New Age Religion and Western Culture

Methodology
A Preliminary Demarcation of the Field

Part One: ORIENTATION: MAJOR TRENDS IN NEW AGE RELIGION

1. Channeling

A Brief Characteristic
Channeling as Articulated Revelations
Channeling Modes and Developmental Processes
The Sources (Edgar Cayce; Eva Pierrakos; Jane Roberts; A Course in Miracles; David Spangler, Ramala; JZ Knight; Sanaya Roman; Shirley MacLaine)

2. Healing and Personal Growth

The Alternative Therapies
Healing as a Religious Phenomenon
Main Currents
The Sources (Eva Pierrakos; Ken Keyes, Leonard Orr & Sondra Ray; Shakti Gawain; Sanaya Roman; Henry Reed/Edgar Cayce; Jean Houston; Stanislav Grof; Ken Wilbur; Michael Harner; Roger Walsh; Louise L. Hay; Chris Griscom; Shirley MacLaine; Fritjof Capra)

3. New Age Science

The Quest for a Unified Worldview
New Age Science as Naturphilosophie
Main Orientations
The Sources (David Bohm; F. David Peat; Michael Talbot; Ilya Prigogine; Erich Jantsch; Rupert Sheldrake; Fritjof Capra; Ken Wilbur; Arthur M. Young)

4. Neopaganism

The Phenomenon of Neopaganism
Neopaganism as Magic
Main Orientations
The Sources (Janet & Stewart Farrar; Vivianne Crowley; Starhawk; Zsuzsanna Budapest; Marian Green; Caitlin & John Matthews; Murry Hope)

5. New Age in a Restricted and in a General Sense

Introduction
An Historical Sketch
New Age sensu stricto: The Mellenarian Vision
New Age sensu lato
The Sources ( David Spangler; George Trevelyan; Gary Zukav; Marilyn Ferguson; Fritjof Capra; Peter Russell; Willis Harman; Shirley MacLaine; Matthew Fox)

Part Two: EXPOSITION: THE VARIETIES OF NEW AGE EXPERIENCE

6. The Nature of Reality

1. Introduction: Attitudes to Experiential Reality
2. The Meanings of Holism

A. The Ultimate Source of Manifestation
B. Universal Interrelatedness
Parallellism and Bootstrap Philosophy—Systems Thinking—The Holographic Paradigm
C. Other Meanings of Holism

3. The Evolutionary Perspective
4. Some Additional Issues

The Transcendence of Space-Time—Mind and Matter—The Wilbur Controversy

7. Meta-Empirical and Human Beings

1. Introduction
2. Divine Beings

A. God
B. Christ

3. Intermediate Beings

A. Beings of Amibiguous Status
B. Entities, Angels, and Other Intermediate Beings

8. Matters of the Mind

1. Introduction
2. Human Beings

A. The "I am God" Theme
B. The Constitution of Human Beings
The (Higher) Self—The Unconscious—Ego and Personality—Subtle Bodies—The Brain

3. The Metaphysics of Mind

A. The Psychologization of Religion and Sacralization of Psychology
B. Creating Our Own Reality
The Law of Manifestation and its Implications—Self-Responsibility—The Mechanics of Changing Reality —Creating Illness and Health
C. Inner Realms
Cartographies of Consciousness—Journeys through Inner Space

9.Death and Survival

1. Introduction: The Experience of Death
2. Other Realities
3. Reincarnation and Beyond

New Age Reincarnation and its Attractions—The Process and "Mechanics" of Reincarnation—Past-Life Recovery

10. Good and Evil

1. Introduction: The Paradox of Ethical Holism
2. The Structure of Cosmic Justice

Non-Dual Ethics and the Problem of Relativism —Evolutionist Karma

3. The Negative

Limited Consciousness—Psychological "Negativities": Sin, Guilt, Fear

4. The Positive

Holistic Consciousness—The Positive: Love, Surrender, Forgiveness

11. Visions of the Past

1. Introduction
2. Beginnings

Cosmogonic Myths—The Descent of Man

3. From Atlantis to the Holy Land

Atlantis—Egypt and the "Great White Brotherhood"—The Essenes and Jesus

4. The Age of Pisces

Christianity—The Rejection of Reincarnation—Cartesian/Newtonian Thinking

5. Historical Religious versus Universal Spirituality

Exoteric Religious—Perennial Wisdom

12. The New Age

1. Introduction
2. The Age of Aquarius

The Timing of the New Age—The "Pathos of Change"—The "Moderate" New Age—The Age of Light

3. The Shift from Old to New

The Potentials of Crises—Evolution of Consciousness—The Human Contribution: Creating Critical Mass—Images of Intervention

4. Epilogue: Controversies over the New Age Seneu Lato

Part Three: INTERPRETATION: NEW AGE RELIGION AND TRADITIONAL ESOTERICISM

13. Towards a Historical Perspective on New Age Religion

1. A Short Evaluation
2. Perspectives on the New Age

Hans Sebald—Christof Schorsch—J. Gordon Melton (cum suis)—Christopher Bochinger

3. Desiderata for Academic Research

14. A Historical Framework

1. The Modern Hermeticist Revival and The Emergence of Western Esotericism

A. "Esotericism" as Technical Terminology
B. The Origins of Western Esotericism
C. The Components of West Esotericism
Philosophical Frameworks: Neoplatonism and Hermeticism—The "Occult Sciences": Magic, Astrology, Alchemy—The Theosophical Component: Christian Kabbalah
D. The Worldview of Western Esotericism

2. Esotericism between Renaissance and Enlightenment

A. The "Inner Church" and Esotericism
B. The Factor of Reformation "Spiritualism"
3. A Clash of Worldviews

15. The Mirror of Secular Thought

1. Esotericism Between Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment

A. The Emergence of Romanticism
B. The Emergence of Occultism
Emanuel Swedenborg—Franz Anton Mesmer—Modern Spiritualism—Conclusion

2. The Impact of the Study of Religions

A. The Theosophical Synthesis
Proto-Theosophical Perspectives—The New Theosophy
B. The Orient and American Transcendentalism

3. Evolution as Religion

A. The "Metaphysical" Context
B. The Theosophical Context
Spiritual Progress after Death—Reincarnation—The Law of Evolution

4. The Psychologization of Esotericism

A. Harmonial Religion
American Mesmerism and the Rise of New Thought—Functionalist Psychology—Harmonial Religion and the Sacralization of the Psyche
B. Carl Gustav Jung
Jung and German Romanticism—The Cult of the Interior Sun—Gnosticism, Alchemy, and Jungian Psychology

16. Conclusions: The New Age Movement and the Nature of New Age Religion

New Age as Culture Criticism—New Age as Secularized Esotericism—A Final Problem: The Demarcation in Time—Postscript

Appendix: Primary New Age Sources (in alphabetical order)

Bibliography

Index of Subjects

Index of Names