VIDEO RESOURCES

Scholar’s Corner hosts and connects to a diverse set of video materials related to the study of emergent and alternative religions and spirituality:

Nova Religio and WRSP have created a joint video project. Nova Religio produces video interviews with Nova Religio authors on their scholarly work and new trends and issues in religions. The World Religions and Spirituality Project conducts video interviews with authors on topics related to the academic study of emergent and alternative religions.
The video interviews organized by Nova Religio can be accessed directly through the Nova Religio YouTube Video Channel and through Scholar’s Corner page. WRSP videos are posted on the WRSP YouTube Channel and are also available through the Scholar’s Corner page.
Video interviews, conferences and seminars conducted under the auspices of INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) and posted on the INFORM YouTube channel.
Online interviews prepared independently by religion scholars.

WRSP VIDEO INTERVIEWS

WRSP Scholar: James T. Richardson
Interview Link: “The Brainwashing Thesis”
James T. Richardson Interview Bibliography
Moderator: Catherine Wessinger
Date: May 1, 2021

INFORM VIDEOS

These videos are drawn from video resources posted on the INFORM YouTube channel.

Scholar: Simon Dein
Interview Link: “Religious Healing and Immortality among Lubavitcher Hasidim.”
Moderator: Suzanne Newcombe
Description:This interview discusses beliefs and practices relating to religious healing and immortality in the Lubavitcher movement.
Date: December 21, 2020.

Scholar: Mikel Burley

Interview Link: “Competing Conceptions of immortality and nirvana among interpreters of Buddhism.”
Moderator: Sarah Harvey
Description: This interview will explore some of the range of beliefs and practices which are closely associated with immortality in comparative context. It will investigate the idea of immortality by looking more closely at how it is directly applied in people’s lives. What happens when immortality is understood as a possibility – or even a reality?
Date: July 30, 2020

Scholars: Seminar Participants
Seminar Link: “INFORM Seminar: Sexual Abuse framed by Faith or Belief.”
Description: This seminar will consider the issue of sexual abuse occurring within religious contexts in hopes of identifying new ways of considering the problem and potential ways of mitigating harm.
Date: July 29, 2020

Scholar: Carole Cusack
Interview Link: “G.I. Gurdjieff and Health and Healing”
Description: Research on the health and healing practices of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (c. 1866-1949)
Date: July 23, 2020

Scholar: Eileen Barker
Interview Link: “What are New Religious Movements.”
Moderator: Ismail Mesut Sezgin
Description: Exploring the definition of minority religions and new religious movements.
Date: June 2, 2018

Presenters: Conference Participants
Interview Link: “UK Satanic Abuse Scare: 25 Years on.”
Description: The conference examines the scare through first-hand accounts from pagans, the media and academics.
Date: July 22, 2016

Scholars: Sarah Jane Harvey & Suzanne Newcombe
Presentation Link: “Apocalyptic religions and gender – how far can we generalize?”
Description: This presentation will consider what generalizations could be made from 198 groups with millennial beliefs – how many do have female leaders? How many have a focus on gender dynamics as a feature of their teachings? Are millennial movements any more prone to violence than other groups?
Date: February 9, 2016

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION:
Identifying, Naming and Treating Harm in New Religious Movements

This round table discussion was sponsored by the New Religious Movements section of the American Academy of Religion on November 22, 2021. It centers on the question of how we can address the prevention of harm and abuse in “cults” and new religious movements. It discusses many of the groups that have reached nationwide attention, such as NXIVM, Scientology, the Children of God, etc.

After opening statements, the panelists took up the following questions: What are the current methods of identifying harm in NRMs, and how can they be improved?; When should practices in NRMs be labeled abuse?; How can we promote greater accountability and transparency?; What are appropriate therapeutic approaches for current and former members?; How can the therapeutic community interact with NRM scholars to create better resources? Q&A from audience members concludes.

Participants:
Jeff Levin, PhD, MPH, FACE, Baylor University;
Brett Merrill, PhD, ABPP, CGP, Brigham Young University;
Susan J. Palmer, PhD, Concordia University;
Jessica Pratezina, MA, University of Victoria;
Erin Prophet, MPH, PhD, University of Florida.

Presider: Joseph Laycock, PhD, Texas State University
Round Table Link: Identifying, Naming and Treating Harm in New Religious Movements | Further Roundtable Information
Date: November 22, 2021

PROGRAM FOR THE EVOLUTION OF SPIRITUALITY

The Program for the Evolution of Spirituality in the Harvard University Divinity School supports the scholarly study of emerging spiritual movements, marginalized spiritualities, and the innovative edges of established religious traditions. One of the core mandates of Harvard’s new Program for the Evolution of Spirituality is to look honestly at both the positive and negative dimensions of emerging spiritual movements. The Program, Dan McKanan, is Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity. The Assistant Program Director, Natalia Schwien, is a 2021 MTS Candidate in the Harvard Divinity School.

Participants: Erin Prophet and Jessica Pratezina
Interview Link: Affirming Personal Agency in Discussions on Abuse of Power in Alternative Spiritual Spaces
Description: A discussion of approaches to conversations and scholarship around spiritual harm while affirming personal agency.
Moderator: Dan McKanan
Date: May 6, 2021

INDEPENDENTLY PREPARED VIDEO RESOURCES

Videos in this section of Scholar’s Corner include important video projects outside the auspices of Nova Religio, INFORM, and WRSP that are organized by scholars for professional and educational purposes.

The Waco Branch Davidian Tragedy: What Have We Learned or Not Learned? (2:53:00)
Scholars participating in the conversation: J. Phillip Arnold, Catherine Wessinger, Stuart A. Wright, James D. Tabor.
Date: April 9, 2021
Copyright: Reunion Institute, 2020
Independent Sections of the Film
Bibliography for the Scholars’ Discussions in The Waco Branch Tragedy