Spiritual and Visionary Communities

Timothy Miller has thirty years' experience in the study of new religious movements, with a special focus on communal groups.

’Based uniquely on the experience and knowledge of notable communal residents and scholars, this anthology offers rich insights into the visions and workings of modern spiritual communities worldwide. Timothy Miller's analytic introduction successfully ties together the threads of communal history and utopian communal usage. Nowhere else is such a penetrating wide-angle-view of contemporary spiritual intentional communities available.’ Donald E. Pitzer, University of Southern Indiana, USA ’Once again Timothy Miller has brought together an impressive set of papers that highlight contemporary communities in Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World. International in scope, this collection of communities presented within the context of their common mission to forge a better life, together present a refreshing assessment of the world of community and spirituality that thrives in the midst of so much global chaos.’ Susan Love Brown, Florida Atlantic University, USA 'I had a fascinating time armchair traveling recently while I was reading the collection of essays in Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World. Each chapter, written by a member of the community I visited in the pages of this book, not only provided information about the community, but gave me a feel of what it was like to live there. Writers were lively, articulate, and honest.' Communities '...general audiences and under- graduates can benefit from accessible case studies that bring light to the multitude of spiritual communities that exist around the world and in the United States, providing an important reminder of the tremendous diversity of religious experiences.' Nova Religio

• Introduction: Persistence Over Millennia: The Perennial Presence of Intentional Communities, Timothy Miller; Chapter 1 Damanhur: Sustaining Changes in an Intentional Community, Etta M. Madden; Chapter 2 Mandarom and the Limitations on Liberté in the Laïcité, Susan J. Palmer; Chapter 3 Henpecked to Heaven? My Life in a Brahma Kumaris Retreat Center, Neville Hodgkinson; Chapter 4 Realizing the Guru’s Intention: Hungry Humans and Awkward Animals in a New Kadampa Tradition Community 1 The New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT–IKBU) will be shortened to NKT and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, its founder, will be called Geshe-la or Gyatso., Carol McQuire; Chapter 5 Tamera, a Model for the Future, Leila Dregger; Chapter 6 Spirituality in the Camphill Villages, Jan Martin Bang; Chapter 7 The Farm, Albert Bates; Chapter 8 A Tradition of Innovation and the Innovation of Tradition: The Cultural Developments of the Twelve Tribes Community, Torang Asadi; Chapter 9 The Family International: The Evolution of a Communal Society, Claire Borowik; Chapter 10 How Many Arks Does It Take?, Chris Coates; Chapter 11 Religious Communes in America: An Overview, Timothy Miller; Chapter 12 The Intersection of White-Racist Communes and the American Legal System, H.C. Lazebnik; Chapter 13 Communes and Kibbutzim: Towards a Comparison, Henry Near;