New Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1. Precise scholarly definitions of the movement differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of . Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, believing that it gives a false sense of homogeneity to the phenomenon. As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age movement drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions, in particular those that emerged from the occultist current that developed in the eighteenth century. Such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and the Theosophical Society. A number of mid- twentieth century influences, such as the UFO religions of the 1. Counterculture of the 1. Human Potential Movement, also exerted a strong influence on the early development of the New Age movement. Although the exact origins of the movement remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1. United Kingdom. It expanded and grew largely in the 1. United States. Despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age movement have been identified. Theologically, the movement typically adopts a belief in a holistic form of divinity which imbues all of the universe, including human beings themselves.
Get Instant Access To New Age Religion And Western Culture Esotericism In The Mirror Of Secular Thought PDF Ebook NEW AGE RELIGION AND WESTERN CULTURE ESOTERICISM.There is thus a strong emphasis on the spiritual authority of the self. This is accompanied by a common belief in a wide variety of semi- divine non- human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate, particularly through the form of channeling. Typically viewing human history as being divided into a series of distinct ages, a common New Age belief is that whereas once humanity lived in an age of great technological advancement and spiritual wisdom, it has entered a period of spiritual degeneracy, which will be remedied through the establishment of a coming Age of Aquarius, from which the movement gets its name. There is also a strong focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine, and an emphasis on a . The degree to which New Agers are involved in the movement varied considerably, from those who adopted a number of New Age ideas and practices to those who fully embraced and dedicated their lives to it. The movement has generated criticism from established Christian organisations as well as contemporary Pagan and indigenous communities. From the 1. 99. 0s onward, the movement became the subject of research by academic scholars of religious studies. Definition. Often, the definition given actually reflects the background of the scholar giving the definition. Thus, the New Ager views New Age as a revolutionary period of history dictated by the stars; the Christian apologist has often defined new age as a cult; the historian of ideas understands it as a manifestation of the perennial tradition; the philosopher sees New Age as a monistic or holistic worldview; the sociologist describes New Age as a new religious movement (NRM); while the psychologist describes it as a form of narcissism. Religious studies scholar Paul Heelas characterised the New Age movement as . Similarly, historian of religion Olav Hammer termed it . Sociologist of religion Michael York described the New Age movement as . He thus argued against the idea that the New Age movement could be considered . Conversely, while echoing the view that the . Sutcliffe rejected the idea of a . Rather than term themselves . In 2. 00. 3, Sutcliffe observed that the use of the term was . Hence, although the religious studies scholar James R. Lewis acknowledged that . Download New Age Religion and Western Culture PDF eBook New Age Religion and Western Culture NEW AGE RELIGION AND WESTERN CULTURE EBOOK AUTHOR BY JUDITH R. ![]() All manifestations of this movement are characterized by a popular western culture criticism expressed in terms of a secularized esotericism. Religious studies scholars however have repeatedly referred to the movement as a . The New Age movement is a form of Western esotericism. Hanegraaff considered the New Age to be a form of . Conversely, both Heelas and Sutcliffe rejected this categorisation; he believed that while elements of the New Age movement represented NRMs, this was not applicable to every New Age group. New Age Religion And Western Culture 84445 Free eBook Download: New Age Religion And Western Culture 84445 Download or Read Online eBook new age religion and western. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Hammer identified much of the New Age movement as corresponding to the concept of . York also heuristically divides the New Age movement into three broad trends. York's third group, the . It has, for instance, widely been used in political contexts; the Great Seal of the United States, designed in 1. The term has also appeared within Western esoteric schools of thought, having a scattered use from the mid- nineteenth century onward. In 1. 86. 4 the American Swedenborgian. Warren Felt Evans published The New Age and its Message, while in 1. Alfred Orage and Holbrook Jackson began editing a weekly journal of Christian liberalism and socialism titled The New Age. The concept of a coming . The term had thus become a recurring motif in the esoteric spirituality milieu. Sutcliffe therefore expressed the view that while the term . As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age has antecedents that stretch back to southern Europe in Late Antiquity. Following the Age of Enlightenment in 1. Europe, new esoteric ideas developed in response to the development of scientific rationality. This new esoteric trend is termed occultism by scholars, and it was this occultism which would be a key factor in the development of the worldview from which the New Age emerged. One of the earliest influences on the New Age was the Swedish 1. Christian mystic. Emanuel Swedenborg, who professed the ability to communicate with angels, demons, and spirits. Swedenborg's attempt to unite science and religion and his prediction of a coming era in particular have been cited as ways in which he prefigured the New Age movement. In her books Isis Unveiled (1. The Secret Doctrine (1. Blavatsky claimed that her Society was conveying the essence of all world religions, and it thus emphasized a focus on comparative religion. Lawrence and William Butler Yeats. In the early- to mid- 1. American mystic, theologian, and founder of the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Edgar Cayce was a seminal influence on what later would be termed the New Age movement; he was known in particular for the practice some refer to as channeling. Another prominent influence was the psychologist Carl Jung, who was a proponent of the concept of the Age of Aquarius. Many of these new religious movements had strong apocalyptic beliefs regarding a coming new age, which they typically asserted would be brought about by contact with extraterrestrials. Examples of such groups included the Aetherius Society, founded in the UK in 1. Heralds of the New Age, established in New Zealand in 1. From a historical perspective, the New Age phenomenon is rooted in the counterculture of the 1. Although not common throughout the counterculture, usage of the terms . This decade also witnessed the emergence of a variety of new religious movements and newly established religions in the United States, creating a spiritual milieu from which the New Age drew upon; these included the San Francisco Zen Center, Transcendental Meditation, Soka Gakkai, the Inner Peace Movement, the Church of All Worlds, and the Church of Satan. Although there had been an established interest in Asian religious ideas in the U. S. In 1. 96. 2 the Esalen Institute was established in Big Sur, California. The most prominent of these groups was the Findhorn Foundation which founded the Findhorn Ecovillage in the Scottish area of Findhorn, Moray in 1. Although its founders were from an older generation, Findhorn attracted increasing numbers of countercultural baby boomers during the 1. In October 1. 96. Findhorn, Peter Caddy, attended a meeting of various prominent figures within Britain's esoteric milieu; titled . Gordon Melton point out, the New Age phenomenon represents . Nevertheless, York asserted that while the New Age bore many similarities with both earlier forms of Western esotericism and Asian religion, it remained . The counterculture of the 1. New Age movement. The exact origins of the New Age movement remain an issue of debate; Melton asserted that it emerged in the early 1. Hanegraaff instead traced its emergence to the latter 1. This early form of the movement was based largely in Britain and exhibited a strong influence from Theosophy and Anthroposophy. Hanegraaff termed this early core of the movement the New Age sensu stricto, or . Hanegraaff terms this development the New Age sensu lato, or . Stores that came to be known as . Other terms that were employed synonymously with . Erhard, a transformational training course which became a prominent part of the early movement. Melton suggested that the 1. New Age movement and the older New Thought movement, as evidenced by the widespread use of Helen Schucman's A Course in Miracles (1. New Age music, and crystal healing in New Thought churches. Some figures in the New Thought movement were sceptical, challenging the compatibility of New Age and New Thought perspectives. During these decades, Findhorn had become a site of pilgrimage for many New Agers, and greatly expanded in size as people joined the community, with workshops and conferences being held there that brought together New Age thinkers from across the world. Several key events occurred, which raised public awareness of the New Age subculture: publication of Linda Goodman's best- selling astrology books Sun Signs (1. Love Signs (1. 97. Shirley Mac. Laine's book Out on a Limb (1. The Convergence attracted more people to the movement than any other single event. Heelas suggested that the movement was influenced by the . Knight (Ramtha), Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God) (note that Walsch denies being a .
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