- The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Categorizing Religious Organizations: In Search of a Theoretically Meaningful Strategy
- Conversion
- Charisma and Authority in New Religious Movements
- Disaffiliation and New Religious Movements
- Seekers and Subcultures
- Quantitative Approaches to New Religions
- Psychology and New Religious Movements
- As It Was in the Beginning: Developmental Moments in the Emergence of New Religions
- The North American Anticult Movement
- The Christian Countercult Movement
- Legal Dimensions of New Religions: An Update
- Brainwashing and “Cultic Mind Control”
- From Jonestown to 9/11 and Beyond: Mapping the Contours of Violence and New Religious Movements
- Conspiracy Theories and New Religious Movements
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Cult Journalism
- Invention in “New New” Religions
- Children in New Religions
- Media, Technology, and New Religious Movements: A Review of the Field
- New Religions and Science
- Gender and New Religions
- Sex and New Religions
- Occulture and Everyday Enchantment
- Rituals and Ritualization in New Religions Movements
- The Mythic Dimensions of New Religious Movements: Function, Reality Construction, and Process
- Religious Experiences in New Religious Movements
- New Religious Movements and Scripture
- Material Religion
- Hagiography: A Note on the Narrative Exaltation of Sect Leaders and Heads of New Religions
- Millennialism: New Religious Movements and the Quest for a New Age
- What Does God Need with a Starship?: UFOs and Extraterrestrials in the Contemporary Religious Landscape
- Late Modern Shamanism in a Norwegian Context: Global Networks—Local Grounds
- Modern Religious Satanism: A Negotiation of Tensions
- Western Esotericism and New Religious Movements
- The New Age
- The Study of Paganism and Wicca: A Review Essay
- Native American Prophet Religions
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Mythology refers to sacred narratives that form the basis of a religion’s world view. In this chapter, Diana Tumminia argues that, despite the significant body of theoretical work that has been carried out by anthropologists and others, the mythological dimension of new religions has been largely ignored. Using Unarius Society, feminist Witchcraft and the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness as examples, the author observes that NRM myths are not fixed, but, rather, change in response to the ongoing process of reality construction taking place within such movements.
Keywords: New Religious Movements, Mythology, Bronsilaw Malinowski, Unarius Academy of Science, Feminist Witchcraft, Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
Diana G. Tumminia teaches at California State University at Sacramento. She studied social psychology and ethnography at UCLA. Her publications address various topics in the sociology of religion, the psychology of belief, and excellence in teaching. Her expertise also extends into the areas of race and gender studies.
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- The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Categorizing Religious Organizations: In Search of a Theoretically Meaningful Strategy
- Conversion
- Charisma and Authority in New Religious Movements
- Disaffiliation and New Religious Movements
- Seekers and Subcultures
- Quantitative Approaches to New Religions
- Psychology and New Religious Movements
- As It Was in the Beginning: Developmental Moments in the Emergence of New Religions
- The North American Anticult Movement
- The Christian Countercult Movement
- Legal Dimensions of New Religions: An Update
- Brainwashing and “Cultic Mind Control”
- From Jonestown to 9/11 and Beyond: Mapping the Contours of Violence and New Religious Movements
- Conspiracy Theories and New Religious Movements
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Cult Journalism
- Invention in “New New” Religions
- Children in New Religions
- Media, Technology, and New Religious Movements: A Review of the Field
- New Religions and Science
- Gender and New Religions
- Sex and New Religions
- Occulture and Everyday Enchantment
- Rituals and Ritualization in New Religions Movements
- The Mythic Dimensions of New Religious Movements: Function, Reality Construction, and Process
- Religious Experiences in New Religious Movements
- New Religious Movements and Scripture
- Material Religion
- Hagiography: A Note on the Narrative Exaltation of Sect Leaders and Heads of New Religions
- Millennialism: New Religious Movements and the Quest for a New Age
- What Does God Need with a Starship?: UFOs and Extraterrestrials in the Contemporary Religious Landscape
- Late Modern Shamanism in a Norwegian Context: Global Networks—Local Grounds
- Modern Religious Satanism: A Negotiation of Tensions
- Western Esotericism and New Religious Movements
- The New Age
- The Study of Paganism and Wicca: A Review Essay
- Native American Prophet Religions
- Index
