Traditionalism without Tradition: Measuring the New Age Spirituality
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2022-40-1-293-312
Abstract
The paper deals with the issue of measuring New Age spirituality’s social impact. Attempts to estimate the prevalence of this kind of religiosity reveal a contradiction — the number of New Age follow ers is extremely low while esoteric beliefs and practices have much more popularity. The author’s main thesis is that it is necessary to combine quantitative research with qualitative data for more accurate measuring. There is a tendency in sociological surveys to expect that respondents would agree with certain beliefs or statements. Ethnographic data collected in New Age pilgrimage in southern Russia demonstrate that the identification with beliefs and narratives is not the main indicator of belonging. Despite the traditionalist background of pilgrimage, its activists would not always have complete agreement on key ideas of esoteric traditionalism. It is important to rely upon the data demonstrating practices people are involved in instead of information about how they identify themselves.
About the Author
A. TiukhtiaevRussian Federation
Andrei Tiukhtiaev — Independent Researcher
Saint Petersburg
References
1. Andreeva, Iȗ. O. (2014) “’Mesta sily’, ‘dukhi dolʹmenov’ i ‘znaniifa pervoistokov’: arkheologicheskie pamiȃtniki i dvizhenie New Age ‘Anastasiiȃ’” [“Places of Power, “Spirits of Dolmens” and “Pristine Knowledge”: Archaeological Monuments and the New Age Movement “Anastasia”], Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 5: 73–87.
2. Aitamurto, K. (2016) Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism: Narratives of Russian Rodnoverie. New York; London: Routledge.
3. Asprem, E., Dyrendal, A. (2015) “Conspirituality Reconsidered: How Surprising and How New is the Confluence of Spirituality and Conspiracy Theory?”, Journal of Contemporary Religion 30(3): 367–382.
4. Berger, H. A. (2009) “Contemporary Paganism by the Numbers”, In J. Lewis, M. Pizza (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, pp. 153–170. Leiden: Brill.
5. Bruce, S. (2011) Secularization: In Defence of an Unfashionable Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6. Bruce, S. (2000) “The New Age and Secularization”, in S. Sutcliffe, M. Bowman (eds) Beyond New Age: Exploring Alternative Spirituality, pp. 220–236. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
7. Coleman, S., Elsner, J. (1998) “Performing Pilgrimage”, in F. Hughes-Freeland (ed.) Ritual, Performance, Media, pp. 46–65. L., N. Y.: Routledge.
8. Elagin, S. S. (2018) “New Age sensu lato: istoriiȃ termina i obzor issledovanii” [New Age Sensu Lato: Term History and Research Review], Religiovedcheskie issledovaniiȃ 2(18): 11–29.
9. Frisk, L. (2007) “Quantitative Studies of New Age: A Summary and Discussion”, in D. Kemp, J. Lewis (eds) Handbook of New Age, pp. 103–122. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
10. Frisk, L., Höllinger, F., Åkerbäck, P. (2014) “Size and Structure of the Holistic Milieu: A Comparison of Local Mapping Studies in Austria and Sweden”, Journal of Contemporary Religion 29(2), 303–314.
11. Fuller, R. C. (2001) Spiritual, but Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12. Hammer, O. (2003) Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
13. Harvey, G. (2014) Food, Sex and Strangers. Understanding Religion as Everyday Life. London, New York: Routledge.
14. Harvey, G. (2007) “Inventing Paganisms: Making Nature”, in J. Lewis and O. Hammer (eds.) The Invention of Sacred Traditions, pp. 277–290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15. Heelas, P., Woodhead, L., Seel, B., Szerszynski, B., Tusting, K. (2005) The Spiritual Revolution. Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
16. Houtman, D., Mascini, P. (2002) “Why do Churches Become Empty, While New Age Grows? Secularization and Religious Change in the Netherlands”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41(3), 455–473.
17. Lynch, G. (2007) The New Spirituality. An Introduction to Progressive Belief in the Twenty-First Century. London, New York: I. B. Tauris.
18. Mellor, P. A., Shilling, C. (2010) “Body Pedagogics and the Religious Habitus: A New Direction for the Sociological Study of Religion”, Religion 40(1): 27–38.
19. Orsi, R. (2011) “Belief”, Material Religion 7(1): 10–16.
20. Golovneva, E., Shmidt, I. (2015) “Religious Conversion, Utopia and Sacred Space (Okunevo village in Western Siberia)”, State, Religion and Church 2(2): 54–76.
21. Global Religious Diversity: Half of the Most Religiously Diverse Countries are in Asia-Pacific Region. Pew Research Center [https://www.pewforum.org/2014/04/04/global-religious-diversity/, accessed on 19.02.2022].
22. Kolkunova. K. A. (2015) “«Dukhovnye, no ne religioznye» respondenty v sovremennykh issledovaniiȃkh” [“Spiritual but not religious” in contemporary research], Vestnik PSTGU 6(62): 81–93.
23. Megre, V. N. (1997) Zveniȃshchie kedry Rossii. Kniga 2 [The Ringing Cedars of Russia, Second Book]. SPb.: Diliȃ.
24. Sadovina, I. (2017) “The New Age Paradox: Spiritual Consumerism and Traditional Authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia”, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 32(1): 83–103.
25. Seleznev, A. G. (2014) “Novaiȃ mifologiiȃ istorii: arkhetip «drevnikh tŝivilizatŝii» i sakralʹnyi tŝentr v raIone derevni Okunevo” [New mythology: archetype of “ancient civilizations” and sacred center near Okenuvo village], Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 5: 41—59.
26. Shnirelʹman, V. A. (2011) “Arkaim: arkheologiiȃ, ėzotericheskii turizm i natŝionalʹnaiȃ ideiȃ” [Arkaim: archaeology, esoteric tourism and national idea], AntropologicheskiI forum 14: 133–167.
27. Shnirelʹman, V. (2012) “Russkoe rodnoverie. Neoiȃzychestvo i natŝionalizm v sovremennoĭ Rossii” [Russian Rodnoverie. Neopaganism and Nationalism in Contemporary Russia]. M: BBI.
28. Shtyrkov S. (2020) “Akademicheskoe religiovedenie i antikolonialʹnyĭ protest: sluchaĭ osetinskogo nativistskogo aktivizma” [Academic Religious Studies and Anticolonial Protest: The Case of Ossetian Nativist Activism], Antropologicheskii forum 46: 127–154.
29. Sreda (2012) “Atlas religii i natŝionalʹnostei Rossii” [Atlas of Religions and Ethnic Groups of Russia], Issledovatelʹskaiȃ sluzhba “Sreda” [http://sreda.org/arena, accessed on 19.02.2022].
30. Sreda (2012) “Vera v astrologiiȗ, primety i gadanie. Issledovatelʹskaiȃ sluzhba «Sreda»” [Belief in astrology, omens and divinations], Issledovatelʹskaiȃ sluzhba «Sreda» [https://tinyurl.com/3dj35dxm, accessed on 19.02.2022].
31. Sreda (2014) “Zhiteli gorodov-millionnikov chashche vsekh uvlekaiȗtsiȃ sverkh”estestvennym” [People from big cities are interested in supernatural more often that others], Issledovatelʹskaiȃ sluzhba «Sreda» [https://tinyurl.com/2p8ty4ct, accessed on 19.02.2022].
32. “The Kendal Project”, Lancaster University [https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/projects/ieppp/kendal/methods.htm, accessed on 08.10.2021]
33. Tiȗkhtiȃev, A. E. (2019) “Telesnostʹ i sotŝialʹnostʹ v nʹiȗ-eidzh palomnichestve” [Body and Sociality in New Age Pilgrimage], Gosudarstvo, religiiȃ, tŝerkovʹ v Rossii i za rubezhom 4(37): 45–68.
34. Voas, D., Bruce, S. (2007) “The Spiritual Revolution: Another False Dawn for the Sacred”, in Jupp P. C. (ed.) A Sociology of Spirituality, pp. 43-61. London, New York: Routledge.
35. Wood, M. (2010) “W(h)ither New Age Studies? The Uses of Ethnography in a Contested Field of Scholarship”, Religion and Society 1(1): 76–88.
Review
For citations:
Tiukhtiaev A. Traditionalism without Tradition: Measuring the New Age Spirituality. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2022;40(1):293-312. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2022-40-1-293-312
Views:
43
Email this article 