Prof. Phillip Lucas studies religion “on the ground,” whether that entails creating documentaries on modern spiritual pilgrimages, conducting interviews with members of new religious movements, or taking students to temples, ashrams, or cathedrals. He is the author of four books, numerous articles, and founded the academic journal, Nova Religio, now in its 26th year of publication. The journal examines new and minority religions across cultures and historical periods. Address: Dept. Religious Studies 421 N. Woodland Blvd.
... Colleagues and friends who were especially supportive included Ann, Carol, Tracy, Mary, Liz, ... more ... Colleagues and friends who were especially supportive included Ann, Carol, Tracy, Mary, Liz, Denice, Don, Mitchell, Dixon, Kandy, Earl, Hazel, Britta, Kee, Katy, Peggy, Shoshanah, Wendy, Valeta, Jeff, Josh, Ellen, Yvonne, Dana, Barry, and Dan. ...
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2007
Nova Religio came into being to provide a growing cohort of scholars of new religions with a dedi... more Nova Religio came into being to provide a growing cohort of scholars of new religions with a dedicated forum within which to publish their research. The title, Nova Religio, was chosen to convey the journal's focus on new religious phenomena across historical periods. The description, The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, signified that Nova Religio would have as its purview religious communities and movements that fall outside the "established, or dominant, religious institutions and traditions of a given nation or culture." The journal has published a number of important symposia during its first decade and established itself as the journal of record for scholars of new and minority religions. Three initiatives are suggested to help the field of new religions studies (NRS) achieve its full potential in the academy: 1) continued outreach to colleagues in interdisciplinary fields; 2) a transition from frames that see new religions as "social problems,...
For growing numbers of people, the postmodern construction of identity includes the search for a ... more For growing numbers of people, the postmodern construction of identity includes the search for a spirituality that reconnects them with the natural world and fosters activity that protects the ecosystem and its many forms of life. Practitioners of this "nature spirituality" construct their identities using a large toolkit of symbols, myths, histories, rituals, sacred places, and beliefs. The megalithic sites of Western Europe constitute one element of this toolkit. This paper considers the ways these sites are interpreted and experienced in the nature-spirituality subculture and how these interpretations and experiences help individuals construct empowering identities that tie together their spiritual and ecological commitments. This interpretive process is occurring outside the control of governing elites, ecclesiastical authorities, or dominant religious institutions. It is at root an exercise in both individual and communal identity construction, a movement of resistanc...
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2004
Most scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) have tended to ignore the critiques of contempora... more Most scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) have tended to ignore the critiques of contemporary culture offered by postmodern theorists. This article attempts to show how several of these critical perspectives can offer innovative conceptual tools with which to analyze growth, change and "distortion" in these movements. The specific elements of postmodernity considered include: 1) hyper-pluralism, globalization, and the radical relativization of truth claims characteristic of postmodernity; 2) postmodernity's "domination of simulation," by which human experience comes to be increasingly mediated by synthetic images produced and disseminated by the mass media; and 3) ephemerality and the contraction of time characteristic of postmodernity. Two NRMs, Christ the Savior Brotherhood and Church Universal and Triumphant, are used as case studies to demonstrate the utility of these three postmodern conditions in interpreting developments in new religions.
This article considers two case studies of collective conversions to Eastern Orthodoxy to illustr... more This article considers two case studies of collective conversions to Eastern Orthodoxy to illustrate the most pressing challenges faced by ethnic Orthodox congregations who attempt to assimilate sectarian groups into their midst. I argue that these challenges include: 1) the different understandings of ecclesiology held by former Protestant sectarians and by "cradle" Orthodox believers; 2) the pan-Orthodox aspirations of sectarian converts versus the factionalism found in ethnically-based American Orthodox jurisdictions; 3) the differing pastoral styles of former sectarian ministers and Orthodox priests; 4) the tendency of sectarian converts to embrace a very strict reading of Orthodoxy and to adopt a critical and reformist attitude in relations with cradle Orthodox communities; and 5) the covert and overt racism that sometimes exists in ethnic Orthodox parishes. I suggest that the increasing numbers of non-ethnic converts to ethnic Orthodox parishes may result in increase...
... 201-227; Fox, M.,Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spiritual-ity, Santa Fe: Bear and Co... more ... 201-227; Fox, M.,Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spiritual-ity, Santa Fe: Bear and Co., 1983; Berry, T., "The New Story", Cross Currents, XXXVII, 187-191. 6. MANS was an acronym for the order's spiritual mission that was only revealed to life-vowed members. Lucas, P. C ...
New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century: Legal, Political and Social Challenges in Global Perspective, 2004
This paper examines the status of religious freedom across the globe in the early years of the 21... more This paper examines the status of religious freedom across the globe in the early years of the 21st Century. It concludes that religious freedom as a human right is under siege in liberal democracies and in more autocratic states.
This paper demonstrates that millennial visions in NRMs are not static, fixed conceptions that st... more This paper demonstrates that millennial visions in NRMs are not static, fixed conceptions that stand outside time but rather fluid and adaptable configurations of mythic, symbolic, and ideological elements that shift as inner and outer forces compel change in a movement.
... Colleagues and friends who were especially supportive included Ann, Carol, Tracy, Mary, Liz, ... more ... Colleagues and friends who were especially supportive included Ann, Carol, Tracy, Mary, Liz, Denice, Don, Mitchell, Dixon, Kandy, Earl, Hazel, Britta, Kee, Katy, Peggy, Shoshanah, Wendy, Valeta, Jeff, Josh, Ellen, Yvonne, Dana, Barry, and Dan. ...
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2007
Nova Religio came into being to provide a growing cohort of scholars of new religions with a dedi... more Nova Religio came into being to provide a growing cohort of scholars of new religions with a dedicated forum within which to publish their research. The title, Nova Religio, was chosen to convey the journal's focus on new religious phenomena across historical periods. The description, The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, signified that Nova Religio would have as its purview religious communities and movements that fall outside the "established, or dominant, religious institutions and traditions of a given nation or culture." The journal has published a number of important symposia during its first decade and established itself as the journal of record for scholars of new and minority religions. Three initiatives are suggested to help the field of new religions studies (NRS) achieve its full potential in the academy: 1) continued outreach to colleagues in interdisciplinary fields; 2) a transition from frames that see new religions as "social problems,...
For growing numbers of people, the postmodern construction of identity includes the search for a ... more For growing numbers of people, the postmodern construction of identity includes the search for a spirituality that reconnects them with the natural world and fosters activity that protects the ecosystem and its many forms of life. Practitioners of this "nature spirituality" construct their identities using a large toolkit of symbols, myths, histories, rituals, sacred places, and beliefs. The megalithic sites of Western Europe constitute one element of this toolkit. This paper considers the ways these sites are interpreted and experienced in the nature-spirituality subculture and how these interpretations and experiences help individuals construct empowering identities that tie together their spiritual and ecological commitments. This interpretive process is occurring outside the control of governing elites, ecclesiastical authorities, or dominant religious institutions. It is at root an exercise in both individual and communal identity construction, a movement of resistanc...
Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2004
Most scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) have tended to ignore the critiques of contempora... more Most scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) have tended to ignore the critiques of contemporary culture offered by postmodern theorists. This article attempts to show how several of these critical perspectives can offer innovative conceptual tools with which to analyze growth, change and "distortion" in these movements. The specific elements of postmodernity considered include: 1) hyper-pluralism, globalization, and the radical relativization of truth claims characteristic of postmodernity; 2) postmodernity's "domination of simulation," by which human experience comes to be increasingly mediated by synthetic images produced and disseminated by the mass media; and 3) ephemerality and the contraction of time characteristic of postmodernity. Two NRMs, Christ the Savior Brotherhood and Church Universal and Triumphant, are used as case studies to demonstrate the utility of these three postmodern conditions in interpreting developments in new religions.
This article considers two case studies of collective conversions to Eastern Orthodoxy to illustr... more This article considers two case studies of collective conversions to Eastern Orthodoxy to illustrate the most pressing challenges faced by ethnic Orthodox congregations who attempt to assimilate sectarian groups into their midst. I argue that these challenges include: 1) the different understandings of ecclesiology held by former Protestant sectarians and by "cradle" Orthodox believers; 2) the pan-Orthodox aspirations of sectarian converts versus the factionalism found in ethnically-based American Orthodox jurisdictions; 3) the differing pastoral styles of former sectarian ministers and Orthodox priests; 4) the tendency of sectarian converts to embrace a very strict reading of Orthodoxy and to adopt a critical and reformist attitude in relations with cradle Orthodox communities; and 5) the covert and overt racism that sometimes exists in ethnic Orthodox parishes. I suggest that the increasing numbers of non-ethnic converts to ethnic Orthodox parishes may result in increase...
... 201-227; Fox, M.,Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spiritual-ity, Santa Fe: Bear and Co... more ... 201-227; Fox, M.,Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spiritual-ity, Santa Fe: Bear and Co., 1983; Berry, T., "The New Story", Cross Currents, XXXVII, 187-191. 6. MANS was an acronym for the order's spiritual mission that was only revealed to life-vowed members. Lucas, P. C ...
New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century: Legal, Political and Social Challenges in Global Perspective, 2004
This paper examines the status of religious freedom across the globe in the early years of the 21... more This paper examines the status of religious freedom across the globe in the early years of the 21st Century. It concludes that religious freedom as a human right is under siege in liberal democracies and in more autocratic states.
This paper demonstrates that millennial visions in NRMs are not static, fixed conceptions that st... more This paper demonstrates that millennial visions in NRMs are not static, fixed conceptions that stand outside time but rather fluid and adaptable configurations of mythic, symbolic, and ideological elements that shift as inner and outer forces compel change in a movement.
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Papers by Phillip Lucas