J 2012

Western “Eastern wisdom” and the concept of new religions : remapping the field

FUJDA, Milan

Basic information

Original name

Western “Eastern wisdom” and the concept of new religions : remapping the field

Authors

FUJDA, Milan (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Slovenský národopis, Bratislava, Slovak Academic Press, 2012, 1335-1303

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

50000 5. Social Sciences

Country of publisher

Slovakia

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/12:00062962

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

new religious movements; Hinduism; occultism; communication; printed media; Czech

Tags

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 13/4/2013 11:32, Mgr. Vendula Hromádková

Abstract

V originále

Terms "new religions" or "new religious movements" refer usually to 1950s or 1960s as the time of the origin of particular religious groups/movements. Yet to set up a date is something else then to clarify why the date is important. The debate concerning NRMs is, however, either surprisingly silent on this issue or inconsistent in subsuming particular cases under this heading. Sociologists and scholars of religion seem to do, in this field, little more than balancing the anticultist discourse with minor terminological differences creating an impression of value neutrality. In the following article I will examine the concept of "new religions" on the background of an introduction of communication through the printed media. Using data from my research on acculturation of Hinduism in Czech occultism during the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, I will point out that this factor played significant role in modernization of religions in general – "new" as well as "old" – and that after contrasting new religiosity with traditional one while dwelling on a more conservative understanding of the "traditional", difference between "new" and "old" religions will largely vanish while new possibilities of understanding more important distinctions in the field of religion in modern societies might emerge.

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