New Religions & the New Europe

by Towler, Robert; Beckford, James A. (CON); Bergeron, Richard (CON); Bracke, Sarah (CON); Campion-Vincent, Veronique (CON)

• ISBN13: 9788772884332
• ISBN10: 8772884339
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag

Summary

This volume contains fifteen presentations on new religions in contemporary Europe, both East and West, in addition to reactions and responses to them. It is composed of highlights from a 1993 international conference in London. Held at the London School of Economics, the conference was presented under the auspices of the three major information centres on new religions in the world, namely, INFORM (Information Network Focus on Studies on Religion Movements, London), CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions, Turin, Italy) and ISAR (Institute for the Study of American Religions, Santa Barbara, California). The topics discussed include religious developments in the former Communist Bloc, reactions and responses to new religious movements, as well as various commentary on specific new movements.

Table of Contents

Old Sects and New Religions in Europe	p. 11
The Secular Anti-Cult and the Religious Counter-Cult Movement: Strange Bedfellows or Future Enemies?	p. 32
The Evangelical Thrust into Eastern Europe in the 1990s	p. 57
Pan-Baltic Identity and Religio-Cultural Expression in Contemporary Lithuania	p. 72
The New Religious Landscape in Romania	p. 87
Cults, Conflicts and Journalists	p. 99
The Christian Receptions of the New Age	p. 112
New Age: The Religion of the Future?	p. 125
Ritual Abuse Accusations and Incitement to Religious Hatred: Pagans and Christians in Court	p. 146
Descriptions of Sabbats and Rituals in Contemporary Anti-Satanic Fears	p. 159
Growth Patterns of New Religions: The Case of Baha'i	p. 177
The Raelian Movement International	p. 194
Dread in Babylon: An Explorative Field Study of the Twelve Tribes of Israel	p. 211
African Independent Churches in Britain: An Introductory Survey	p. 224
Tocqueville's Lessons from the New World for Religion in the New Europe	p. 232
Index	p. 243
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