NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND SOCIAL CHANGE

• Introduction to the course
• 8.9.2005

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Peoples Temple

• November 18, 1978
• mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
• 914 members died, 276 of them children

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Peoples Temple

• Peoples Temple Christian Church Jonestown
• founded by James Warren Jones in 1955.
• Pentecostal leaning
• campaign for racial integration gt 20 African
  American
• 1977
• under scrutiny for illegal practices and tax
  evasion
• relocation to Jonestown, Guyana
• conditions not as expected 
• 1978
• gt Leo Ryan sent to investigate

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Other colletive suicides

• Order of the Solar Temple
• 1997 - Canada (5 dead)
• 1995 France (16 dead)
• 1994 - Switzerland (48 dead)
• 1994 Canada (5 dead)
• Heaven's Gate
• 1997 - San Diego, CA (39 dead)
• The Movement for the Restoration of Ten
  Commandments of God
• 2000 Uganda (300 - ? dead)
• Other
• Vietnam (1993), Mexico (1990, 1991), South Korea
  (1987)

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Branch Davidians

• February 28, 1993
• BD compound at Mount Carmel in Waco led by David
  Koresh
• raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
  Firearms (BATF)
• suspected of firearms violations
• six Davidians and four BATF agents die
• FBI takes over and starts a siege lasting for 51
  days
• April 19, 1993
• compound attacked with tanks
• Koresh and 75 of his followers die (including 21
  children)
• Suicide, gassing, fire?

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Branch Davidians

• Founded in 1929
• by Bulgarian Victor Houteff (divine messenger of
  God)
• Houteff dies in 1955
• A sequence of internal fights and divisions
• Early 1990s
• Vernon Howell assumes leadership
• gt David Koresh (a form of Cyrus/ Christ in
  Greek)
• apocalypse would occur in America
• survivalist tactics
• stockpiling food and weapons
• 1992 - Mount Carmel community "Ranch
  Apocalypse"

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Aum Shinrikyo

• Sarin attacks in Japan
• June 27, 1994 Matsumoto (7 die)
• March 20, 1995 Tokyo subway (12 die) and
  thousands injured

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Aum Shinrikyo

• Founded by Asahara Shoko (born Chizuo Matsumoto)
  in 1986
• Aum "powers of destruction and creation in the
  universe" (Sanskrit)
• Shinrikyo "teaching of the supreme truth"
• Armageddon is inevitable
• gt political action needed to save the world
• Shinrito ("Supreme Truth party") political party
  in 1989
• Early 1990s - shift in ideology
• the world cannot be saved
• new goals
• limit the number of deaths due to apocalypse
• protect themselves
• gt construction of nuclear shelters and communes
• gt production of sarin

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The Family

• The Children of God (COG)
• Founded
• in 1968 Huntington Beach, California
• by David Brandt Berg
• "Moses David," "Mo," "Father David," "Dad"

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The Family

• Particularities
• anti-establishment ideology
• hippie and community lifestyle
• colonies, tribes etc

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The Family

• Mo Letters
• after Berg relocated to London (1970s)
• The Laws of Moses / "Voice of God Himself"
• Aggressive proselytizing
• Litnessing
• distribution of Mo Letters
• Flirty Fishing
• 1976-1987
• 1 million new recruits
• Anti-COG movement (1971)
• FREECOG "Free Our Children from the Children of
  God"

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The Church of Scientology

• Founded by Lafayette Ronald (L. Ron) Hubbard in
  1954
• Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health
  (1950)
• doctrinal/sacred book
• influence of psychoanalysis
• Dianetics gt Scientology
• Controversial practices, dependency creation,
  brainwashing

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Jon Frum movement

• New Hebrides (Vanuatu, Tanna)
• Jon/John Frum
• a messianic figure
• arrives with airplane on 15 February
• brings "cargo"
• drives all white people from the island
• 1940s
• American troops in the New Hebrides
• wealth (cargo)
• rituals (marching, flag-raising)
• clothing (khaki uniforms)

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General information

• Times Thu 12-14
• Location Unioninkatu 38, D 112
• Instructor Toomas Gross
• Email toomas.gross_at_helsinki.fi
• Phone [phone]
• Office Hours Thurs 12-14, U38 E 308
• www http//www.helsinki.fi/antropologia/opetus.
  htm

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Course requirements

• Requirements
• Participation / classroom discussions
• Theoretical essay
• Ethnographic essay
• Evaluation
• Participation / classroom discussions 30
• Theoretical essay 30
• Ethnographic essay 40

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Participation/discussions

• Participation
• 60 of the classes
• Classroom discussions
• 15-30 minutes at the end of each class
• based on the lecture and readings
• Occasional "homework"
• e.g. "reflection papers"

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Essays

• Theoretical essay
• on broader theoretical issues discussed in the
  lectures
• 5-6 pages
• three different bibliographic sources
• make your own argument
• due on 1 December
• Ethnographic essay
• 8-10 pages in length
• Case study of a particular religious movement
• first-hand collection of data encouraged
• focus on a particular issue or a problem
• due on 15 December

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Essays

• Language
• Finnish, Swedish or English
• Submission
• by email at toomas.gross_at_helsinki.fi.
• Suggested essay topics and readings
• in syllabus
• Late submission penalty
• graded down 5 per day (up to 40)
• both essays to be submitted by 15 January.

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Texts and reading materials

• Required readings
• Master copies by D112 at Unionkatu 38
• Suggested readings
• For essays
• List of readers and general background literature
• List of websites

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2. Lecture (15.9)New religious movements
terminology, typology, and characteristics

• Readings
• Richardson Definitions of Cult From
  Sociological-Techincal to Popular-Negative. (in
  Dawson 1998)
• Wilson The Problem of Definition. (in Wilson
  1970)

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3. Lecture (22.9)New religious movements and
social change

• Readings
• Hunter The New Religions Demodernization and
  The Protest Against Modernity (in Wilson 1981)
• Dawson Why Did New Religious Movements Emerge?
  (in Dawson 1998)

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4. Lecture (29.9)Prophets, gurus, and charisma

• Readings
• Bromley and Shupe The Leaders Gurus and
  Prophets, or Madmen and Charlatans? (in Bromley
  and Shupe 1981)
• Dawson Crises of Charismatic Authority and
  Violent Behavior in New Religious Movements (in
  Bromley and Melton 2002)

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5. Lecture (6.10)Ordinary members conversion
and apostasy

• Readings
• Bromley and Shupe Joining the New Religions
  Brainwashing or Conversion? (in Bromley and Shupe
  1981)
• Wright Leaving New Religious Movements Issues,
  Theory, and Research (in Bromley 1988)

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6. Lecture (13.10)New religious movements and
violence

• Readings
• Melton, Bromley Challenging Misconceptions abou
  the New Religions Violence Connection (in
  Bromley and Melton 2002)
• Robbins Source of Volatility in Religious
  Movements. (in Bromley and Melton 2002)

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7. Lecture (20.10)NRMs in non-Western societies
I nativistic/revitalization movements

• Readings
• Kracht The Kiowa Ghost Dance, 1894-1916 An
  Unheralded Revitalization Movement (in
  Ethnohistory 39 (4) 1992)
• Capeci and Knight Reactions to Colonialism
  The North American Ghost Dance and East African
  Maji-Maji Rebellions (in Historian 54 (4) 1990)

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27.10 no lecture
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8. Lecture (3.11)NRMs in non-Western societies
II cargo cults

• Readings
• Lattas Telephones, Cameras and Technology in
  West New Britain Cargo Cults (in Oceania 70,
  2000)
• Dalton Cargo Cults and Discursive Madness (in
  Oceania 70, 2000)

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9. Lecture (10.11)NRMs in Western societies I
Movements of Christian origin

• Readings
• Stark and Iannaccone Why the Jehovahs
  Witnesses Grow so Rapidly A Theoretical
  Application (in Journal of Contemporary Religion
  12 (2) 1997)
• Jenkins The Devil Rides in Charismatic
  Christians and the Depiction of a Satanic Menace
  in Contemporary Great Britain (In Religiogiques
  11, 1995)

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10. Lecture (17.11)NRMs in Western societies II
Movements of non-Christian origin

• Readings
• Dawson The Cultural Significance of New
  Religious Movements The Case of Soka Gakkai (in
  Sociology of Religion 62(3) 2001)
• Puttick, E. New religions and Counter-culture.
  (in Lehmann Myers 2001)

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11. Lecture (24.11)New religious movements and
secularization

• Readings
• Stark and Bainbridge Secularization, Revival,
  and Cult Formation (in Dawson 1998)
• Wilson Secularization The Inherited Model (in
  Hammond 1985)

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Deadlines

• 1.12 Theoretical essay deadline
• 15.12 Ethnographic essay deadline
• 22.12 Grades posted in the department and
  feedback

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Suggested theoretical essay topics

• Is it justified to distinguish between cult and
  religion?
• What is "new" about new religious movements?
• NRMs a symptom of modernity or a reaction to
  it?
• NRMs as a form of cultural resistance in colonial
  and postcolonial context.
• Why does protest so often take a religious form?
• Does modernization lead inevitably to
  secularization?

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Suggested ethnographic essay topics

• Wicca and the idea of leadership
• Pentecostal Movement in Uganda A case study of
  Finnish Pentecostal Missionaries and Organization
• Yksilö ja antroposofia
• Uskontojen uhrien tuki ryn ideologian
  tarkastelua
• FALUN GONG in Finland Spiritual or Political
  Movement?