Prophecy and American Millennialism
“RastafarI is itself a millennial movement with the belief that Haile Selassie I is the God Liberator, an avatar returned to restore True Salvation for the subaltern people of African lineage. It is also a revolutionary movement which wants to change the lot of Africans…”
J. Gorton Melton is a leading academic specialist on new religious movements, a scholar of occultists, Scientologists, Rosicrucianists, Neopagans, …
Studying “Cults”
What is a ‘cult’, and how are they generally perceived? How does one distinguish between new religious movements and cults? And what’s at stake in that distinction? Tune in to learn more with Eileen Barker and Chris Cotter!
Religion After Darwin
Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species was published in 1859, and had an immediate and dramatic effect on religious narratives. Traditional religions were forced to adopt an evolutionary worldview, or to go on the offensive; whereas New Religious Movements like Wicca or New Age adopted an environmental concern as a central part of their belief. And possibly, …
Paulina Gruffman
Paulina Gruffman is a PhD student at Lund University. Her research is primarily historical (from the mid-19th century to contemporary time) focuses on esotericism, occultism, new religious movements, and “New Age” spirituality. She’s particularly interested in how these groups’ activities and writings intersect with popular and academic understandings of religion, as well as the historiography […]
Cults & NRMs: An RSP Remix, Part I [transcript]
Cults & NRMs: An RSP Remix, Part I Podcast with Eileen Barker, Stephen Gregg, Susan J. Palmer, David G. Robertson, Tristan Sturm, and Joseph Webster (16 may 2022) Interviewed by Andie Alexander and Allison Isidore Transcribed by Jacob Noblett Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/cults-and-nrms-remix-part-i/ KEYWORDS Cults, Discourse, New Religious Movements, RSP Remix, Violence Andie […]
Nathan Keele Springer
Nathan Keele Springer is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Religious Studies at Georgia State University. His research interests center on the use of psychotropics in religious contexts and the overlap between psychedelic communities and new religious movements. He also studies the interplay between psychedelic culture and American Buddhist communities. Nathan works as the Assistant […]
Alana Louise Bowden
Alana Louise Bowden is an interdisciplinary artist and academic and works across the departments of Theatre and Performance Studies, and Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney, Australia. As a scholar-practitioner of both magic and performance, her research and artistic practice is particularly interested in the intersection between performance, gender, art, magic and ritual […]
Manifestos and the Academic Study of Religion [transcript]
Manifestos and the Academic Study of Religion Podcast with Carole Cusack, Alana Louise Bowden, Ray Radford, and Sophie Roe (10 May 2021). Interviewed by Anna Lutkajtis Transcribed by Andie Alexander Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/manifestos-and-the-academic-study-of-religion/ KEYWORDS Manifestos, Capitalism, Consumerism, Ritual, Performance, Dissent, Violence Anna Lutkajtis (AL) 00:03 Welcome, everyone. We are here this evening […]
Master Archive
The Religious Studies Project Master Archive Below is the abstracted data from our episodes, presented text-only to be used in data-validation by our web team. If images or audio players appear, it is because they are contained WITHIN an episode’s post content in WordPress. The goal of this item is to be able to make […]
Sex Scandals and Minoritized Religions [transcript]
Sex Scandals and Minoritized Religions Podcast with Megan Goodwin (22 March 2021). Interviewed by David McConeghy Transcribed by Andie Alexander Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/sex-scandals-and-minoritized-religions/ KEYWORDS Sex, gender, race, American religion, sexual abuse, rhetoric, stereotypes David McConeghy (DM) 00:05 My name is David McConeghy. And it’s my great pleasure today to welcome Dr. Megan […]
Race and the Aliites [transcript]
Race and the Aliites Podcast with Spencer Dew (1 March 2021). Interviewed by David McConeghy Transcribed by Andie Alexander Audio and transcript available at: https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/race-and-the-aliites/ KEYWORDS Race, American religion, New Religious Movements David McConeghy (DM) 00:05 My name is David McConeghy, and today I’m delighted to be joined by Dr. Spencer Dew, a religion Teaching […]
Religion & Law
In this playlist learn how legal systems play a fundamental role in shaping the public’s understanding of religion.
The Insider/Outsider Problem [transcript]
The Insider/Outsider Problem Podcast with George Chryssides (20th February 2012) Interviewed by Christopher Cotter Transcribed by Catrin Sawford Audio and transcript available at: Chryssides Insider_Outsider Problem Christopher Cotter (CC): The insider/outsider distinction is one of the most fundamental distinctions in the study of religions. I’m not going to get into it too much now because here […]
Minority Religions in the Secret Police Archives [transcript]
Minority Religions in the Secret Police Archives Podcast with James Kapaló Interviewed by David Robertson Transcribed by Helen Bradstock. David Roberston (DR): I’m here in Edinburgh, on a beautiful sunny day, and I’m pleased to be joined by Dr James Kapaló from the University College, Cork, where he’s Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion. […]
Millennialism and Violence? [transcript]
Millennialism and Violence? Podcast with Eileen Barker, Moojan Momen, Joseph Webster and Tristan Sturm (22 May 2017). Interviewed by David Robertson. Transcribed by Helen Bradstock. Transcript available CenSAMM conference – Millennialism and Violence 1.1. David Robertson (DR): Welcome to the Religious Studies Project. I’m here today, in the grounds of the Panacea Museum in sunny […]