2019 00 00 Religious Studies Review - Vol 45 No 2 - Lukas Pokorny

Magazine Overview

Title: Religious Studies Review
Volume: 45
Number: 2
Date: June 2019

This issue of Religious Studies Review features two in-depth reviews of academic books.

Book Review: "Cult Wars" in Historical Perspective: New and Minority Religions

Edited by Eugene V. Gallagher, this volume, part of the Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements, brings together selected contributions from INFORM's 25th Anniversary Conference in 2014. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains short contributions by scholars of New Religious Movements (NRMs), while Part 2 offers insider perspectives on recent developments in four well-known NRMs.

• Key contributions include:
• Eileen Barker's review of the history and context of the relationship between NRM Studies and the cult-awareness movement (CAM).
• Massimo Introvigne's autobiographically informed history of his Turin-based Centro studi sulle nuove religioni (CESNUR).
• Timothy Miller's tracing of the "cult conflicts" of the 1970s-1990s, noting that while the intensity has decreased, the conflicts persist.
• George D. Chryssides' outline of the history of NRM Studies.
• Benjamin Zeller's examination of the institutional history and current situation of the discipline in the United States.
• James T. Richardson's "descriptive presentation of developing patterns of jurisprudence in Europe and America."
• Dinka Marinović Jerolimov and Ankica Marinović's case study on the emergence of CAM groups in Croatia.

Part 2 features emic accounts focusing on:
1. The transformation of The Family International (TFI), formerly Children of God, from the perspective of a former spokesperson and a former director of international public affairs.
2. Corroding developments within the Unification Movement, described by a former British rank-and-file member and long-time missionary.
3. The CAM-ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) relationship, detailed by the ISKCON minister of communications.
4. The evolution of Scientology Freezone and its perceived "success story," presented by a key actor from the Freezone community and the current president of the Union of the Churches of Scientology in France.

The book is noted for its instructive emic accounts and its contribution to NRM Studies. It is available in hardback and e-book formats.

Book Review: UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age: Millennial Conspiracism

By David G. Robertson, this book is part of the Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies series. Based on Robertson's doctoral thesis, it explores "millennial conspiracism," which he defines as an amalgamation of "conspiracy narratives concerning the machinations of hidden agencies" and "popular millennial [i.e., New Age] discourses concerning imminent global transformation."

Robertson argues that UFO narratives act as a unifying thread between these two areas. He posits that when fused, they offer believers a "theodicy of the possessed," providing a raison d'être for their socio-economic and spiritual captivation.

• The book draws upon discourse analysis and ethnographic research, presenting three case studies:
• Whitley Strieber and his abductee narrative.
• David Icke and his reptilian thesis.
• David Wilcock and his 2012 millennial vision.

Robertson demonstrates how these figures employ "counter-epistemic strategies" such as tradition, science, experience, synthesis, and channeling. These strategies generate "epistemic capital," establishing discursive authority within the millennial conspiracist community. Ultimately, Robertson suggests that the possession of hidden truth, gained through this epistemic capital, positions the millennial conspiracist community as a "counter-elite."

The book is praised as a fascinating and important contribution to the field, offering a delightful read. It is available in hardback, paperback, and e-book formats.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of Religious Studies Review focuses on academic reviews of contemporary scholarship in the fields of religious studies, particularly concerning new religious movements, cults, UFO phenomena, conspiracy theories, and millennialism. The editorial stance appears to be one of critical academic inquiry, presenting detailed analyses and scholarly perspectives on these often controversial topics. The inclusion of both scholarly and insider perspectives in the review of "Cult Wars" suggests an effort to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The review of Robertson's book highlights the academic rigor applied to understanding the construction of belief systems within conspiracist and New Age communities.