Contemporary non-Christian and para-Christian cults and sects Books

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Book SynopsisNorse Revival offers a thorough investigation of Germanic Neopaganism (Asatru) through an international and comprehensive historical perspective. It traces Germanic Neopaganism’s genesis in German ultra-nationalist and occultist movements around 1900. Based on ethnographic research of contemporary groups in Germany, Scandinavia and North America, the book examines this alternative Neopagan religion’s transformations towards respectability and mainstream thought after the 1970s. It asks which regressive and progressive elements of a National Romantic discourse on Norse myth have shaped Germanic Neopaganism. It demonstrates how these ambiguous ideas about Nordic myth permeate general discourses on race, religion, gender, sexuality, and aesthetics. Ultimately, Norse Revival raises the question whether Norse mythology can be freed from its reactionary ideological baggage.Trade Review"Norse Revival is a magisterial work that clearly represents the best introduction to Germanic-oriented modern Paganism currently available [...] The earlier chapters especially are ideal for students and others seeking a grounding in this subject matter. It should be considered required reading for all scholars of contemporary Paganism." Ethan Doyle White, University College London, nova religio, vol 21, no.1 (August 2017) "Mit „Norse Revival“ präsentiert Stefanie von Schnurbein eine willkommene Untersuchung des problematischen Phänomens 'Germanischer Neopaganismus' und einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Diskussion um Identitätsfindung durch Konstruktionen von Ethnizität und Kultur. Ian Beuermann, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 65 (2017).

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Book SynopsisThis book is at the crossroads where a New Age sensibility, advancing like an ecumen of worldwide spirituality without national, cultural, or ecclesiastical frontiers, meets Latin America's syncretic religions, practiced by groups of people wiht African or indigenous roots or developed from the tradition of popular Catholicism. The Syncretic character of the two sensibilities makes both the New Age and popular religion behave like two, syncretizing and syncreticizable matrices of meaning. This book opens up a rich vein of debate with new dilemmas and discussions, that will provide a framework for a new field of study in anthropology. What new ways of signifying living and experiencing religion is the New Age generating in Latin America? What are its limits?Trade Review"Overall, this is a superb book that opens up important new areas of study to an Englishspeaking audience. Anyone who studies New Age movements and/or Latin American religions will find it provocative and informative." - Brett Hendrickson, Lafayette College, The Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This volume accomplishes the important task of bringing awareness of the New Age in Latin America (...) This is an important work for scholars of the New Age movement, and one that all such specialists should attend to in order to broaden the geographical range of the subject. It is also relevant for those studying religion in Latin America more generally." - Susannah Crockford, Ghent University, Nova Religio 21.4 (2018)

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