Declining enrollments in Protestant and Catholic seminaries are forcing some schools into new relationships. In some cases, it includes mergers with colleges and universities, reviving an educational model that was more common in earlier centuries, reports Forum Letter (January), an independent Lutheran newsletter. In the new model, seminaries are coming under the university’s umbrella as […]
New scholarly attention to Scientology and its struggle to define itself
While Scientology has consistently been a (frequently controversial) player in the field of “new religious movements” in the Western world since the 1960s, there has been comparatively little academic research conducted on the movement. That may be due in part to the Church of Scientology’s inclination to keep control on knowledge produced about it, but […]
Featured Story: Revision more common than stasis in many new religious movements
Many critics of new religious movements (NRMs) have usually viewed these upstart faiths (or “cults”) as having an authoritarian nature under charismatic leaders, who brook few challenges to a fixed body of teachings and practices. But the case studies in the new book Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements (Ashgate, $35.96), edited by Eileen […]
On/File: February 2014
01: The New New Testament is a novel attempt by liberal Protestant scholars to integrate extra-canonical texts, such as the Gospel of Mary, into the traditional biblical text. This expanded version of the Christian Bible is the brain child of United Church of Christ pastor and biblical scholar Hal Taussig, along with the work of a […]
Findings & Footnotes: February 2014
01: The new book Religion, Politics and Polarization (Rowman & Littlefield, $28), by William D’Antonio, Steven A. Tuch and Josiah R. Baker, examines the relationship between religious affiliation and voting behavior of American politicians over the last four decades. The authors seek to test the hypothesis that there is a culture war in American society […]
Iraq’s quietist Shiite influence challenging Iran’s religious establishment
Iraq’s emergence as a center of Shiite pilgrimage since 2003, especially among Iranian Muslims, is presenting a “serious challenge to the legitimacy of Iran’s state-sponsored religious establishment,” according to the Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2014). Nearly two million Shiite pilgrims passed from Iran to Iraq between March 2009 and February 2010—comparable to if not greater […]
Current Research: February 2014
01: A new study finds that divorce is higher among religiously conservative Protestants and even drives up divorce rates for other people living around them. University of Texas at Austin professor Jennifer Glass sought to explain why divorce rates would be higher in religious states like Arkansas and Alabama — which boast the second and […]
On/File: January 2014
Sweaty Sheep is one of a wave of new congregations that embrace physical exercise in their ministries. The Louisville, Ky.-based church seeks to compete with running clubs and other exercise programs that may distract people from Sunday worship. While exercise programs have become widespread in congregations in recent years, Sweaty Sheep sees running and the […]
Findings & Footnotes: January 2014
01: Nancy Ammerman’s new book Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes (Oxford, 29.95) employs innovative methods to make the argument that the everyday dimensions of religion have not been adequately appreciated in the study of American religion. Ammerman and her research team not only interviewed 95 Americans on their spiritual and religious lives but asked them to keep […]
Ethiopia seeks to exercise control over Islam
Since 2011 the Ethiopian government, concerned about regional developments and eager to prevent activist forms of Islam destabilizing the country, has been promoting the Islamic Supreme Council as sole representative of Ethiopian Muslims. The government is now also cooperating with the Lebanese-based al-Ahbash organization for the purpose of imposing a government-sanctioned, “moderate” Islam, writes Terje […]
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