WRSP – World Religions and Spirituality Project

Authors

Jojan Jonker

Jojan Jonker (1956-) graduated in Computer Science in 1986 (Leiden University). He worked for almost 20 years for a software ...

Ariel Chambers

Ariel Chambers served as a Research Assistant for the World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2013-2014. She is co-author of the ...

Yakov M. Rabkin

Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Montreal.

Jeffery Long

Jeffery D. Long is Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, where he has taught since completing his ...

Adam Possamai

Adam Possamai is Professor of Sociology at Western Sydney University and the Deputy Dean of the School of Social Sciences. ...

Tamasin Ramsay

Tamasin Ramsay is a researcher trained in medical anthropology, ethnography and social science, with a background in paramedic science and ...

Jeremy Rapport

Jeremy Rapport is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the College of ...

Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps

Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps is a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. She has written her dissertation on narratives about Satanism ...

Nancy Lusignan Schultz

Nancy Lusignan Schultz is professor of English at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. She is the author of Fire ...

Patrick Q. Mason

Patrick Mason is Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and associate professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University, where ...

Elizabeth Lowry

Elizabeth Lowry received her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Arizona State University where she is now a Senior Lecturer. ...

William Sims Bainbridge

William Sims Bainbridge earned his sociology degree from Harvard university with a dissertation and first book on the history of ...

Aleš Črnič

Aleš Črnič is professor of Religious Studies at Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana.

Orianne Aymard

Orianne Aymard (Ph.D.) is currently a Research Fellow at the Center for Indian and South Asian Studies (CERIAS), in Montreal, ...

Lydia Willsky-Ciollo

Lydia Willsky-Ciollo is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University with a focus on American Religion. She has ...

Jeffrey E. Anderson

Jeffrey E. Anderson, Ph.D. and is a Professor of History at ULM and Associate Director of the School of Humanities ...

Simon Coleman

Simon Coleman is Chancellor Jackman Professor. He came to U of T in 2010 from the University of Sussex, where ...

Dan McKanan

Dan McKanan serves as the Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, where he has taught ...

Nancy D. Wadsworth

Nancy D. Wadsworth is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Denver and author of Ambivalent Miracles Evangelicals ...

John Saliba

John Saliba is a Jesuit priest ordained in 1965. He joined the faculty at the University of Detroit Mercy in ...

WRSP Entries and Authors

index

The Entry Index is an alphabetically organized listing of WRSP entries, including the thematic, regional, and local special projects. There are separate indices for the entries in the Augmenting Resources section of WRSP.

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Recent & Future Entries

WRSP is constantly adding new entries on religious and spiritual groups, leaders, places, and activities. Recent and Future Entries on WRSP, with publication dates, will be listed here.

Organization & Leadership

WRSP is organized as an international scholarly consortium. WRSP is led by an Executive Council that consists of representatives of the WRSP Special Projects and Partnerships as well as distinguished religion scholars who contribute to WRSP development.

WRSP Special Projects

SPIRITUAL AND VISIONARY COMMUNITIES

(Project Director: Timothy Miller)

NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND THE VISUAL ARTS

(Project Director: Massimo Introvigne)

PILGRIMAGE SITES & PRACTICES ACROSS THE WORLD

(Project Directors: James S. Bielo, John Eade, Ian Reader)

WOMEN IN THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS AND SPIRITUALITY PROJECT

(Project Directors: Rebecca Moore, Catherine Wessinger)

MARIAN APPARITIONAL AND DEVOTIONAL GROUPS

(Project Directors: Joseph Laycock and Jill Krebs)

Thematic Projects

There are many forms and expressions of religious and spiritual organization and activity. Scholars with recognized expertise in selected areas have been invited to organize the Thematic Projects listed above.

SPIRITUAL & RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN ITALY

(Project Directors: Dr. Stefania Palmisano, Dr. Massimo Introvigne)

JAPANESE NEW RELIGIONS

(Project Directors: Ian Reader, Erica Baffelli, Birgit Staemmler)

CANADIAN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS

(Project Directors: Susan Palmer, John Peterson)

RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE

(Project Directors: Dr. Kaarina Aitamurto, Dr. Maija Penttilä)

AUSTRALIAN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS

(Project Directors: Carole Cusack, Bernard Doherty)

Regional Projects

The forms and traditions of religious and spiritual expression often coincide with geographic, political, and cultural boundaries. Scholars with recognized expertise in specific regional traditions have been invited to organize the Regional Projects listed above.

Local Projects

Communities in the United States have become increasingly more diverse religiously and spiritually in recent decades. A number of scholars have undertaken community research projects chronicling how religion and spirituality are organized and lived in a specific community. Links to those Local Projects are presented here.

Augmenting Resources

Interview Forum

WRSP has organized an Interview Forum where both interviews conducted by WRSP and interviews published by other media outlets are gathered. Interviews with scholars and other knowledgeable individuals have been selected to offer insights that augment the group profiles on WRSP.

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The Media Center

There has been extensive media coverage of the groups, individuals, and activities covered in WRSP profiles. The Media Center identifies and links to a number of media sites that will be particularly useful to religion scholars.

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Books, Articles, Papers, & Reports

WRSP supplements religious and spiritual group profiles with Articles & Papers provided by supporting scholars. They offer resources that augment the information contained in WRSP profiles. Permission to duplicate or distribute these materials remains with the authors.

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Video Connections

WRSP locates and links to online video materials that supplement and enhance the text entries. The Video Connections entries are listed alphabetically and linked with relevant text entries.

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Archive Centers

There are numerous archives that have preserved material of interest to scholars studying contemporary and historical religious and spiritual groups. Many of these archives are small and relatively unknown. WRSP is cataloging these Archive Centers as a research resource for scholars.

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Scholar’s Corner

The Scholar’s Corner offers video interviews with Nova Religio and World Religions and Spirituality Project authors and video presentations on topics related to alternative and emergent religions.

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