Hillary Kaell is author of Walking Where Jesus Walked: American Christians and Holy Land Pilgrimage (New York University Press, 2014), editor Everyday Sacred: Religion in Contemporary Quebec (McGill-Queens University Press, 2017), and author of numerous scholarly articles and chapters. She co-curates the website Anthrocybib, podcasts at New Books in Religion, and serves as co-editor of the Contemporary Anthropology of Religion book series at Palgrave Macmillan Press. She is also associate professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal.
TEACHING & LEARNING TEXTS AND ORIENTING MATERIALS Orienting Authored Volumes David Kim, ed. 2022. New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives. Lanham: Lexington Books. Joseph P Laycock. 2022. New Religious Movements: The Basics. New York: Routledge. Hugh B. Urban 2015. New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press. Thomas Ezala Yohane. 2021. New Religious Movements. London: LAP Lambert. Orienting Edited Volumes Emily Suzanne Clark and Brad Stoddard, eds. 2019. Race and New Religious Movements in the USA: A Documentary Reader. London: Bloomsbury Dereck Daschke and Michael Ashcraft, eds. 2005. New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press. Derek Davis and Barry Hankins eds.. 2020. New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Waco: Baylor University Press.…
FREE ZONE SCIENTOLOGY TIMELINE 1938: L. Ron Hubbard constructed the Excalibur manuscript, documenting his near-death experience and claim of esoteric knowledge concerning the human goal of survival. 1948: The Original Thesis, Hubbard’s early writings on Dianetics (his theory of the human mind), was circulated amongst friends and the science-fiction community. 1950: Hubbard’s theories were publicly outlined in Astounding Science Fiction magazine and published as a bestseller: Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. 1954: Hubbard opened the first Church of Scientology in Los Angeles, California. 1965 (February 7): Hubbard published his Keeping Scientology Working (KSW) policy, outlining an orthodoxy of Church management and practice, effectively forbidding the practice of Scientology outside the institutional hierarchy of the Church of Scientology. 1965 (February 14): Hubbard released the Safeguarding Technology bulletin, condemning the…
Edited Volumes Eileen Barker and Beth Singler, eds. 2021. Radical Transformations in Minority Religions. New York: Routledge. Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis, eds. 2016. Sexuality and New Religious Movements. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Emily Suzanne Clark and Brad Stoddard. 2019. Race and New Religious Movements in the USA: A Documentary Reader. London: Bloomsbury. Derek Davis and Barry Hankins. 2020. New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. Matthew Francis and Kim Knott, eds. 2020. Minority Religions and Uncertainty. New York: Routledge. Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, eds. 2012. The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kim, David, ed. 2022. New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives. Lanham, MD. Lexington Books.
COURSE RESOURCES The resources listed in this section of the Teaching &Learning Project represent the most recent available volumes are are intended primarily for academics organizing courses on alternative and emerging religious/spiritual movements. Recent Authored Course Texts Lorne. Dawson. 2017. Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements. Toronto: Oxford University. Joseph Laycock. 2022. New Religious Movements: The Basics. New York: Routledge. Hugh Urban. 2015. New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press. Recent Edited Volumes Eileen Barker and Beth Singler, eds. 2021. Radical Transformations in Minority Religions. New York: Routledge. Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis, eds. 2016. Sexuality and New Religious Movements. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Emily Suzanne Clark and Brad Stoddard. 2019. Race and New…
SUNBURST TIMELINE 1929: Norman Paulsen was born. 1947: Paulsen joined Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). 1951: Paulsen left SRF. 1969: Paulsen founded the Brotherhood of the Sun in Santa Barbara, California. 1970: Paulsen bought farmland, calling it Sunburst Farm. 1971: The Brotherhood of the Sun incorporated as Sunburst Communities and founded Sunburst Natural Foods. 1975: The Brotherhood of the Sun gained national media attention for its organic food operations; local newspapers reported on Sunburst’s stockpiled firearms and military drills. 1978: Sunburst opened a supermarket; Paulsen was arrested amidst myriad allegations. 1980: Paulsen published his autobiography, Sunburst. 1981: Most members had left the group after a series of crises; Paulsen and remaining members moved to Nevada. 1983: The group moved to Utah, where they were called The Builders. 1987: Sunburst opened its…
HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY TIMELINE 1831 (August 11/12): Helena Petrovna von Hahn was born in Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine, Russia (July 31 according to the Julian calendar). 1849 (July 7): Helena Petrovna von Hahn married General Nikifor V. Blavatsky (b. 1809). 1849–1873: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky embarked on extensive travels around the world, including Russia, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Canada, United States, South America, Japan, India, Ceylon, perhaps Tibet, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Serbia, Syria, Lebanon and the Balkans. 1873 (July 7): Helena Petrovna Blavatsky arrived in New York and began her public writing career. 1875 (November 17): Helena Petrovna Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society in New York. 1877 (September 29): Helena Petrovna Blavatsky published her first major work, Isis Unveiled. 1879 (February 16): Helena Petrovna Blavatsky arrived in India, founded a new journal The…
MESSIANIC JUDAISM TIMELINE 1813: The Bene Abraham Association was formed in London under the auspices of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. 1915: The Hebrew Christian Alliance of America was founded. 1934: First Hebrew Christian Church was founded by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Chicago. 1967: The six-day war in Israel occurred, resulting in Jerusalem coming under Jewish control. 1973: Jews for Jesus was started by Martin “Moishe” Rosen at the American Board of Missions to the Jews. 1975: The Hebrew Christian Alliance of America was renamed the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA). 1979: The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) was founded. 1986: MJAA formed its association of congrgations, the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues. 1995: Hashivenu core values were created by a…
1848 (March 31): The Fox Sisters claimed to have communicated with the spirit of a dead man, via a system of raps and knocks, at their home in Hydesville, New York. 1849-1850s: The Fox Sisters traveled throughout upstate New York, New England, and Southern Ontario giving public demonstrations of their alleged ability to communicate with spirits. Numerous other women “mediums” also began to demonstrate their ability to communicate with the dead through “trance speaking.” 1850s: Christian leaders began to warn their congregations about the evils of Spiritualism, which were considered to be blasphemous. 1852: The first issue of the Spiritualist weekly paper The Spiritual Telegraph (1852–1860) was released in New York. 1855: Emma Hardinge Britten moved from London to New York where she discovered Spiritualism and became a well-known medium.…
CHURCH UNIVERSAL & TRIUMPHANT / SUMMIT LIGHTHOUSE TIMELINE 1918: Mark Prophet was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. 1930s: Raised as a Methodist, Mark Prophet began to explore Rosicrucian ideas. 1939: Elizabeth Clare Wulf was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. 1952: Mark Prophet began writing down messages he claimed were dictated by ascended masters, following the traditions of I AM Activity and the Theosophical Society. 1956: Mark Prophet attended his first event at the Bridge to Freedom, an organization in Pennsylvania founded by former I AM members. 1957: Elizabeth Clare Wulf encountered I AM books and began attending Antioch College. 1958: Mark Prophet moved to Washington, D.C. where he co-founded the Lighthouse of Freedom with Frances Ekey, the former co-founder of the Bridge to Freedom. He also founded the publishing…