Eighteenth-century Methodist evangelism supported, perpetuated, and promoted slavery as requisite for a productive economy in the colonial American South. Religious thought of the First Great Awakening emerged alongside a colonial economy increasingly reliant on chattel slavery for its prosperity. The records of well-traveled celebrity minister and provocateur of the Anglican tradition, George Whitefield, suggest how Calvinist-Methodist evangelicals viewed slavery as necessary to supporting colonial ministerial efforts. Whitefield’s absorption of and immersion into American culture is revealed in his owning a plantation, portraying a willingness to sacrifice the mobility of the disfranchised for widespread consumption of evangelical thought. A side effect of this was free and formerly enslaved individuals of African descent gained direct access to itinerancy in the post-Revolutionary Atlantic world, as evidenced by the multi-racial ministerial network of Whitefield’s proslavery benefactor, Selina Hastings. Paradoxically, southern evangelicalism appealed to the disfranchised while perpetuating slavery as a socially normative, religiously-sanctioned institution.

G. R. S. Mead is an important but neglected historical personality of the British fin-de-siècle occult, Theosophical, and post-Theosophical milieu. While previous scholars of Theosophy have portrayed the Theosophical movement as quite cohesive in nature, I argue that it might have been a lot more pluralistic, with ostensibly key Theosophical concepts being open for debate. By a careful study of Mead’s editorial activity, his debates with other Theosophists in leading occultist journal over the period 1890s through 1910s, I illustrate that Mead held alternative views of key Theosophical concepts. This gives us a clue as to how the movement of Theosophy can be characterized differently. I suggest that we speak of many different “Theosophies” rather than one singular “Theosophy” to better capture the seemingly diverse makeup of the Theosophical movement. I look at three areas wherein Mead’s views differed from those of other important Theosophists: the concept of “the Masters” as spiritual authority, which sources to turn to and how to interpret them, and the question of whether occultism should be understood primarily in theoretical or in practical terms. I propose that by seeing Theosophy as a debating ground where many different Theosophists competed over the definition of their particular kind of Theosophy, we might also better account for why so many post-Theosophical currents emerged. Lastly, Mead’s concept of “Gnosis” might have served as a bridge between his Theosophical and post-Theosophical periods, as the concept’s meaning, along with Mead’s spiritual outlook, does not appear to have changed over time. This gives some consequences to how we conceive of post-Theosophy, since he does not fit neatly within that category.

While commenting upon the challenges of studying the history of religious figures and movements, Richard Bushman once said, “Everything we know in this life is seen through someone’s eyes. All a historian has to work with is the way this person saw it...The purpose of history is not to find out what really happened but to collect the ways human observers have described what they think happened. We [as historians] look at the world through other’s eyes.”[1] This thesis seeks not to argue the veracity of any particular religious doctrine, but rather strives to understand the historical development of certain Mormon beliefs by looking through the eyes of those who helped form them. Mormon doctrines are often regarded as impositions made by Joseph Smith onto docile followers. Such an interpretation fails to recognize that lay members were just as influential in the development of Mormon doctrine as was the founder of the religion. Joseph’s revelations did not emerge ex nihilo. Joseph engaged the world and people around him and his environment shaped the doctrines forming in his mind and continued to do so once they were taught to his followers. [2] This study will examine the origins of Mormonism’s dietary code, known as the Word of Wisdom, and the sect’s doctrines concerning the body. Both of these tenets of Mormonism were shaped by the environments in which they emerged. The regional environments which influenced to evolution of the Word of Wisdom are central to this study. In the case of the Word of Wisdom, Joseph first began teaching the doctrine in Kirtland, Ohio, an area of constant reform movements and moral activism. Conflicts within the Mormon Church reflect the tensions of Ohio settler’s reformist culture primarily located in the region known as the Western Reserve. This study will also look at the tensions within the Mormon community itself. These tensions involved leader responses to the Word of Wisdom, conflicts over church power structures, and the fallout from the Kirtland Bank’s failure in the financial panic of 1837. As the main Mormon Church body moved from Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois, and eventually Utah they adopted attitudes toward the Word of Wisdom that reflected the new environments in which they found themselves. In Missouri the Word of Wisdom emerges in official charges in church disciplinary courts. However, an examination of these courts indicates that the Word of Wisdom was merely one indicator of a more serious power struggle within church leadership structures. Missouri temperance, which was relatively temped, did not influence church affairs nearly as much as struggles within church leadership itself. In Illinois Mormonism’s doctrine of the body also affected the ways in which the Word of Wisdom was implemented as it influenced the ways in which Mormons conceptualized health, godliness, plural marriage (polygamy), procreation, and their identities as a people. Simply put, context is everything and this study tries to show that the study of the teachings of any religious group should not be done piecemeal because each doctrine is shaped by and in turn shapes the other doctrines with which it is associated. [1] Samuel Alonzo Dodge, “The Hermeneutics of Suspicion” (interview with Richard Bushman), in Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2012), 277. [2] Contrary to standard scholarly practice, Mormon historical and cultural custom is to refer to many of the early church leaders by their first names rather than surnames. I have decided to follow this custom throughout the thesis.

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The purpose of this work is to explore the interactions between occultism and scholarly Egyptology from 1875 to 1930. Within this timeframe, numerous esoteric groups formed that centered their ideologies on conceptions of ancient Egyptian knowledge. In order to legitimize their belief systems based on ancient Egyptian wisdom, esotericists attempted to become authoritative figures on Egypt. This process heavily impacted Western intellectualism not only because occult conceptions of Egypt became increasingly popular, but also because esotericists intruded into academia or attempted to overshadow it. In turn, esotericists and Egyptologists both utilized the influx of new information from Egyptological studies to shape their identities, consolidate their ideologies, and maintain authority on the value of ancient Egyptian knowledge. This thesis follows the Egypt-centered developments of the Freemasons, the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley's A∴A∴, the Theosophical Society, the Anthroposophical Society, and the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis to demonstrate that esotericism evolved simultaneously with academia as a body of knowledge. By examining these fraternal occult groups' interactions with Egyptology, it can be better understood how esotericism has affected Western intellectualism, how ideologies form in response to new information, and the effects of becoming an authority on bodies of knowledge (in particular Egyptological knowledge). In turn, embedded in this work is a challenge to those who have downplayed or overlooked the agency of esotericists in shaping the Western intellectual tradition and preserving the legacy of ancient Egypt.

In the master thesis the attention is concentrated on the two new religious movements – Latter-Days Saints Church (Church of Mormons) and Seventh-day Adventist Church. A research objective was studying of history of these churches in Russia, and in particular – in the Urals. Features of their penetration to the Urals, distribution and evolution throughout three-century history were characterized. The master thesis consists of introduction, two chapters in whom the doctrine and history of Mormons and Seventh-day Adventist Church, the conclusions, and also appendices in which photographic materials and the interviews which are written down by the author was analyzed. / В магистерской диссертации внимание сосредоточено на двух церквях, относящихся к новым религиозным движениям – Церкви Иисуса Христа Святых последних дней (церковь мормонов) и Церкви Христиан-Адвентистов Седьмого Дня (церковь АСД). Целью исследования являлось изучение истории этих церквей в России, и в частности – на Урале. Были охарактеризованы особенности их проникновения на Урал, распространение и эволюция на протяжении трехвековой истории. Работа состоит из введения, двух глав, в которых анализируется учение и история мормонов и адвентистов седьмого дня, заключения, а также приложений, в которых представлены фотоматериалы и записанные автором интервью.

This project considers the ways in which Wiccan marriage and American marriage law interact with each other. The thesis examines certain aspects of the history of 20th-century American marriage law, the concurrent development of contemporary marriage ritual in Wicca, developing problems in this area, and possible solutions. In particular, the project focuses on the recognition of religious groups and their officials as they are authorized by state and federal law to perform marriages and how this process has affected Wiccan ritual.

Author´s research has led to the processing of psychologism theory as a tool to detect the methodological procedure of doctrine of Jehova´s Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Bahai Faith, Haifan Bahaism from movement management, through the movement medium to the seeker and to what extent can these doctrines manipulate the seeker. The thesis attempts to extract the thinking core within new religious movements, as a prerequisite for the detection of intentions of the mentioned movements, and also it tries to extract analogous statements about how these movements may develop in the future stages of their existence. The basic tool of academic study and view: comparison, psychology of religion.

This thesis uses transnational and Black feminist frameworks to analyze Buddhist nationalist discourses of gender and violence against religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar. Burmese Buddhist nationalists’ marginalization of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority is inextricably linked to their attempts to control Buddhist women. Research includes interviews with U Ashin Wirathu, the leader of the monastic-led nationalist group, the 969 Movement, and with other monks of the organization, as well as with non-nationalist monks, nuns and laywomen. I also analyze Theravada textual discourse as read by my subjects in light of the history of Myanmar to understand the ways the local Theravada tradition has marginalized women and non-Buddhists. By connecting the lack of bhikkhuni ordination and laws hindering Buddhist women from marrying non-Buddhist men with the portrayal of the Rohingya as a threat to the nation, I show how Buddhist nationalists attempt to consolidate power and forestall the democratization process.

In the beginning of 2021 the documentary “The selected children” was aired in one of the public Swedish television channels. In the film we follow the filmmaker as he returns to his elementary school that he left almost three decades ago. His memories where positive but the film depicts abuse with a focus on the leadership and a rope swing . The ensuing media debate was influenced by the fact that the school was, and still are, a waldorf school (Steiner school) and the cult concept was frequently used. This bachelor thesis aimed to find the underlying reasons for the media usage of the cult concept in this context and further how and why a description of a school in the past became a novelty in the present. The perspective is religion sociology and medialization. The purpose is to understand how and why the cult concept is used in nationwide written news media, narrowed down to 11 articles published in Aftonbladet, Dagens ETC, DN, Expressen, GP, SvD och SVT nyheter during May and June 2021. I used a qualitative content analysis method combined with an abductive reasoning. The theory used was in the field of cults, NRM and medialization with an emphasis on media logic also described as media modus operandi. The result shows that the cult concept is used to describe and frame the extreme characteristics of the school. There is a connection between the school and other waldorf schools both in the description of the schools as cults related to abuse and abnormality but the main reason is the foundation in relation to the waldorf pedagogy and anthroposophy. The media uses a very narrow number of sources describing the school, waldorf schools and the anthroposophic movement. The descriptions are made in the present as if the film was depicting the present school as well. As such the sources alongside the framing language constructs the news value in line with the media logic. In conclusion I argue that the findings show that media uses the cult as a description aswell as a news story in line with the theory, describing how the news are storytellers as they have developed into the entertainment industry.