ebook img

Sexuality and New Religious Movements PDF

243 Pages·2014·3.615 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Sexuality and New Religious Movements

Sexuality and New Religious Movements Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities Series editors: James R. Lewis and Henrik Bogdan Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities is an interdisciplinary monograph and edited collection series sponsored by the International Society for the Study of New Religions. The series is devoted to research on New Religious Movements. In addition to the usual groups studied under the New Religions label, the series pub- lishes books on such phenomena as the New Age, communal & utopian groups, Spiritualism, New Thought, Holistic Medicine, Western esoteri- cism, Contemporary Paganism, astrology, UFO groups, and new move- ments within traditional religions. The Society considers submissions from researchers in any discipline. A Study of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness: Religious Innova- tion and Cultural Change —Diana G. Tumminia and James R. Lewis India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism —Gordan Djurdjevic Reading and Writing Scripture in New Religious Movements: New Bibles and New Revelations —Eugene V. Gallagher Sexuality and New Religious Movements —Edited by Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis Sexuality and New Religious Movements Edited by Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis sexuality and new religious movements Copyright © Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-40962-1 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-68146-4 ISBN 978-1-137-38643-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-38643-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sexuality and new religious movements / edited by Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis. pages cm. — (Palgrave studies in new religions and alternative spiritualities) 1. Sex—Religious aspects. I. Bogdan, Henrik, editor of compilation. BL65.S4S495 2014 201′.7—dc23 2013043628 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Amnet. First edition: November 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Tables vii 1 Introduction: Sexuality and New Religious Movements 1 Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis 2 Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Empowerment in Mormon Fundamentalist Communities 9 Jennifer Lara Fagen and Stuart A. Wright 3 Gender among the Branch Davidians 29 Martha Sonntag Bradley 4 Sex and Gender in the Words and Communes of Osho (née Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) 59 Roshani Cari Shay and Henrik Bogdan 5 Sexual Practice, Spiritual Awakening, and Divine Self-Realization in the Reality-Way of Adidam 89 Michael (Anthony) Costabile 6 Gurdjieff on Sex: Subtle Bodies, Si 12, and the Sex Life of a Sage 127 Johanna J. M. Petsche 7 Sex Magic or Sacred Marriage? Sexuality in Contemporary Wicca 149 Chas S. Clifton 8 Cult of Carnality: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Contemporary Satanism 165 Per Faxneld and Jesper Aagaard Petersen 9 Raël’s Angels: The First Five Years of a Secret Order 183 Susan J. Palmer vi CONTENTS 10 Fantasies of Abuse and Captivity in Nineteenth-Century Convent Tales 213 James R. Lewis Contributors 231 Index 235 List of Tables 5.1 Emotional-Sexual Conscious Exercise in the Way of Adidam 111 5.2 Qualifying Factors (One of Which Must Pertain) for Motiveless Celibate Practice in the Way of Adidam 114 1 Introduction: Sexuality and New Religious Movements Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis Sexuality goes beyond the mere ability to procreate and to have erotic experiences, feelings, and responses, or the various ways in which we are sexually attracted to one another. Sexuality is intimately connected to questions of identity: who we are as individuals and also our role in society. Human sexuality is thus inextricably linked to cultural, political, and philosophical aspects of life, which are regulated through legal systems based on morality and ethics. Morality and ethics, even in our secularized and late-modern society, are to a large extent based on traditional religious doctrines and teachings (which of course differ in time and place), and it is thus perhaps only natural that new forms of religion often challenge the moral codes and deeply rooted views on sexuality prevalent in the dominant forms of religion and, by extension, in society at large. The new religious movements (NRMs) discussed in this collection can be described as “new” in the sense that they were founded fairly recently (especially during the second half of the twentieth century, with most members being first- or second-generation members) and that the teach- ings differ to such an extent from the dominant religious traditions of the West that it is valid to speak of “new” forms of religion. For instance, chap- ters 1 to 3 deal with the Mormons, the Branch Davidians, and the Fam- ily International, respectively, movements that can be described as NRMs with a Christian foundation but which have, in different ways, altered the teachings of the host religion to such an extent that we can be said to be dealing with new forms of religion. Admittedly, there are problems con- nected with making such a distinction, and it should be kept in mind that a group like the Branch Davidians would not consider itself a new religious 2 HENRIK BOGDAN AND JAMES R. LEWIS movement but rather the “true” form of Christianity. Nevertheless, for ana- lytical purposes, it is useful to use the term NRMM when discussing most of the groups covered in this anthology. As indicated, the case studies selected for this collection are Western in the sense that they are or have been active particularlyy in the United States and in Europe, although many of them are international movements and some of them have non-Western origins, such as the Osho movement. The fact that we are dealing with Western NRMs explains why most of the movements covered in this anthology challenge in different ways the Christian notion of sexuality as something connected to sin and needing to be controlled. Many NRMs react against Christian teachings on sexuality and what they perceive as an oppressive religious system, and instead advocate what they consider to be a posi- tive understanding of sexuality, where sexual liberation is often seen as an important aspect of spiritual enlightenment. Critics of NRMs—who often refer to these movements as “cults” or “sects,” with all the negative connotations associated with these terms— tend to claim that NRMs are potentially harmful since the leadership often more or less systematically abuses their members sexually. By emphasiz- ing those NRMs that have propagated controversial sexual teachings and practices, such as the use of sex in a ritualistic setting or marriage with multiple partners, the critics (who often belong to what is usually referred to as the “anticult movement”) argue that the religious dimension of these teachings and practices is just an excuse or a cover for sexual abuse. What these critics often fail to take into account, however, is the way that sexual- ity is actually understood and used by the groups themselves, and to place these teachings and practices within the broader context of the history of religions. As this anthology aims to show, sexual practices that, at face value, seem bizarre or even dangerous might be understood differently when placed in their proper context. That being said, it should be emphasized that some- times the criticism levelled against certain NRMs is a valid critique, as demonstrated in chapters 3 and 4 of the present collection. One should, however, be careful in dismissing a contemporary movement as sexually abusive based on events that happened early in the movement’s history, and instead analyze how the movement has developed over the years and whether it has dealt with past abusive practices. One should also be careful about condemning an entire organization based on local or regional cases of abuse. By way of comparison, one might consider contemporary criti- cism of the Catholic Church and the numerous cases of sexual abuse by priests: one rarely encounters criticism of the entire Church based on these cases. Furthermore, although questions related to sexuality and gender are central to most of the movements discussed in this anthology, sexual abuse

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.