Feb. 1
Dear David,
I'd never heard of MOOT MAGAZINE till now.
I just perused your well-written article, which I recognize is directed to a popular rather than an academic audience. I do not want to get involved in an exchange with you or with others, but conspicuously missing from your article are (a) the argument of rational choice theorists of religion that in America traditional religion is thriving and, more important, (b) even the most superficial consideration of what it means to identify a group or a movement as a religion. For those of us professionally trained in religious studies, metaphysics, ethics, and INSTITUTIONALIZATION are necessary, whether or not sufficient, criteria. The new age "movement" hardly qualifies AS a religion, in which case it can never be a rival or successor to existing religion. As Weber noted a hundred years, any movement that survives BECOMES institutionalized. Otherwise it simply dies out.
Sincerely,
Robert Segal
Prof. of Religious Studies
University of Aberdeen
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of D G Mattichak jr [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 7:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Thanks to everyone from the list who helped
Hi All;
I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone that patiently answered my questions for my article Spirituality: A New Religion for a New Age. I would especially like to thank Sabina and Jesper for their help.
For those who are interested the article was published today and you can take a look at:
http://www.mootmagazine.com/2012/01/31/spirituality-the-new-religion-for-the-new-age/
Thanks
David Mattichak
The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
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