New religions in global perspective : a study of religious change in the modern world / Peter B. Clarke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clarke, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religions--History--20th century.

Religions.

Religions--History--21st century.

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 385 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2006.

Summary:

"New Religions in Global Perspective" is the first truly worldwide account of the new religious movements that are currently the fastest-growing faith phenomenon in many parts of the globe. Ranging from North America and Europe to Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, the book provides students with a complete introduction to groups such as Falun Gong, Soka Gakkai, the Brahma Kumaris, the Nation of Islam, Messianic Judaism, Rastafarianism, the Peyote cult, and Brazilian Candomble. Peter Clarke explores the dramatic rise of these enormously varied movements, charting their cultural significance and global impact, and discussing their place in a modern world of constant religious change. He also considers the many important ways in which their status as new religions is defined and understood, from genuinely unprecedented faiths with strictly modern roots to others that manifest themselves as new forms of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Paganism.

Contents:

New religious movements (NRMs) : a global perspective

The new age movement (NAM) : alternative or mainstream?

Accounting for hostility to NRMs

Europe

North America

Australia, New Zealand and Melanesia (New Guinea)

North Africa and the Middle East

Africa, south of the Sahara

South and Central America and the Caribbean

South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)

Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia)

East Asia (1) : Japanese NRMs

East Asia (2) : NRMs in China, Taiwan and Korea

Future trends.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [361]-364) and index.

ISBN:

0415257476

0415257484

0203508335

OCLC:

60705487

Publisher Number:

9780415257473 (hbk.)

9780415257480 (pbk.)