Religious Legitimacy (original) (raw)
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Scientology: An Analysis and comparison of its religious systems and doctrines
In this piece originally published in 1999, Professor Bryan Ronald Wilson systematically analyzes Scientology’s religious systems and doctrines and places them in comparative context with Buddhism, Hinduism, Christian Science, Judaism, and Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity. His analysis is made on the basis of academic study that commenced in 1968, including interviews with Scientologists and visits to Church sites in England. Differing definitions of religion have existed across time and cultures, he explains, but the Church of Scientology’s theology, practices and communal structures make it “clear to me that Scientology is a bona fide religion and should be considered as such.” BIOGRAPHY Bryan Ronald Wilson, Ph.D., (1926–2004) was reader emeritus in sociology at the University of Oxford. From 1963 to 1993 he was also a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and in 1993 was elected an emeritus fellow. For more than fifty years he conducted research into minority religious movements in Britain, the United States, Ghana, Kenya, Belgium, Japan and other countries. Dr. Wilson earned his doctorate in sociology from the London School of Economics in 1955, authored dozens of articles, and wrote or edited dozens of books, including: Sects and Society: The Sociology of Three Religious Groups in Britain (1961); Patterns of Sectarianism (edited, 1967); Religious Sects (1970, also published in translation in French, German, Spanish, Swedish and Japanese); Magic and the Millennium (1973); Contemporary Transformations of Religion (1976, also published in translation in Italian and Japanese); The Social Impact of the New Religious Movements (edited, 1981); Religion in Sociological Perspective (1982); The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism (1990); and A Time to Chant: the Soka Gakki Buddhists in Britain (1994). In 1984, the University of Oxford recognized the value of his published work by conferring upon him the degree of D.Litt. In 1992, the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, awarded him the degree of doctor honoris causa. In 1994, he was elected a fellow of the British Academy.
Postscript Subsidia IV - Scientology in a scholarly perspective
Scientology in a Scholarly Perspective, a collection of academic papers by a wide range of international scholars, was released January 25 in Antwerp by the Faculty for Comparative Study of Religions and Humanism (FVG). The bilingual work, in English and French, is the 2017 edition of the FVG’s annual publication Acta Comparanda. It contains papers by religion scholars from the United States, Belgium, France, Italy and Australia delivered at the 2014 International Conference “Scientology in a Scholarly Perspective.” This is the english version of the postscript written by Rev Eric Roux.
Review of European Studies
New religion movements are one of the most interesting social phenomena in recent decades. As an alternative communal and individualist way of life, these movements offer a transcendental, non-secular way of life that challenges the values of liberal society while remaining within its legal and normative boundaries. In the course of this paper, and by using an analytical description of Foucault’s assumptions, I will examine the discursive and practical operation of the Scientology Church as a new religion movement that transcends the individual subject. I will describe the themes of Scientology as pastoral techniques, and its neo-liberal subjective constitution as a part of the conservative, normative mechanism of modern Western society, while arguing that they pose, at the same time, a potential ethical alternative that subverts the epistemological boundaries of Western liberal society.
„Scientology – A New Age Religion?“
Jim Lewis (ed.), Scientology. Oxford University Press. Oxford 2009, 225–243, 2009
In the German context, the term "New Age" has almost vanished completely from the discourses in society as well as in academics. 1 This is due to the fact that the New Age label has been replaced by a broader use of the term "esotericism" (Esoterik), and even in academia the term is used only in a narrow sense nowadays, with reference to the "historical" and formative phase of a relatively distinct movement or "discourse" in the seventies and eighties of the last century. 2 Accordingly, and different from the usage of the term in Anglophone contexts, contemporary people with alternative or esoteric religious orientations would not refer to themselves as "New Agers" in Germany at all, as it would still be possible in, for example, Great Britain. Accordingly, the title of this essay is referring to the wider and unspecific notion of "New Age" as it is still established in the Anglophone context. Scientology has often been put into question with regard to its "religious" nature, and several scholars in the new religious movements area have even refrained from a closer study of Scientology. If Scientology is viewed as a religion at all-an issue which is again and again debated both in academic religious studies as well as in the quarrels about the legal status of this organization in various countries-it is mainly perceived as a candidate which might fit into this 'alternative' realm of modern religiosity denoted by such labels like "New Age" or "Esotericism". Following its formal beginning in the 1950ies, the "Church of Scientology" has gradually surfaced as the most hotly debated movement during the second half of the twentieth century, and it is stimulating ongoing discussions until today. For a differentiated and unbiased answer to the question concerning the religious "nature" or "function" of Scientology, it is therefore necessary to recapitulate the historical formation of Scientology, its basic anthropological, soteriological and cosmological convictions, as well as its rituals and institutions, and to relate these findings to the wider realm of contemporary, or older, religious movements-a task, which obviously exceeds the scope of this essay. Certainly, several aspects of Scientology don't fit easily into "traditional" concepts of religion, whereas others appear definitely "religious" again.-The question of this essay therefore is, whether Scientology could be perceived as a typical esoteric or "New Age"-version of religion and "Weltanschauung" within the context of our postmodern industrial society.
The Journal of CESNUR - Scientology and the New CultWars
The Journal of CESNUR Volume 2, Issue 2 March-April 2018, 2018
Introduction: Scientology and the New CultWars ABSTRACT: Russian efforts aimed at “liquidating” the Church of Scientology confirm that the “cult wars,” often described as long dead in the West, continue in countries such as Russia, China, or Hungary. Media remain largely hostile to Scientology even in the West. This issue of The Journal of CESNUR explores developments in the Church of Scientology in the 21st century and the reasons of this persistent hostility, which appears somewhat paradoxical as both scholars and courts of law throughout the world increasingly recognize Scientology as a religion. NOTE: I am not an author of this Journal, I am simply a promoter of this work. Unfortunately the current Academia program doesn't allow one to be removed from the author's box. The work is made available as is with the links to the exact reference source where it was found. Director-in-Charge | Direttore responsabile Marco Respinti Editor-in-Chief | Direttore Massimo Introvigne Center for Studies on New Religions, Turin, Italy Associate Editor | Vicedirettore PierLuigi Zoccatelli Pontifical Salesian University, Turin, Italy Editorial Board / International Consultants Milda Ališauskienė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania Eileen Barker London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom Luigi Berzano University of Turin, Turin, Italy Antoine Faivre École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France Holly Folk Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, USA Liselotte Frisk Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden J. Gordon Melton Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA Susan Palmer McGill University, Montreal, Canada Stefania Palmisano University of Turin, Turin, Italy Bernadette Rigal-Cellard Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Bordeaux, France Instructions for Authors and submission guidelines can be found on our website at www.cesnur.net. ISSN: 2532-2990 The Journal of CESNUR is published bi-monthly by CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Via Confienza 19, 10121 Torino, Italy. The Journal of CESNUR Volume 2, Issue 2, March—April 2018 Contents Articles 3 Introduction: Scientology and the New Cult Wars The Journal of CESNUR 11 Is Scientology a Religion? Luigi Berzano 21 A Contemporary Ordered Religious Community: The Sea Organization J. Gordon Melton 60 “The Most Misunderstood Human Endeavor”: L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and Fine Arts Massimo Introvigne Research Notes / Scientology, Anti-Cultists, and the State in Russia and Hungary 93 The Social Construction of “Extremism” in Russia: From the Jehovah’s Witnesses to Scientology and Beyond Massimo Introvigne 101 The Provisions Against Religious Extremism and Illegal Business Activity as Instruments for Outlawing Religious Minorities in Russia: The Case of the Church of Scientology Boris Falikov Volume 2, Issue 2, March—April 2018 111 What Is Really Happening in Russia? A Response to Prof. Introvigne and Prof. Falikov PierLuigi Zoccatelli 118 Religious Discrimination and State Neutrality: The Case of Scientology in Hungary Patricia Duval BookReviews 124 Kent, Stephen A., and Susan Raine, eds. Scientology and Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy Reviewed by Massimo Introvigne 129 Aldo Natale Terrin, Scientology. Libertà e immortalità Reviewed by Luigi Berzano