New religious consciousness / edited by Charles Y. Glock and Robert N. Bellah.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Glock, Charles Y., editor.

Bellah, Robert N. (Robert Neelly), 1927-2013, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spirituality.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (411 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1976]

Summary:

Since the mid-1960s, new religious movements--some exotic, some homegrown--have burgeoned all over the United States. A sense of self-awareness and spiritual sensitivity have found expression in the lives of large numbers of people, especially among youth. Why would this happen? What do these movements teach, and what effect do they have on the future? How does religious consciousness relate to other manifestations of social change, such as communal living, group therapy, and radical politics? Beginning in 1971, an extensive research project was undertaken by a team of sociologists, historians, and theologians seeking answers to these questions. Through a combination of interviews and participant observations, they studied new religious and quasi-religious groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, a spawning ground for upwards of one hundred such movements. The New Religious Consciousness opens with reports on three Eastern-based movements: the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization, Hare Krishna, and Divine Light (more popularly known by the name of its leader, Maharaj Ji). Three quasi-religious movements are then considered: the New Left, the Human Potential Movement (Esalen, EST, Scientology, etc.), and Synanon. Next, three movements having their roots in Western religious traditions are examined: the Christian World Liberation Front (an offshoot of the Jesus Movement), Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and the Church of Satan (whose members believe in witchcraft). Succeeding chapters are devoted to estimating the impact of these movements on established religions and the population at large and to the history of earlier periods of religious ferment in the United States. The book concludes with provocative essays by the editors in which they present separate and differing analyses of the sources, nature, and meaning of the new religious

consciousness. A variety of perspectives are represented here: phenomenological, theological, experiential, sociological, and social psychological. The result is a book rich in insight about the nature of new religions. Taken together with a companion volume, Robert Wuthnow's The Consciousness Reformation, also published by University of California Press, The New Religious Consciousness provides the first comprehensive study of American countercultural belief systems. With contributions by: Randall H. Alfred Robert N. Bellah Charles Y. Glock Barbara Hargrove Donald Heinz Gregory Johnson Ralph Lane, Jr. Jeanne Messer Richard Ofshe Thomas Piazza Linda K. Pritchard Donald Stone Alan Tobey James Wolfe Robert Wuthnow This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Part I: New Religious Movements in the Asian Tradition

1. The Summer Solstice of the Healthy-Happy-Holy Organization

2. The Hare Krishna in San Francisco

3. Guru Maharaj Ji and the Divine Light Mission

Part II: New Quasi-religious Movements

4. The New Consciousness and the Berkeley New Left

5. The Human Potential Movement

6. Synanon: The People Business

Part Ill: New Religious Movements in the Western Tradition

7. The Christian World Liberation Front

8. Catholic Charismatic Renewal

9. The Church of Satan

Part IV: The Response of the Established Religions

10. Church Student Ministries and the New Consciousness

11. Three Congregations

12. Jewish Identity and the Counterculture

Part V: The Survey

13. The New Religions in Social Context

Part VI: Historical Perspective

14. Religious Change in Nineteenth-Century America

Part VII: Conclusions

15. New Religious Consciousness and the Crisis in Modernity

16. Consciousness among Contemporary Youth: An Interpretation

About the Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520378193

OCLC:

1439602933