Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion

Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-38150-6
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 17, 558 Seiten, Format (B × H): 159 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 1018 g

Reihe: Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion

Conspiracy theories are a ubiquitous feature of our times. The Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive, transnational overview of this phenomenon along with in-depth discussions of how conspiracy theories relate to religion(s). Bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to political science and the history of religions, the book sets the standard for the interdisciplinary study of religion and conspiracy theories.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dyrendal, Asbjørn

G Robertson, David

Asprem, Egil

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Religiöse Institutionen & Gemeinschaften, Klerus, Mönchstum
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Volksglaube & Umstrittenes Wissen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword
Michael Barkun

List of Authors

Introducing the Field: Conspiracy Theory in, about, and as Religion
David G. Robertson, Egil Asprem and Asbjørn Dyrendal

Part 1: Explanations

1 Conspiracy Theories and the Study of Religion\s: What we are Talking about, and Why it is Important
Asbjørn Dyrendal, Egil Asprem and David G. Robertson

2 Rational Enchantments: Conspiracy Theory between Secular Scepticism and Spiritual Salvation
Stef Aupers and Jaron Harambam

3 Is a Belief in Providence the Same as a Belief in Conspiracy?
Brian L. Keeley

4 Are Conspiracy Theories a Surrogate for God?
Michael Wood and Karen Douglas

5 A Web of Conspiracy? Internet and Conspiracy Theory
Joseph E. Uscinski, Darin DeWitt and Matthew D. Atkinson

Part 2: Correspondences

6 The Satanism Scare in Apartheid South Africa
Nicky Falkof

7 “Trust Me, You Can’t Trust Them”: Stigmatised Knowledge in Cults and Conspiracies
Amanda van Eck Duymaer van Twist and Suzanne Newcombe

8 Popular Music, Conspiracy Culture, and the Sacred
Christopher Partridge

9 Close Companions? Esotericism and Conspiracy Theories
Egil Asprem and Asbjørn Dyrendal

10 The Counter-Elite: Strategies of Authority in Millennial Conspiracism
David G. Robertson

Part 3: Locations

11 Buddhism Endangered by Hidden Enemies: Conspiracy Narratives in Sri Lankan Buddhist Present and Past
Sven Bretfeld

12 Buddhist Islamophobia: Actors, Tropes, Contexts
Iselin Frydenlund

13 Islamism and the Instrumentalisation of Conspiracism
Willow J. Berridge

14 Anti-Jewish and Anti-Zionist Conspiracism in the Arab World: Historical and Political Roots
Barbara De Poli

15 A Fantastic People and Its Enemies: An Analysis of an Emerging Albanian Mythology
Cecilie Endresen

16 Was Aristotle an Anti-Semitic Alien? Conspiracy Theory, Ufology, and the Colonisation of the Past in Contemporary Greece
Tao T. Makeeff

17 The Role of Conspiracy Theory in the Aum Shinrikyo Incident
Tsuji Ryutaro

18 Framing of a Conspiracy Theory: The Efendi Series
Turkay Nefes

19 The Third Rome Against the Third Temple: Apocalypticism and Conspiracism in Post-Soviet Russia
Michael Hagemeister

20 Alexander Dugin: Between Eschatology, Esotericism, and Conspiracy Theory
Victor Shnirelman

21 Conspiracy Theories and Neo-Nazism in the Cultic Milieu
Paul Jackson

22 Evil Cult or Persecuted Minority? Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Falun Gong and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
Helen Farley

23 The Messiah is a Salesman, Yet Consumerism is a Con(spiracy): The Church of the SubGenius, Work, and the Pursuit of Slack as a Spiritual Ideal
Carole M. Cusack

Afterword: Further Reflections, Future Directions
Egil Asprem, David G. Robertson and Asbjørn Dyrendal

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Asbjørn Dyrendal (b.1965), PhD., is Professor in the History of Religion at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has published widely on conspiracy beliefs and new religious movements, including the recently co-authored The Invention of Satanism (Oxford UP, 2016).

David G. Robertson (b. 1975), PhD., is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University and co-founder of the Religious Studies Project. His work applies critical theory to the study of alternative and emerging religions, and to "conspiracy theory" narratives. He is the author of UFOs, the New Age and Conspiracy Theories: Millennial Conspiracism (Bloomsbury 2016) and co-editor of After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies (Equinox 2016).

Egil Asprem (b. 1984), PhD., is Associate Professor in the History of Religion at Stockholm University, Sweden. He has published extensively on Western esotericism, occultism, and magic, including the monographs Arguing with Angels: Enochian Magic and Modern Occulture (SUNY, 2012) and The Problem of Disenchantment: Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900–1939 (Brill, 2014).

Contributors are: Asprem, Egil; Atkinson, Matthew D.; Aupers, Stef; Berridge, Willow; Bretfeld, Sven; Cusack, Carole M.; DeWitt, Darin; Douglas, Karen M.; Dyrendal, Asbjørn; van Eck Duymaer van Twist, Amanda; Endresen, Cecilie; Falkof, Nicky; Farley, Helen; Frydenlund, Iselin; Hagemeister, Michael; Harambam, Jaron; Jackson, Paul; Keeley, Brian L.; Makeeff, Tao Thukier; Nefes, Türkay Salim; Newcombe, Suzanne; Partridge, Christopher; Poli, Barbara De; Robertson, David G.; Shnirelman, Victor A.; Ryutaro, Tsuji; Uscinski, Joseph E.; Wood, Michael J.