New Religions and the Theological Imagination in America

NOTES

Notes PREFACE 1. At least one reason for lack of attention to the theological dimensions of new religions emerges from patterns of scholarship regarding them. Historians have been greatly concerned with religions that had their origins in the nineteenth century . There are excellent studies of nineteenth-century groups whose authors provide information about beliefs as background information, but theological concerns are not generally their focus. It has been primarily social scientists-sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and even legal experts-who have done most of the work on religions which have emerged in American culture since the 1960s. Given the widespread assumption that the major institutions and values of the culture appeared to be in crisis at that time, it is not surprising that the emergence of new religions was understood as another among many unhealthy and frightening symptoms of cultural malaise and that we turned to sociologists, mental health professionals , and lawyers to help make sense of the proliferation of new religions. Again, their issues are not theological. More systematic description and analysis of the beliefs of the new religions has been left to spokespersons from the established faith communities who see their task as distinguishing and defending their own traditions from those of the new religions. Much of this literature has the further aim of preventing members from joining any of the new religions or else of bringing back those who have already joined. Some of this literature is vituperative in nature; some of it is quite thoughtful. But it generally does not lend itself to the kind of theological conversation in which I am interested. 2. James M. Gustafson, Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective, vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), 158-59. ). Gordon Kaufman, Theology for a Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985), p. 19. See idem, An Essay on Theological Method (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, lQ7,). 4. David Tracy,'Yhe Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1986), 452. Originally published in 1981. 5. David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope (San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1987), 18. ONE Introduction 1. This definition is dependent on the writings of theologians James M. Gustafson and Gordon D. Kaufman, as cited in the Preface, but it has also been influenced by the works of Peter Berger, particularly The Sacred Canopy (New York: Doubleday, 1967) and of Ian G. Barbour, particularly Myths, Models, and Paradigms: A Comparative Study in Science and Religion (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1974)· 2. Gordon D. Kaufman, The Theological Imagination: Constructing the Concept of God (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1981), 2). ). Quoted from Joseph Smith's History of the Church in Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 54. 4. George Chainey, "How and Why I Became a Spiritualist," The Independent Pulpit: Lectures by George Chainey (Boston, 1885), 2. After leaving Methodism, Chainey became first a Unitarian and then Spiritualist, for Spiritualism promised him scientific evidence for holding to religious teachings. Notes to pages 4-9 5. Mark C. Taylor, A Postmodern A/theology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 8-9. On these pages Taylor includes a lengthy list of some of the polarities that have dominated Western theological thought. 6. For a helpful discussion about the limitations of American exceptionalism, see Giles Gunn, The Culture of Criticism and the Criticism of Culture (New York: Ox·· ford University Press, 1987), especially Ch. 7, "American Studies as Cultural Criti·· cism." 7. Sallie McFague, Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 13. McFague warns that these descriptions are caricatures , but the student of religion certainly recognizes much that is accurate about them. In fact, the description of the Catholic sensibility is helpful in understanding why so many theological interpretations of New Age thinking are emerging from Roman Catholic sources. 8. Catherine L. Albanese, America, Religions and Religion (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1981). 9. R. Laurence Moore, Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). 10. Robert Bellah et aI., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985). 11. Jonathan M. Butler, "The Making of a New Order: Millerism and the Origins of Seventh-day Adventism," in The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century, ed. by Ronald L. Numbers and Jonathan M. Butler (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1987), 189-208. 12. For a clear description of Mormon organization, see the Preface in Thomas...