This creative thesis is a braided narrative in which I explore the promised lands of Utah through my travels in the summer of 2008, the Cold War defense industry, and the early career of writer Edward Abbey. America's domestic and foreign policy shifts in the first decade of the Cold War contributed to the rise of modern environmentalism and to the creation of countless new religious movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s. To illustrate the cataclysmic upheavals of this era, each chapter of this thesis has been organized according to anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace's schema of revitalization movements. In both an historical and personal context, I investigate the tensions between freedom and preservation, between defense and vulnerability, and, ultimately, between solitude and community.

This essay is a qualitative study meant to highlight new religious movements and cults are portrayed in textbooks used to teach the subject of religion in upper secondary school, as well as how they correlate to the syllabi and course objectives set by Skolverket. The object for my analysis contains three textbooks by different authors, all from different publishers, in order to enable an accurate and representative interpretation of said portraying. Three questions lead the study as they demand the answer to which parts of new religious movements that are most frequently presented, whether the portraying of these movements contain tendencies of stereotyping and consequently identify efforts to reduce the issue. Furthermore, light is cast on the depiction of belief and life view within new religious movements and cults. My study reveals that these textbooks are dealing with new religious movements and cults with some lack of nuance and a deficiency of developed arguments. The sum of my results lead to the conclusion that none of the textbooks fully qualify for the control document set by Skolverket, regarding both syllabi and course objectives. By not doing so they give rise to potential negative didactic consequences in the education which can not be disregarded.

This work is a comparative study of the theological and historical development of the early Christian (pre-Nicene) and Mormon doctrines of God. For the Christian tradition, I follow a detailed study of the apostolic period, followed by the apologetical period, and then conclude with the pre-Nicene up to around 250 C.E. For the Mormon tradition, I cover the period beginning with the establishment of the Mormon Church in 1830 and conclude with its official doctrinal formulation in 1916. I begin this work with a chronological examination of the development of the Mormon doctrine of God, commencing with Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon and concluding with his revelations and additional translations of those books that make up the Pearl of Great Price. I then examine Brigham Young's single theological contribution, followed with the speculative contributions of Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John A. Widtsoe, B.H. Roberts, and concluding with James E. Talmage. This section covers chapters two through four. In chapters five through seven, I examine the theological contributions of Ignatius of Antioch, then Theophilus of Antioch, and conclude my study with the theological contributions of Origen of Alexandria. For the Christian tradition, I trace the development of the pre-Nicene theologians' struggle to explicate the theological and philosophical implications regarding the divinization of Christ within the context of monotheism.. At the end of chapters five through seven I include a succinct, comparative study of each father's doctrine with Mormon doctrine. This work will also address the major theological and historical factors that influenced both the Mormon and traditional Christian doctrines of God. Further, I contrast both theological systems and discuss their basic differences and similarities. My conclusion is that the fundamental difference between these two theological systems rests upon their foundational conceptions of reality as absolutist or finitist. The Mormon theological system rests upon a materialistic and monistic conception of reality, whereas traditional Christianity's system rests upon a dualistic conception of reality. In Mormon materialism, the Trinity is divided as individuated Gods; in Christian transcendence, the unity of God may only be maintained, while acknowledging the separate existences of the Persons of the Godhead, if the nature of God is understood as an incorporeal substance.

In 1952 a pro-Japanese group in Hawai'i became the religious movement Tenshō-Kōtai-Jingū-kyō, after the arrival of Sayo Kitamura, a charismatic woman from Japan called Ōgamisama. Her teaching was filled with traditional elements, and Japanese imperialism acquired a new form, and became a spiritual world – a world filled with spirits in need of redemption. To dance in an ego-free state and redeem the evil spirits was a goal for her followers, who learnt how to perform the ecstasy dance and to achieve an altered state of consciousness. Some families, though, were suspected of being carriers of evil spirits called inu-gami (dog spirits). This was a relic of witchcraft, and since hatred, jealousy, envy, and other emotional antipathies produced possession spirits among those who refused to accept Japan's position at the end of the war, Ōgamisama – the mouthpiece of The Sun Goddess Amaterasu – was welcomed as a faith healer and face saver.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:23:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Georgia Daphne Sobreira Gomes.pdf: 1597290 bytes, checksum: 211c47d06d38e758411bcd9d7ce84d4b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-21 / The present study has as deep the sprouting of new religious movements in world-wide level in the present time, phenomenon narrowly tied with the new contours that the religion and the religiously have in the culture crisis of modernity, marked under the sign of globalization in different levels. From the reflection on this new paradigm, come the analysis of the avance of pentecostalism in Latin America, particular in Brazil, basecally on its spectacular ascension on the catholic tradition in the continent. In this context, is situated the sprouting of a diversity of pentecostalism denominations, the neopentecostalism, whose performance is different than the historical evangelism and inaugurates new operational forms, reproducing the capitalist culture in its current period of training. This study approaches also it magnifying in its activities, especially in the politician sector in the last ten years, on which they come acting in the defense of its interests. In Brazil, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - IURD is detached in this direction. With focus in its politician-partisan performance and on the results of a empiricist research that the study analyzes which the implications of the insertion of the IURD in the politics and brazilian democracy / O presente estudo tem como pano de fundo o surgimento de novos movimentos religiosos em nível mundial na contemporaneidade, fenômeno estreitamente vinculado aos novos contornos que a religião e a religiosidade apresentam na cultura da crise da modernidade, marcada sob o signo da globalização em diferentes campos. A partir da reflexão sobre este novo paradigma, busca-se analisar o avanço do neopentecostalismo na América Latina, com base em sua ascensão espetacular sobre a tradição Católica Apostólica Romana do continente. Neste contexto, localiza-se o surgimento de uma diversidade de denominações pentecostais, os neopentecostais, cuja atuação distancia-se do evangelismo histórico e inaugura novas formas operacionais, reproduzindo a cultura capitalista em seu estágio atual. O enfoque adotado concentra-se na ampliação de suas atividades ao campo político, nos últimos dez anos, sobre o qual vêm atuando na defesa de seus interesses. No Brasil, a Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus IURD se destaca nesse sentido. É com foco em sua atuação político-partidária e nos resultados de uma pesquisa de campo que se analisa quais as implicações da inserção da IURD na política e na democracia brasileira

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:58:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Georgia Daphne Sobreira Gomes.pdf: 1597290 bytes, checksum: 211c47d06d38e758411bcd9d7ce84d4b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-21 / The present study has as deep the sprouting of new religious movements in world-wide level in the present time, phenomenon narrowly tied with the new contours that the religion and the religiously have in the culture crisis of modernity, marked under the sign of globalization in different levels. From the reflection on this new paradigm, come the analysis of the avance of pentecostalism in Latin America, particular in Brazil, basecally on its spectacular ascension on the catholic tradition in the continent. In this context, is situated the sprouting of a diversity of pentecostalism denominations, the neopentecostalism, whose performance is different than the historical evangelism and inaugurates new operational forms, reproducing the capitalist culture in its current period of training. This study approaches also it magnifying in its activities, especially in the politician sector in the last ten years, on which they come acting in the defense of its interests. In Brazil, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - IURD is detached in this direction. With focus in its politician-partisan performance and on the results of a empiricist research that the study analyzes which the implications of the insertion of the IURD in the politics and brazilian democracy / O presente estudo tem como pano de fundo o surgimento de novos movimentos religiosos em nível mundial na contemporaneidade, fenômeno estreitamente vinculado aos novos contornos que a religião e a religiosidade apresentam na cultura da crise da modernidade, marcada sob o signo da globalização em diferentes campos. A partir da reflexão sobre este novo paradigma, busca-se analisar o avanço do neopentecostalismo na América Latina, com base em sua ascensão espetacular sobre a tradição Católica Apostólica Romana do continente. Neste contexto, localiza-se o surgimento de uma diversidade de denominações pentecostais, os neopentecostais, cuja atuação distancia-se do evangelismo histórico e inaugura novas formas operacionais, reproduzindo a cultura capitalista em seu estágio atual. O enfoque adotado concentra-se na ampliação de suas atividades ao campo político, nos últimos dez anos, sobre o qual vêm atuando na defesa de seus interesses. No Brasil, a Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus IURD se destaca nesse sentido. É com foco em sua atuação político-partidária e nos resultados de uma pesquisa de campo que se analisa quais as implicações da inserção da IURD na política e na democracia brasileira

In this essay, I examine the ways in which new myths were made of Barack Obama in the months leading up to, and immediately following, the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election at three sites of cultural production: a UFO-based religious movement historically grounded in the black Israelite religious tradition, TIME magazine’s 2008 “Person of the Year” edition, and Sean Hannity’s “The Real Barack Obama” airing on the FOX News network. I argue that, while the content of these three Obama-myths varies considerable, the ways in which these myths are constructed, and function, are in fact rather similar.

My dissertation traces the contemporary American assimilation of Asian enlightenment traditions and discourses. Through a close reading of three communities, I consider how Asian traditions and ideas have been refracted through the psychological, political, and economic lenses of American culture. One of my chapters, for example, discusses how the American Insight community has attempted to integrate the enlightenment teachings of Theravada Buddhism with the humanistic, democratic, and pluralistic values of the European Enlightenment. A second chapter traces the American gum Andrew Cohen's transformation from a Neo-Advaita teacher to a leading proponent of "evolutionary enlightenment," a teaching that places traditional Indian understandings of nonduality in an evolutionary context. Cohen's early period shows the further deinstitutionalization of traditional Advaita Vedanta within the radically decontextualized Neo-Advaitin network, and evolutionary enlightenment engages and popularizes another less-known but influential Hindu lineage, namely that of Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga. a A third chapter examines contemporary psychospiritual attempts to incorporate psychoanalytic theory into Asian philosophy in order to reconcile American concerns with individual development with Asian mystical goals of self-transcendence. In conclusion, I argue that the contemporary American assimilation of Asian enlightenment traditions is marked by a number of trends including: (I) a move away from the rhetoric and privileging of experience that scholars such as Robert Sharf have shown to be characteristic of the modem Western understanding of Asian mysticism; and (2) an embrace of world-affirming Tantric forms of Asian spirituality over world-negating renouncer traditions such as Theravada Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta. I also reflect on how the cultural shift from the modem to postmodern has affected East-West integrative spiritualities.

Religious groups are societies, which aims to transcendental realities, but are realized among particular people and in particular time and society. It is interesting to study the relationship between society as a whole and these sub societies. One way of how the main society expresses its relationship towards religious groups, in a broader sense, is the registration of these groups as a state recognized religion. This status is desired and appreciated by the religious groups as it can change their position in public eyes. This thesis is a reflection about how difficult, and maybe even deceptive, is looking for criterions for registration or not registration. It is simply about describing borders between the terms ``sect{\crqq} and ``church{\crqq}. Intuitively, this border is something quite clear, but when we need to decide for or against registration, intuitive criterions by themselves are not enough.

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar o Movimento Rae liano, grupo religioso criado por Claude Vourilhon que se auto denomina o Profeta Raël. Atribuindo a criação da vida humana na Terra a seres extraterrestres, o Movimento Raeliano teve origem na França e desde seu surgimento em 1973 expande sua atuação para diversos países, inclusive o Brasil, contando atualmente em seus números oficiais com sessenta mil adeptos em todo o mundo. Com perfil transnacional, este movimento difunde suas idéias através dos meios de comunicação de massa e seu evento de maior eficácia midiática foi o anúncio do nascimento do primeiro clone humano denominado Eva pelas lideranças do Movimento, em 2002. A cosmologia raeliana define -se como atéia e atribui suas idéias a fontes científicas extraterrestres. Este estudo desenvolve uma análise das idéias raelianas contidas na Mensagem dos Extraterrestres, articulando-as às verdades proféticas produzidas no campo científico e às ficções da literatura e do cinema também referidas à ciência. Assumindo como pressuposto que a mediação dos meios de comunicação de massa opera como estilo nas performances raelianas, esta pesquisa propõe ainda uma análise das construções do self e dos modos de relações raelianas a partir de categorias próprias da linguagem midiática como a fama e a construção de celebridades no interior deste grupo que faz de shows e festas experiências religiosas em seu ethos. Desdobrando idéias de uma ciência popularizada, analisa-se ainda no contexto desta investigação o protagonismo do cérebro como ícone sagrado raeliano e sua articulação com a polêrmica sobre a manipulação mental, bem como aspectos pertinentes à clonagem e a manipulação genética como projeto raeliano para o presente da humanidade. Polêrmico quanto à sexualidade livre sugerida a seus membros, este trabalho discute ainda o modelo moral do Movimento Raeliano, especificamente no que diz respeito às suas noções de feminilidade e família. Analisando o Movimento como uma performance da modernidade, este estudo procura discutir as conseqüências do projeto moderno levado ao extremo, provocando questões sobre o futuro e suas representações na vida social contemporânea. / The aim of t he present work is to analyze the Raelian Movement, a religious group created by Claude Vourillon who calls himself Raël Prophet. The Raelian Movement, which was founded in France in 1973, claims that human being life on Earth was created by extraterrestrial beings. Since its formation, the Raelian Movement has spread its philosophy to several countries, including Brazil, and currently has 60 thousand members all over the world. With a transnational profile, this movement has propagated its ideas through means of mass communication and its most significant mass media event was in 2002 with the announcement, by the leaderships of the Movement, of the birth of the first human clone called Eve. Raelian cosmology is defined as atheist and its ideas are attributed to extraterrestrial scientific sources. This study develops an analysis of the raelian ideas present in the Extraterrestrial Message, linking them to the prophetic truth produced in the scientific field and also to the fictions of literature and cinema related to science. Considering that the mediation of means of mass communication operates as style in the raelian performances, this research proposes an analysis of the constructions of self and the raelian relation ways starting at categories particular to mediatic language such as fame and construction of celebrities in the interior of this group that transforms shows and parties into religious experiences in its ethos. Unfolding ideas of a popularized science, the role of the brain as a raelian sacred icon and its articulation with the controversy on the mental manipulation, as well as the pertinent aspects to the cloning and the genetic manipulation as a raelian project for the present of humanity, are analyzed in this research. The movement is polemic in what concerns the fre sexuality suggested to its members; then, this work also studies the Raelian Movement moral model, especially in respect to its notions of femininity and family. Analyzing the Raelian Movement as a performance of modernity, this study discusses the consequences of the modern project taken to extremes, raising questions about the future and its representations in the contemporary social life.