Sexuality and New Religious Movements

Henrik Bogdan, University of Gothenburg, SwedenMartha Sonntag Bradley, Cornell University, USAChas S. Clifton, Colorado State University-Pueblo, USAAnthony Costabile, Adidam Midwest Center, USAJennifer Lara Fagen, Lamar University, USAPer Faxneld, Stockholm University, SwedenJames R. Lewis, University of Tromsø, NorwaySusan Palmer, Concordia University, CanadaJesper Aagaard Petersen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NorwayJohanna J. M. Petsche, University of Sydney , AustraliaRoshani Cari Shay, Western Oregon University, USAStuart A. Wright, Lamar University, USA

"Sex is not just sex. As anyone who has deeply engaged the history of religions knows, human sexuality runs the gamut from the most mundane fetish or fantasy to the profundities of charismatic authority, mystical experience, discarnate erotic encounter, alien abduction, even human deification. The essayists in this new volume demonstrate this still ill-understood truth in abundance and with astonishing historical and psychological detail. They thus take us further down the road toward a genuine understanding of our real situation in this weird, weird world." - Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Reflexivity and Eroticism in the Study of Mysticism

• Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Henrik Bogdan and James R. Lewis Chapter 2: Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Empowerment in Mormon Fundamentalist Communities Jennifer Lara Fagen and Stuart A. Wright Chapter 3: Gender Among the Branch Davidians Martha Sonntag Bradley Chapter 4: Sex and Gender in the Words and Communes of Osho (nee Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) Roshani Cari Shay and Henrik Bogdan Chapter 5: Sexual Practice, Spiritual Awakening, and Divine Self-Realization in the Reality-Way of Adidam Michael (Anthony) Costabile Chapter 6: Gurdjieff on Sex: Subtle Bodies, Si 12, and the Sex Life of a Sage Johanna J. M. Petsche Chapter 7: Sex Magic or Sacred Marriage? Sexuality in Contemporary Wicca Chas S. Clifton Chapter 8: Cult of Carnality: Sexuality, eroticism and gender in contemporary Satanism Per Faxneld and Jesper Aa. Petersen Chapter 9: Rael's Angels: The First Five Years of a Secret Order Susan J. Palmer Contributors Index