama, Deeper Life Bible Church, Deguchi Nao, Druidry, Earth People of Trinidad, Esoteric Movements, Espiritismo, Extraterrestrials, Falun Gong, Family The, Fellowship of Isis, Ferguson Marilyn, Findhorn Community, Focolare Movement, Forest Monks, Fortune Dion, Fox Matthew, Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), Fundamentalism, Gaia, Gender and NRMs, Glastonbury, God is Love, Goddess Feminists, Godianism, Grail Movement, Guru, Gurumayi, Gush Emunim, Gypsies and Pentecostalism, Harris William Wade, Healing, Health and Wealth, Heaven's Gate, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Hindu Monastary of Africa, Hizbollah (Party of God), Honmichi, Honohaha Sanpogyo, House Church Movement, House of the Goddess (HOG), Hubbard L. Ron, Humanistic Judaism, I-Ching, Iglesia ni Cristo, Igreja Catolica Apostolica Brasileira (ICAB), Ikigami, Implicit Religion, Independent Episcopal Churches, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Islamism, Jakob Lorber Association, Jesus Army, Jesus Movement, Jung Carl, Kabbalah, Kimbanguism, Kofuku-no-Kagaku (Institute for Research in Human Happiness, Happy Science), Konkokyo, Kurozumikyo, Leary Timothy, Legiao Da Boa Morte, Liberation Theology, Literature in French on NRMs, Literature in German on NRMs, Literature in Italian and Spanish on NRMs, Literature in Japanese on NRMs, Literature in Portuguese on NRMs, Love Spiritual, Lumpan Church in Zambia, Maji Maji, Mantra, Mau Mau, Mazdaznan, Messianic Judaism, Milingo Cult, Milingo Emmanuel, Millenarianism, Moorish Science Temple, Moral Re-Armament (MRA), Mucker Movement, Mungiki, Murid Movement, Musama Disco Kristo Church, Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al Muslimin), Myochikai Kyodan, Namdhari, Nation of Islam (NOI), Nation of Yahweh, Native American Religion, Neo-Paganism, New Acropolis, New Age Movement (NAM), New Apostolic Church, New Kadampa Tradition, New Religion (Japan), New Religious Movement, New Religions and Violence, New Thought, Nine o'clock Service, Okawa Ryuho, Omoto, Onisaburo Deguchi, Opus Dei, Ordo Templi Orientis, Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), Peace and Japanese New Religious Movements, Peyote Cult, Promise Keepers, Prosperity Theology, Protestant Buddhism, Radhasoami Movements, Raelian Church, Rainbow Coalition, Rajneesh Movement, Rastafarian Movement, Rebirthing, Reclaiming, Reconstructionist Judaism, Reiki, Reiyukai, Rissho Kosei-kai, Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship, Sacred Name Movement, Sahaja Yoga, Sai Baba Sathya, Saint Germain Foundation, Santeria, School of Economic Science (SES), Scientology, Sea of Faith, Sedevacantists, Seicho-no-Ie (House of Growth), Sekai Kyusei Kyo (Church of World Messianity), Self Transformation, Shamanism, Society of the Inner Light, Soka Gakkai, State Shinto, Swaminarayan Hinduism, Swedenborg Emanuel, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Tantra, Tenrikyo, Theosophy, Theravada Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh, Typologies of New Religions, UFOs, Unification Church, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, United Church of Christ in Japan, Universal Hagar's Spiritual Church, Vedanta Society, Vegetarianism, Vineyard Ministries, Voodoo/Vodou, Wicca (Church and School of), Winners Chapel, Women in New Religious Movements, Won Buddhism, Word of Faith Movement, Yin-Yang, Yoga (Modern), Zar Cult, Zetaheal, Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa, Zion Christian Church, Encyclopaedia

Review:
From May 2006 Issue (Vol.43, No.09) of CHOICE - Current Reviews for Academic Libraries:
'This encyclopedia offers a truly fascinating, authoritative overview of new religious movements in a global context. It presents 428 articles by qualified academics covering significant examples of new religious movements on every continent. Clarke has published extensively on non-Western and comparative religions. Entries include "African Charismatic Churches", "Buddhism in the West", "Charismatic Movements", "Easternization", "Evangelical Christianity", "Healing", "Islamism", "Jihadi Movements" (Kenya), "Neo-Paganism", "New Religions and Violence", "Santo Daime" (Brazil), "Self-Religion", "Shinnyo-En" (Japan), and "Yoga". What sets this work apart is its assessment of the global significance of a movement (how it progress cross-culturally) with attention to its transformative appeal (how it seeks to transform its individual adherents or the larger society). Arrangement of entries is alphabetical, with liberal cross-referencing, indexing, and suggestions for further reading. The editor has included an excellent introduction titled "New Religions". This is an outstanding reference source - scholarly, timely, important, and worth the price for academic libraries. Also noteworthy is an earlier work directed to general readers, New Religions: A Guide, ed. by Christopher Partridge (CH, Nov '04, 42-1285).'
Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduate and above. -- L. E. Jorbin, Cleveland State University

Links to other sites on the Web

Professor Peter B. Clarke - Home Page
Peter B. Clarke's Main Publications List

Peter B. Clarke (ed.), (2006)
Hardcover: 686 pages
Religious Studies/Sociology/Reference
ISBN: 0-415-26707-2
Published by Routledge (www.routledge.com), Oxon & New York

Web News Images Shopping Wikipedia Blogs Jobs Ben Gov