forwarded from another list- looks interesting

Dave E



Ireland's New Religious Movements
Editors: Olivia Cosgrove, Laurence Cox, Carmen Kuhling and Peter Mulholland
Date Of Publication: Jan 2011
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2588-7
Isbn: 1-4438-2588-3
Price Uk Gbp: 49.99   Price Us Usd: 74.99 

SAMPLE WITH LIST OF CONTENTS
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47522544/Ireland-s-New-Religious-Movements-PDF-Sample

Until recently, Irish religion has been seen as defined by Catholic power in
the South and sectarianism in the North. In recent years, however, both have
been shaken by widespread changes in religious practice and belief, the rise
of new religious movements, the revival of magical-devotionalism, the arrival
of migrant religion and the spread of New Age and alternative spirituality. 

This book is the first to bring together researchers exploring all these areas
in a wide-ranging overview of new religion in Ireland. Chapters explore the
role of feminism, Ireland as global ‘Celtic’ homeland, the growth of Islam,
understanding the New Age, evangelicals in the Republic, alternative healing,
Irish interest in Buddhism, channelled teachings and religious visions. 

This book will be an indispensable handbook for professionals in many fields
seeking to understand Ireland’s increasingly diverse and multicultural
religious landscape, as well as for students of religion, sociology,
psychology, anthropology and Irish Studies. Giving an overview of the shape of
new religion in Ireland today and models of the best work in the field, it is
likely to remain a standard text for many years to come. 

For centuries to be Irish has meant that one was a Catholic. There have long
been some Protestants, of course, but these are from across the water and have
not always been considered really Irish. Today, however, the situation is
changing, and changing rapidly. Not only has the taken-for-granted Catholic
culture been severely, possibly irreparably, damaged through the exposure of
the ‘Magdalene Laundries’ and of the widespread sexual abuse of young boys and
girls by priests, but there has been flourishing of new religious and
spiritual alternatives throughout the country. 
Until recently very little in the way of reliable knowledge was publicly
available about these new religions and spiritualities, but in 2009 a
conference at the National University of Ireland Maynooth brought together a
number of researchers who have been exploring the changes within and
alternatives to Catholicism. The papers covered an extraordinarily wide
variety of groups and movements ranging from new atheisms to revivals of
Celtic lore, and from the home-grown Fellowship of Isis to the American
channelled ‘Course of Miracles’, interspersed with novel Irish manifestations
of traditional religions from the East. (SEE
http://eprints.nuim.ie/2197/1/LC-Alternative_spiritualities.pdf
 
Eileen Barker
This collection of essays that emerged from the Maynooth conference offers a
unique insight into the emerging scene. The papers are well-written and
informative, combining both empirical data and theoretical insight. It is a
book that should be read well beyond the confines of Ireland – and it will be
an enjoyable read for scholars and lay alike.” 
—Prof. Eileen Barker, OBE, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London School of
Economics. Prof. Barker is one of the world’s leading experts on new religious
movements and the author of many publications on the subject, including New
religious movements: a practical introduction, Of Gods and men: new religious
movements in the west, The making of a Moonie and Freedom and Religion in
Eastern Europe. She is the founder and chairperson of the UK’s INFORM
(Information Network Focus on New Religious Movements), an
internationally-recognised source of professional expertise on the subject. 

Tom Inglis
“This scholarly collection of studies provides a comprehensive map of an area
of Irish culture that has been previously ignored. It shines an important new
light on the diversity of religious life in Ireland. With the decline in the
significance of institutional religions, it reveals the alternative ways in
which contemporary Irish people seek to be spiritual and moral. It is a
remarkable achievement.” 
—Prof. Tom Inglis, Department of Sociology, University College Dublin, is the
leading figure in the study of Irish religion. He is the author of many
publications on globalisation, secularisation and identities, including Moral
monopoly: the rise and fall of the Catholic Church in modern Ireland, Truth,
Power and Lies: Irish society and the case of the Kerry Babies, Discourses of
sexuality in Ireland and Global Ireland: Same Difference. 

Brian Bocking
Ireland’s New Religious Movements is a truly significant publication; the
first of its kind to appear in Ireland. Not only does it mark the 'coming of
age' of the academic study of religions in Ireland, where for too long the
study of any religious topic outside the Catholic-Protestant theological nexus
has been virtually unknown, it also heralds a new and very significant Irish
academic voice within the big debates about new and minority religions in
Europe and worldwide. As exemplified in chapters such as those on Irish Islam
and Irish Buddhism, research on religions relatively new to Ireland can
readily challenge knowledge about these traditions produced and consumed
elsewhere. This is not because Ireland is intrinsically exceptional, special
or different - although research on new and minority religions in a
Catholic-majority, postcolonial European context can pose obvious challenges
to theories and histories of religion from colonial, Protestant-dominated
European cultures. It is, rather, because Irish contributions (both in Ireland
and among the huge worldwide Irish diaspora) to the global and multifaceted
history of religions new to Europe have so far remained virtually unknown, and
the reason is that these topics have not  - until now - been the focus of much
concentrated academic research. The breadth and depth of scholarship and the
wide range of topics addressed in this volume signal a new energy, resolve and
spirit of co-operation among the growing ranks of scholars of religions in
Ireland. This is in every sense a pioneering volume, for apart from its own
merits it is undoubtedly the first of many publications in the coming years
which will bring thought-provoking academic research on the whole range of
religions in Ireland to the attention of a global audience.” 
—Prof. Brian Bocking founded the first non-confessional department of
religious studies in Ireland. Previously Professor of the Study of Religions
at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, he is the author of
many publications on Japanese religion, Buddhism and the Study of Religions,
including The oracles of the Three Shrines, A Popular Dictionary of Shinto and
Nagarjuna in China. 

Carmen Kuhling (Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Limerick) is
author of several books on Ireland, modernity and the New Age. 
Laurence Cox (Lecturer in Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth)
is author of various pieces on the history of Irish Buddhism. 
Peter Mulholland (Independent Scholar) holds a PhD in anthropology from NUIM
and specialises in the study of Irish religiosity. 
Olivia Cosgrove (PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Limerick) is
carrying out research on religion, globalisation and identity.