Revelatory Events : Three Case Studies of the Emergence of New Spiritual Paths / Ann Taves.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taves, Ann, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latter Day Saint churches.

Spirituality--Case studies.

Spirituality.

Spiritual life--Case studies.

Spiritual life.

Revelation--Case studies.

Revelation.

Experience (Religion)--Case studies.

Experience (Religion).

Course in Miracles.

Alcoholics Anonymous.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (379 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

first [edition].

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these unusual phenomena give rise to new spiritual paths or religious movements. Revelatory Events provides fresh insights into what is perhaps the bedrock of all religious belief-the claim that otherworldly powers are active in human affairs.Ann Taves looks at Mormonism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and A Course in Miracles-three cases in which insiders claimed that a spiritual presence guided the emergence of a new spiritual path. In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr., reportedly translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates unearthed with the help of an angel. Bill Wilson cofounded AA after having an ecstatic experience while hospitalized for alcoholism in 1934. Helen Schucman scribed the words of an inner voice that she attributed to Jesus, which formed the basis of her 1976 best-selling self-study course. In each case, Taves argues, the sense of a guiding presence emerged through a complex, creative interaction between a founding figure with unusual mental abilities and an initial set of collaborators who were drawn into the process by diverse motives of their own.A major work of scholarship, this compelling and accessible book traces the very human processes behind such events.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations and Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1. Making Meaning

Part 2. Creating Paths

Conclusion

Appendix. Discussion of Methods

Appendix Charts

Bibliography

Author Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2016.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781400884469

1400884462

OCLC:

1017608501