David G. Robertson - Böcker

Religion and Conspiracy Theories: An Introduction is the first accessible volume to systematically examine the relationship between religion and conspiracy theories in the contemporary world in critical and historical perspective.It lays out the historical development of these important categories, considers different theoretical approaches and looks at case studies of conspiracy theories in religion, about religion and as religion. It maintains a critical perspective throughout on the relationship between truth and power, and in the process provides a fresh perspective on belief and worldviews in our modern world.Designed for use in the classroom, the book features helpful diagrams and resources for teachers. It is an essential read for all students of religion and conspiracy theories, as well as scholars of politics, religious studies, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.

Religion and Conspiracy Theories: An Introduction is the first accessible volume to systematically examine the relationship between religion and conspiracy theories in the contemporary world in critical and historical perspective.It lays out the historical development of these important categories, considers different theoretical approaches and looks at case studies of conspiracy theories in religion, about religion and as religion. It maintains a critical perspective throughout on the relationship between truth and power, and in the process provides a fresh perspective on belief and worldviews in our modern world.Designed for use in the classroom, the book features helpful diagrams and resources for teachers. It is an essential read for all students of religion and conspiracy theories, as well as scholars of politics, religious studies, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.

The World Religions Paradigm has been the subject of critique and controversy in Religious Studies for many years. After World Religions provides a rationale for overhauling the World Religions curriculum, as well as a roadmap for doing so. The volume offers concise and practical introductions to cutting-edge Religious Studies method and theory, introducing a wide range of pedagogical situations and innovative solutions. An international team of scholars addresses the challenges presented in their different departmental, institutional, and geographical contexts. Instructors developing syllabi will find supplementary reading lists and specific suggestions to help guide their teaching. Students at all levels will find the book an invaluable entry point into an area of ongoing scholarly debate.

The World Religions Paradigm has been the subject of critique and controversy in Religious Studies for many years. After World Religions provides a rationale for overhauling the World Religions curriculum, as well as a roadmap for doing so. The volume offers concise and practical introductions to cutting-edge Religious Studies method and theory, introducing a wide range of pedagogical situations and innovative solutions. An international team of scholars addresses the challenges presented in their different departmental, institutional, and geographical contexts. Instructors developing syllabi will find supplementary reading lists and specific suggestions to help guide their teaching. Students at all levels will find the book an invaluable entry point into an area of ongoing scholarly debate.

How—and why— were UFOs so prevalent in both conspiracy theories and the New Age milieu in the post-Cold War period? In this ground-breaking book, David G. Robertson argues that UFOs symbolized an uncertainty about the boundaries between scientific knowledge and other ways of validating knowledge, and thus became part of a shared vocabulary. Through historical and ethnographic case studies of three prominent figures—novelist and abductee Whitley Strieber; environmentalist and reptilian proponent David Icke; and David Wilcock, alleged reincarnation of Edgar Cayce—the investigation reveals that millennial conspiracism offers an explanation as to why the prophesied New Age failed to arrive—it was prevented from arriving by malevolent, hidden others. Yet millennial conspiracism constructs a counter-elite, a gnostic third party defined by their special knowledge.An overview of the development of UFO subcultures from the perspective of religious studies, UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age is an innovative application of discourse analysis to the study of present day alternative religion.

Building on critical work in biblical studies, which shows how a historically-bounded heretical tradition called Gnosticism was ‘invented’, this work focuses on the following stage in which it was “essentialised” into a sui generis, universal category of religion. At the same time, it shows how Gnosticism became a religious self-identifier, with a number of sizable contemporary groups identifying as Gnostics today, drawing on the same discourses.This book provides a history of this problematic category, and its relationship with scholarly and popular discourse on religion in the twentieth century. It uses a critical-historical method to show how and why Gnosis, Gnostic and Gnosticism were taken up by specific groups and individuals – practitioners and scholars – at different times. It shows how ideas about Gnosticism developed in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship, drawing from continental phenomenology, Jungian psychology and post-Holocaust theology, to be constructed as a perennial religious current based on special knowledge of the divine in a corrupt world.David G. Robertson challenges how scholars interact with the category Gnosticism, and contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship between primary sources, academics and practitioners in category formation.

Building on critical work in biblical studies, which shows how a historically-bounded heretical tradition called Gnosticism was ‘invented’, this work focuses on the following stage in which it was “essentialised” into a sui generis, universal category of religion. At the same time, it shows how Gnosticism became a religious self-identifier, with a number of sizable contemporary groups identifying as Gnostics today, drawing on the same discourses.This book provides a history of this problematic category, and its relationship with scholarly and popular discourse on religion in the twentieth century. It uses a critical-historical method to show how and why Gnosis, Gnostic and Gnosticism were taken up by specific groups and individuals – practitioners and scholars – at different times. It shows how ideas about Gnosticism developed in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship, drawing from continental phenomenology, Jungian psychology and post-Holocaust theology, to be constructed as a perennial religious current based on special knowledge of the divine in a corrupt world.David G. Robertson challenges how scholars interact with the category Gnosticism, and contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship between primary sources, academics and practitioners in category formation.

How—and why— were UFOs so prevalent in both conspiracy theories and the New Age milieu in the post-Cold War period? In this ground-breaking book, David G. Robertson argues that UFOs symbolized an uncertainty about the boundaries between scientific knowledge and other ways of validating knowledge, and thus became part of a shared vocabulary. Through historical and ethnographic case studies of three prominent figures—novelist and abductee Whitley Strieber; environmentalist and reptilian proponent David Icke; and David Wilcock, alleged reincarnation of Edgar Cayce—the investigation reveals that millennial conspiracism offers an explanation as to why the prophesied New Age failed to arrive—it was prevented from arriving by malevolent, hidden others. Yet millennial conspiracism constructs a counter-elite, a gnostic third party defined by their special knowledge.An overview of the development of UFO subcultures from the perspective of religious studies, UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age is an innovative application of discourse analysis to the study of present day alternative religion.

Graham Harvey's work--from his early publications on British Pagans, his pioneering work on New Animism to most recently the everyday relational model of religion presented in Food, Sex and Strangers--has had an impact on fields as diverse as environmentalism, ritual, indigenous religion, folklore, and beyond academia. Yet there is a clear through-line, as this volume suggests, a concern with personhood, communication and community which bridges the lived religion approach with emerging network- and rhizome-based theoretical models. Harvey has also impacted the field through the growing network of former students and other early career students who have benefited from his support, directly or through the Open University or the British Association for the Study of Religion, and the many scholars with whom he has produced collaborative works. The contributors of this volume are drawn from these networks, to consider and celebrate Graham's contributions to the contemporary study of religion.

Graham Harvey's work--from his early publications on British Pagans, his pioneering work on New Animism to most recently the everyday relational model of religion presented in Food, Sex and Strangers--has had an impact on fields as diverse as environmentalism, ritual, indigenous religion, folklore, and beyond academia. Yet there is a clear through-line, as this volume suggests, a concern with personhood, communication and community which bridges the lived religion approach with emerging network- and rhizome-based theoretical models. Harvey has also impacted the field through the growing network of former students and other early career students who have benefited from his support, directly or through the Open University or the British Association for the Study of Religion, and the many scholars with whom he has produced collaborative works. The contributors of this volume are drawn from these networks, to consider and celebrate Graham's contributions to the contemporary study of religion.