Hugh Urban | Ohio State University (original) (raw)

Recent articles by Hugh Urban

The Routledge History of U.S. Religion and Politics, 2025

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 2023

Tantra is historically one of the most important but also most o en misunderstood, understudied, ... more Tantra is historically one of the most important but also most o en misunderstood, understudied, and poorly defined currents within the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of South Asia. Widely dismissed by European Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries as a degenerate form of black magic and debauchery, Tantra has been embraced by contemporary popular and New Age audiences as a liberated path of sensual pleasure and sexual freedom. While it has been defined in many di erent ways by modern scholars, Tantra has played a central but o en ambivalent role in South Asian religious, social, and political history. In the 21st century, Tantra remains an important though o en misunderstood religious presence, both in the few surviving Tantric lineages of South Asia and in the various popular forms of tantra-mantra (in India) and "Neo-Tantra" (in Europe, England, and North America).

This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three onlin... more This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three online tāntrik practitioners from Assam. The region of Assam has a long reputation as the quintessential "land of black magic," and this reputation has continued in the realm of the internet and online tāntrik services. The article argues that these Assamese cyber-tāntrikas reflect at least three key transformations in the practice and representation Tantra. First, they represent a profound challenge to traditional forms of tāntrik authority and a new kind of digital authority-what Heidi A. Campbell calls "alogorhythmic authority"-whereby one gains status and reputation not through established religious institutions but rather through the amplifying power of social media platforms. Second, they reflect the ways in which Tantra in the popular imagination has been largely identified with black magic and also combined with a wide variety of other magical practices from around the globe, most commonly with a (highly stereotyped) version of Voodoo. Finally, they reflect a kind of "Americanized" version of Tantra, which is defined primarily in terms of sex, love, and romance-though also with a uniquely Indian twist and a special focus on the dynamics of marriage, family, and caste relations.

Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies, 2022

Tantra and Tantric Studies by Hugh Urban

South Asia, 2019

This article examines the modern transformations of the temple of the goddess, K am akhy a, and h... more This article examines the modern transformations of the temple of the goddess, K am akhy a, and her most important festival, Ambuv acī Mel a, in Assam. Since at least the eighth century, K am akhy a has been revered as one of the most important 'seats of power' or centres of the goddess that dot the landscape of South Asia. However, during the last century, this temple and its festivals have undergone a series of profound transformations-first, in the context of Hindu nationalism and attempts to imagine a unified sacred landscape of 'Mother India', and second, in the context of spiritual tourism and efforts to develop the Northeast region as a new economic powerhouse for the twenty-first century.

This article examines the worship of the snake goddess Manas@ in Assam, with special attention to... more This article examines the worship of the snake goddess Manas@ in Assam, with special attention to the dynamics of gender, identity, and spirit possession. Specifically, the article focuses on two different forms of possession performance in honor of the goddess: the more ecstatic and bloody performed 10 by male dancers at K@m@khy@ temple and the more folklorized and domesticated performance by female dancers on urban stages. Borrowing some ideas from Judith Butler, the article argues that both possession dances enact a kind of " subversion of identity. " This includes not only a subversion of traditional gender identity, as male dancers are possessed by female deities and female 15 dancers enact masculine roles; rather it also involves a profound subversion of the boundaries between the " Hindu " and the " tribal, " between the " Sanskritic " and the " vernacular, " and, ultimately, between the human and the divine.

The Routledge History of U.S. Religion and Politics, 2025

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 2023

Tantra is historically one of the most important but also most o en misunderstood, understudied, ... more Tantra is historically one of the most important but also most o en misunderstood, understudied, and poorly defined currents within the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of South Asia. Widely dismissed by European Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries as a degenerate form of black magic and debauchery, Tantra has been embraced by contemporary popular and New Age audiences as a liberated path of sensual pleasure and sexual freedom. While it has been defined in many di erent ways by modern scholars, Tantra has played a central but o en ambivalent role in South Asian religious, social, and political history. In the 21st century, Tantra remains an important though o en misunderstood religious presence, both in the few surviving Tantric lineages of South Asia and in the various popular forms of tantra-mantra (in India) and "Neo-Tantra" (in Europe, England, and North America).

This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three onlin... more This article examines the changing nature of Tantra in the digital era by focusing on three online tāntrik practitioners from Assam. The region of Assam has a long reputation as the quintessential "land of black magic," and this reputation has continued in the realm of the internet and online tāntrik services. The article argues that these Assamese cyber-tāntrikas reflect at least three key transformations in the practice and representation Tantra. First, they represent a profound challenge to traditional forms of tāntrik authority and a new kind of digital authority-what Heidi A. Campbell calls "alogorhythmic authority"-whereby one gains status and reputation not through established religious institutions but rather through the amplifying power of social media platforms. Second, they reflect the ways in which Tantra in the popular imagination has been largely identified with black magic and also combined with a wide variety of other magical practices from around the globe, most commonly with a (highly stereotyped) version of Voodoo. Finally, they reflect a kind of "Americanized" version of Tantra, which is defined primarily in terms of sex, love, and romance-though also with a uniquely Indian twist and a special focus on the dynamics of marriage, family, and caste relations.

Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies, 2022

South Asia, 2019

This article examines the modern transformations of the temple of the goddess, K am akhy a, and h... more This article examines the modern transformations of the temple of the goddess, K am akhy a, and her most important festival, Ambuv acī Mel a, in Assam. Since at least the eighth century, K am akhy a has been revered as one of the most important 'seats of power' or centres of the goddess that dot the landscape of South Asia. However, during the last century, this temple and its festivals have undergone a series of profound transformations-first, in the context of Hindu nationalism and attempts to imagine a unified sacred landscape of 'Mother India', and second, in the context of spiritual tourism and efforts to develop the Northeast region as a new economic powerhouse for the twenty-first century.

This article examines the worship of the snake goddess Manas@ in Assam, with special attention to... more This article examines the worship of the snake goddess Manas@ in Assam, with special attention to the dynamics of gender, identity, and spirit possession. Specifically, the article focuses on two different forms of possession performance in honor of the goddess: the more ecstatic and bloody performed 10 by male dancers at K@m@khy@ temple and the more folklorized and domesticated performance by female dancers on urban stages. Borrowing some ideas from Judith Butler, the article argues that both possession dances enact a kind of " subversion of identity. " This includes not only a subversion of traditional gender identity, as male dancers are possessed by female deities and female 15 dancers enact masculine roles; rather it also involves a profound subversion of the boundaries between the " Hindu " and the " tribal, " between the " Sanskritic " and the " vernacular, " and, ultimately, between the human and the divine.

Numen-international Review for The History of Religions, 2003

History of Religions, 2000

History of Religions, 1998

Revista Científica Arbitrada de la Fundación MenteClara

Este artículo analiza el tantra hindú y la adoración de la diosa en el noreste de la India. Para ... more Este artículo analiza el tantra hindú y la adoración de la diosa en el noreste de la India. Para esto se vale de varias de las ideas de Bataille sobre el erotismo, el sacrificio y la transgresión, al tiempo que las repiensa de manera crítica. Específicamente, analiza la adoración de la diosa Kamakhya y su templo en Assam, que es venerado como uno de los más antiguos «centros de poder» o asientos de la diosa en el sur de Asia y como el centro del órgano sexual de la diosa. En muchos sentidos, el trabajo de Bataille es extremadamente útil para comprender la lógica de la transgresión y el uso de la impureza en esta tradición. Al mismo tiempo, sin embargo, este ejemplo también pone de manifiesto algunas tensiones en el trabajo de Bataille, especialmente, la cuestión de la sexualidad femenina y la representación de las mujeres. En el caso del tantra asamés, la sexualidad femenina juega un papel central e integral en los fenómenos más amplios de la transgresión, los gastos y el éxtasis en...

This article examines the role of secrecy in the Church of Scientology, focusing on one of the mo... more This article examines the role of secrecy in the Church of Scientology, focusing on one of the most confidential and least studied aspects of the Church's advanced auditing levels—Operating Thetan VIII. I use this example as a way of highlighting the complex ethical and epistemological problems in the study of secrecy in new religions. Here, I suggest an alternative approach to the study of secrecy by shifting our gaze away from the attempt to uncover the content of the secret and instead focusing on the more visible forms and strategies through which secrets are maintained, transmitted, revealed and concealed. I trace the ''history of a secret'' by examining five periods and five key strategies in the Operating Thetan materials from the late 1960s to the present: the advertisement of the secret; secrecy as an adorning possession; the litigation of the secret; the liability of the secret; and the irrelevance of the secret. Finally, I conclude with reflections on the comparative implications of this example for the study of new religions more broadly.

Gnosis, 2019

This article traces the idea of neo-Gnosticism in a series of occult and new religious movements ... more This article traces the idea of neo-Gnosticism in a series of occult and new religious movements from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Specifically, the article examines the links between two controversial groups that both described themselves as modern forms of Gnosticism: first, the European esoteric group, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and second, the American new religion, the Church of Scientology. Founded by Theodor Reuss in Germany in the 1890s, the O.T.O. described itself as a form of "Gnostic Neo-Christian Templar" religion, with sexual magic as its primary ritual secret. Its most infamous leader, British occultist Aleister Crowley, also developed a full scale "Gnostic Mass" for the group. Many elements of the O.T.O. and Crowley's work were later picked up by none other than L. Ron Hubbard, the eclectic founder of Scientology, who also called his new church a "Gnostic religion," since it is the "knowing of knowing" (scientia + logos). To conclude, I will discuss the ways in which these Gnostic and occult elements within Scientology later became a source of embarrassment for the church and were eventually either obscured or denied altogether-in effect, obfuscated by still further layers of secrecy and concealment.

Handbook of UFO Religions

Religious Studies Review, 2021

Urban on Netflix's Osho Documentary Wild Wild Country Conducted via email in December of 2020. Do... more Urban on Netflix's Osho Documentary Wild Wild Country Conducted via email in December of 2020. Documentary Reviewed WILD WILD COUNTRY. Directed by Maclain Way and Chapman Way; Duplass Brothers Productions, 2018. Six episodes. RT 403 Min.

Handbook of Spiritualism and Channeling

Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy, 2022

Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy, 2022

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2004

Although the forces of Eros and Magic have long been linked in western esoteric traditions, it is... more Although the forces of Eros and Magic have long been linked in western esoteric traditions, it is really not until the nineteenth century that we see the emergence of a large and sophisticated body of literature on the art of sexual magic. This article examines the rise of sexual magic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, placing it in the context of the larger discourse surrounding sexuality in American and British society of the Victorian era. Specifically, I focus on the teachings of the American spiritualist Paschal Beverly Randolph; the infamous Aleister Crowley; and the founder of the first Tantrik Order in America, Pierre Bernard. Following the lead of Michel Foucault, I argue that this new literature on sexual magic was part of the larger interest in sex that pervaded Victorian culture. Far from being a period of repression and prudery, the Victorian era witnessed an unprecedented explosion of discourse on sex, particularly in its non-reproductive forms. The rise of sexual magic at once reflects and yet also subverts many of the sexual values of mainstream Victorian culture. At the same time, however, I argue that Randolph, Crowley, and Bernard were all in their own ways somewhat ahead of their times and foreshadowed much of the obsession with sex and its liberation in contemporary America at the turn of the millennium.

Numen-international Review for The History of Religions, 1997

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2001

Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2005

I would first like to thank Dr. Verter for taking the trouble to read and comment on my article, ... more I would first like to thank Dr. Verter for taking the trouble to read and comment on my article, "Sacred Capital: Pierre Bourdieu and the Study of Religion" (Urban 2003) in his piece for Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (Verter 2004). His critique contains several good points and has forced me to take a second look at my own interpretation of Bourdieu's work and its relevance for the study of religion. However, I must say that I was frustrated to see that Verter misrepresented many parts of my article, and I am somewhat annoyed to have to reiterate several basic points here. While Verter suggests that I have misunder stood Bourdieu in my article, I can only conclude that Verter has fun damentally misread and distorted my argument in certain key respects. I found it rather telling and also ironic that Verter begins his arti cle with an anecdote about our first conversation on Bourdieu during his campus interview for a position at OSU. One piece of that story that Verter neglected to include was that he was not offered the job, in part because his work so closely overlapped the work I had already done using Bourdieu's concept of symbolic capital to interpret religion and religious secrecy (Urban 1998, 2001). Verter does, however, make sure to alert the reader to his own article on Bourdieu and religion (2003), published at roughly the same time as mine with a very simi lar title. If one were to apply a strict Bourdieuan interpretation to Verter's critique, one would have to assume that all academic discourse is politically "interested," that is, concerned with the pursuit of status, recognition, prestige and other forms of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1988);1

Religion, 1995

... The severed head and the severed penis are both dangerous, destructive and yet also supremely... more ... The severed head and the severed penis are both dangerous, destructive and yet also supremely powerful ... try to imitate Suiva literally, rather than just symbolically, in all of his most violent and ... the crime of beheading Brahma¯ precisely for the sake of founding the cult of the Ka ...

Religion, 1996

... Rajneesh's ideal was in fact that of 'Zorba the Buddha', the perfect synthesis... more ... Rajneesh's ideal was in fact that of 'Zorba the Buddha', the perfect synthesis of the spiritual and material, the religious and capitalist impulses. After analysing and criticizing the classical Weberian concept of 'charisma', this paper argues that charismatic authority is by no means ...

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 1996

... Kartābhajā dharmamata o itihās (Calcutta, 1977) and Ratan Kumār Nandi, Kartābhajā Dharma o Sā... more ... Kartābhajā dharmamata o itihās (Calcutta, 1977) and Ratan Kumār Nandi, Kartābhajā Dharma o Sāhitya (Naihati, Asani Press, 1984). Earlier and less reliable accounts include: Aksayakumar Datta, Bharatavarsīya Upāsaka sampradāya (Calcutta, 1911); HHWilson, Sketch of ...

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 1995

Page 1. South Asia, Vol. XVIII, no. 1 (1995), pp. 55-81. THE STRATEGIC USES OF AN ESOTERIC TEXT: ... more Page 1. South Asia, Vol. XVIII, no. 1 (1995), pp. 55-81. THE STRATEGIC USES OF AN ESOTERIC TEXT: THE MAHĀANIRVĀNA TANTRA Hugh B. Urban Chicago AMONG ALL THE STRANGE, UNORTHODOX, AND OFTEN ...

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 1995

Page 1. South Asia, Vol. XVIII, no. 1 (1995), pp. 55-81. THE STRATEGIC USES OF AN ESOTERIC TEXT: ... more Page 1. South Asia, Vol. XVIII, no. 1 (1995), pp. 55-81. THE STRATEGIC USES OF AN ESOTERIC TEXT: THE MAHĀANIRVĀNA TANTRA Hugh B. Urban Chicago AMONG ALL THE STRANGE, UNORTHODOX, AND OFTEN ...

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 1996

... Kartābhajā dharmamata o itihās (Calcutta, 1977) and Ratan Kumār Nandi, Kartābhajā Dharma o Sā... more ... Kartābhajā dharmamata o itihās (Calcutta, 1977) and Ratan Kumār Nandi, Kartābhajā Dharma o Sāhitya (Naihati, Asani Press, 1984). Earlier and less reliable accounts include: Aksayakumar Datta, Bharatavarsīya Upāsaka sampradāya (Calcutta, 1911); HHWilson, Sketch of ...

Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2002

Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2001

What was I to do about the cold, hard fact that I and my teachers before me had manipulated cultu... more What was I to do about the cold, hard fact that I and my teachers before me had manipulated cultural materials beyond the constraints of my sources to make them fit my views, my theories?.... I suspected ... that this incident reflects Western man's way of being in the world-colonist and imperialist, arrogant and insensitive, professing great humane causes but accomplishing the opposite. I began to fear that this tiny incident in my academic practice characterized not only my work but also the work of my profession and my cultural and intellectual heritage. Not wanting to face this way of spending ... my life, the research and reflections that have become this book were self-examination in the service of self-justification: my efforts to rationalize why I am doing with my life what I am.

Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 2007

Method &# 38; Theory in the Study of Religion, 13, 2001

What was I to do about the cold, hard fact that I and my teachers before me had manipulated cultu... more What was I to do about the cold, hard fact that I and my teachers before me had manipulated cultural materials beyond the constraints of my sources to make them fit my views, my theories?.... I suspected ... that this incident reflects Western man's way of being in the world-colonist and imperialist, arrogant and insensitive, professing great humane causes but accomplishing the opposite. I began to fear that this tiny incident in my academic practice characterized not only my work but also the work of my profession and my cultural and intellectual heritage. Not wanting to face this way of spending ... my life, the research and reflections that have become this book were self-examination in the service of self-justification: my efforts to rationalize why I am doing with my life what I am.

Discourse, 2006

Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever see... more Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. [. . .] Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists [. . .] . The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Method & Theory in The Study of Religion, 2004

History of Religions, 1998

Nova Religio-journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2005

... Scandal, Secrecy, and Censorship in the Works of John Woodroffe and Swami Vivekananda 134 5 .... more ... Scandal, Secrecy, and Censorship in the Works of John Woodroffe and Swami Vivekananda 134 5 ... or ecstatic experience that we feel we have lost amid a rationalized, demys-tified, modernworld? ... After my repeated prodding, he finally lost his patience and ex-claimed,“All you ...

Journal of Asian Studies

review of Hugh B. Urban, Tantra