The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff

An Intellectual History of Anti-Intellectualism in Modern America
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-36107-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 158, 380 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 680 g

Reihe: Numen Book Series

In The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff: An Intellectual History of Anti-intellectualism in Modern America, Dave Vliegenthart offers an account of the life and teachings of the modern American mystic Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887–1985), who combined secular and religious sources from eastern and western traditions in order to elaborate and legitimate his metaphysical claim to the realization of a transcendental reality beyond reason.

Using Merrell-Wolff as a typical example of a modern western guru, Vliegenthart investigates the larger sociological and historical context of the ongoing grand narrative that asserts a widespread anti-intellectualism in modern American culture, exploring developments in religious, philosophical, and psychological discourses in North America from 1800 until the present.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vliegenthart, Dave

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sonstige Religionen: Leben & Brauch, Soziale Aspekte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Agnostizismus, Atheismus, Säkularer Humanismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Franklin Merrell-Wolff

Secular Religion

Anti-Intellectualism

Outline of This Study

Acknowledgments

1 Origination (1887–1914)

Religion

Childhood: Evangelical Religion

Adolescence: Metaphysical Religion

Adulthood: Oriental(ist) Religion

Philosophy

Pragmatism

Psychology

New Thought

New Psychology

2 Investigation (1914–1936)

Religion

The Temple of the People

The Arcane School

The International Sufi Movement

The United Lodge of Theosophists

The Benares League of America

The Assembly of Man

Philosophy

Einstein’s Philosophy of “Religion”

Keyserling’s Religious “Philosophy”

Psychology

Jung’s “Creative Phantasy”

3 Realization (1936–1978)

Three Preliminary Realizations

First Fundamental Realization

Second Fundamental Realization

Introception

Introceptualism

Religion

Indian Idealism

Philosophy
German Idealism

Psychology

The Human Potential Movement

4 Routinization (1978–Today)

Religion

Cults, New Religions, and Emergent Traditions

Philosophy

Perennialism versus Constructivism

Psychology

Autobiographically “Advaitizing” Immediatism

Conclusion

Social Crises and New Religions

Competition and Rationalization

Secular-Religious Theology

Bibliography

Index of Persons

Index of Subjects

Über Autor(innen)

Dave Vliegenthart, PhD (2017), University of Groningen, is a lecturer in the Liberal Arts and Sciences at Maastricht University, specializing in the study of eastern-inspired western gurus and new religious movements in modern western culture.