NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
The final chapter of the
Carmody/Brink text recommended for the course goes at length into a
number of what are often called "new religious movements"
(NRM's). Many are discussed as a reaction to the secular emphasis
of modern culture. I would add to this the idea that many are
just as much a reaction to an established church, offering a more
personal answer to the needs that draw individuals to look for
supernatural guidance.
The
image to the left of the main Cao Dai Temple in Vietnam (which you see
any time you go to our syllabus) shows two of the tendencies
present in such movements:
the absorption of a number of elements from existing traditions in a
new synthesis, and an appeal to individuals who for one or another
reason may not feel completely accepted in these existing traditions.
Some movements, such as those of the Sikhs and the
Bahai, have origins in the cultural conflicts of India and the
Mideast. Others, such as the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung
Moon (the "Moonies") and Cao Dai itself, have appeared in areas that
were important regions for European or American Christian
evangelization. The most prominent, however, are products of the
unique religious landscape of the United States with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) standing out as a
model of how a controversial nineteenth-century cult, at one time the
target of military action by the United States government, moved to
become a respected denomination active worldwide. More recent and
again highly controversial is the Church of Scientology.
One reason for attempting to understand any of these movements better is that their history, short as it may be, mirrors what we know of some of the traditions we have already studied in this course and so may help us better understand them. Christianity itself began as a minority cult in the ancient Mideast and yet in a few centuries became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Islam began with the reformist efforts of a charismatic founder and yet also spread worldwide in a relatively short time. The question we might want to ask is whether any of the new movements we look at now could have the same record a few centuries from now.
One consideration is going to be how a tradition transforms itself as a condition of survival or expansion. Early Buddhism. for instance, was hardly anything we might call "institutional" yet as it spread throughout Asia it adapted itself to local expectations to create new religious forms. Early Christianity appears to have been rooted in the belief that the Second Coming was imminent, yet obviously this apocalyptic notion had to be downplayed (an issue facing some of our new religious movements that in the late nineteenth century similarly focused on the imminent end of the world). Early Islam would have seemed extremely intolerant, yet as it too spread there was often a relatively high degree of religious freedom. With new movements we have already seen dramatic changes in the Latter-Day Saints as a persecuted cult moved to become a respected denomination.
An additional consideration is the role of the technology involved in transmitting a teaching. The development of systems of writing more available to ordinary people three thousand years ago put an emphasis on the use of written documents--the sutras or the Torah or the Gospels or the Qur'an--in patterns of worship. The fifteenth-century development of printing both allowed the standardization of local (vernacular) languages and allowed mass production of the Bible in those languages, and in this way it played a major role in shaping the outlook of the Protestant Reformation. Radio and television played a similar role in remaking the religious outlook of great numbers of Americans who could listen to preachers in their living rooms rather than go to a local church. Still to be seen is what may be the effect of the Internet.
A third consideration is the type of involvement expected and the way it might fulfill individual or social needs in a way that more established and familiar traditions would not. Much of the history of Protestantism has centered on the notion of the Holy Spirit directly influencing the members of a group, whether through quiet reflection (the Quakers) or through vocal manifestations ("speaking in tongues" among Pentacostals) or even more dramatic actions (services of the "Holy Rollers" and the "Snake Handlers"). A desire for more direct contact with the supernatural (as well as an emphasis on feminism) similarly helps explain the spread of Wicca as a pop phenomenon, despite the manner in which it has been represented on film.
For our purposes I invite you to look at just two of the new movements more closely: LDS (the Mormons) and Scientology. Try to note the parallels in their development with the great world religions we have already been covering, again as a way of better understanding how any tradition grows. Also, more on your own, I would suggest looking at any of a great number of other so-called new religious movements and trying to see how what you know of them would fit into the checklist I have been inviting you to keep as we go through the course.
The
image to the left of the main Cao Dai Temple in Vietnam (which you see
any time you go to our syllabus) shows two of the tendencies
present in such movements:
the absorption of a number of elements from existing traditions in a
new synthesis, and an appeal to individuals who for one or another
reason may not feel completely accepted in these existing traditions.
Some movements, such as those of the Sikhs and the
Bahai, have origins in the cultural conflicts of India and the
Mideast. Others, such as the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung
Moon (the "Moonies") and Cao Dai itself, have appeared in areas that
were important regions for European or American Christian
evangelization. The most prominent, however, are products of the
unique religious landscape of the United States with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) standing out as a
model of how a controversial nineteenth-century cult, at one time the
target of military action by the United States government, moved to
become a respected denomination active worldwide. More recent and
again highly controversial is the Church of Scientology.One reason for attempting to understand any of these movements better is that their history, short as it may be, mirrors what we know of some of the traditions we have already studied in this course and so may help us better understand them. Christianity itself began as a minority cult in the ancient Mideast and yet in a few centuries became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Islam began with the reformist efforts of a charismatic founder and yet also spread worldwide in a relatively short time. The question we might want to ask is whether any of the new movements we look at now could have the same record a few centuries from now.
One consideration is going to be how a tradition transforms itself as a condition of survival or expansion. Early Buddhism. for instance, was hardly anything we might call "institutional" yet as it spread throughout Asia it adapted itself to local expectations to create new religious forms. Early Christianity appears to have been rooted in the belief that the Second Coming was imminent, yet obviously this apocalyptic notion had to be downplayed (an issue facing some of our new religious movements that in the late nineteenth century similarly focused on the imminent end of the world). Early Islam would have seemed extremely intolerant, yet as it too spread there was often a relatively high degree of religious freedom. With new movements we have already seen dramatic changes in the Latter-Day Saints as a persecuted cult moved to become a respected denomination.
An additional consideration is the role of the technology involved in transmitting a teaching. The development of systems of writing more available to ordinary people three thousand years ago put an emphasis on the use of written documents--the sutras or the Torah or the Gospels or the Qur'an--in patterns of worship. The fifteenth-century development of printing both allowed the standardization of local (vernacular) languages and allowed mass production of the Bible in those languages, and in this way it played a major role in shaping the outlook of the Protestant Reformation. Radio and television played a similar role in remaking the religious outlook of great numbers of Americans who could listen to preachers in their living rooms rather than go to a local church. Still to be seen is what may be the effect of the Internet.
A third consideration is the type of involvement expected and the way it might fulfill individual or social needs in a way that more established and familiar traditions would not. Much of the history of Protestantism has centered on the notion of the Holy Spirit directly influencing the members of a group, whether through quiet reflection (the Quakers) or through vocal manifestations ("speaking in tongues" among Pentacostals) or even more dramatic actions (services of the "Holy Rollers" and the "Snake Handlers"). A desire for more direct contact with the supernatural (as well as an emphasis on feminism) similarly helps explain the spread of Wicca as a pop phenomenon, despite the manner in which it has been represented on film.
For our purposes I invite you to look at just two of the new movements more closely: LDS (the Mormons) and Scientology. Try to note the parallels in their development with the great world religions we have already been covering, again as a way of better understanding how any tradition grows. Also, more on your own, I would suggest looking at any of a great number of other so-called new religious movements and trying to see how what you know of them would fit into the checklist I have been inviting you to keep as we go through the course.
