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• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Tables
• Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Note
• Introduction: Xers and Yers as Cohorts of the Post-1970s Generation
• Introduction
• Generations X and Y
• Contents
• 1 Religious Diversity and the Politics of Definition
• Introduction
• Religious Toleration? The Case Study of the Church of Scientology
• The Church of Scientology
• The Church of Scientology in Australian Courts
• Protection and Definition of Religion?
• The Diversity of Revelations: What to Believe?
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 2 Religion and Popular Culture
• Introduction
• Popular Culture and Religion
• Popular Culture Used for Religious Creativity: Hyper-consumption
• The Church of All Worlds
• Neo-Paganism
• The Church of Scientology
• H.P. Lovecraft and the Church of Satan
• Star Wars
• Matrixism
• Heaven’s Gate Group and Star Trek
• Popular Culture Used for Policing: Hypo-consumption
• Star Wars
• Pokemon and Digimon
• The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 3 Religion and Modernity: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
• Introduction
• Modernity
• Functional Understanding of Religion
• Marx (1818–83) and Engels (1820–95)
• Durkheim (1858–1917)
• Substantive Understanding of Religion
• Weber (1864–1920)
• Conclusion
• Note
• 4 Religion, Spirituality and the Post-Secularisation Approach
• Introduction
• The Secularisation Thesis
• De-secularisation Thesis
• Rational Choice Theory in a Nutshell
• Religion and Spirituality
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 5 Religion and Postmodernity (Part A): Consumer Religions
• Introduction
• Postmodernity
• Consumption
• Religion and Consumption
• Cultural Consumption, Lipovetsky, and the Postmodern Individual
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 6 Religion and Postmodernity (Part B): Hyper-Reality and the Internet
• Introduction
• Baudrillard and Hyper-reality
• Jediism as a Case Study of a Hyper-real Religious Phenomenon
• Hyper-real http://Religions.com and the Participatory Culture
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 7 Esotericism, Its McDonaldisation, and Its Re-enchantment Process
• Introduction
• The Disenchantment of the World
• Esotericism
• Seeking ‘Secret Knowledge’ in Postmodernity
• A Re-enchantment from Below?
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 8 Monotheistic Fundamentalism(s) as an Outcome of Consumer Culture
• Introduction
• Monotheistic Fundamentalism(s)
• Fighting Psychological Pressure in Postmodern Culture
• Christian Fundamentalism
• Muslim Fundamentalism
• Jewish Fundamentalism
• The Difficulty in Identifying Forms of Fundamentalism (a Bit of Forensic Theology)
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 9 Buddhism, Its Westernisation and the Easternisation of the West
• Introduction
• Siddhartha Gautama
• Beliefs and Practices
• The Three Main Schools
• Therevada (Southern Buddhism) or the School of the Elders
• Mayahana (Eastern Buddhism) or The Great Vehicle
• Vajrayana (Northern Buddhism) or The Diamond Tradition
• Growth of Convert Buddhism
• Buddhism and the Beat Generation
• The Westernisation of Buddhism
• The Easternisation of the West
• Western Buddhism and Consumption
• Conclusion
• Note
• 10 Christianity: Churches and Sects in a Post-Christian World
• Introduction
• Christianity in a Snapshot
• Religious Organisations
• Decline of Christianity in the Western World
• Vatican II
• Christianity Further Reaching for the Popular
• The Next Christianity
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 11 The Multiple-Modernities of Islam?
• Introduction
• Islam in a Nutshell
• Modernisation and /or Re-Islamisation?
• Re-Islamisation from Above: The Case Study of Iran
• Re-Islamisation from Below: Palestine and Its Intifada
• Re-Islamisation from Below: Algeria and Its Civil War in the Early 1990s
• Modernisation or Anti-Modernisation in Islam?
• Islamic Multiple-Modernities?
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 12 New Religious Movements and the Death of the New Age
• Introduction
• New Religious Movements (NRMs)
• New Age Spiritualities
• The Affinity Networking Capital
• The Cultic Milieu and the Network Paradigm
• First Axis: Production of Spirituality
• Second Axis: Consumption of Spirituality
• The Grid
• Conclusion
• 13 Witchcraft, the Internet, and Consumerism
• Introduction
• Neo-Paganism and Modern Occultism: The Invention of a Tradition
• The Variety of Neo-Pagan Experiences
• Neo-Pagan Rituals and Covens
• Cyber-Covens
• Witchcraft and Consumer Culture
• Conclusion
• Conclusion: What Do Sociologists of Religion in Academia Do Apart from Teaching and Marking? Their Work as Intellectuals
• Introduction
• What Are the Intellectuals?
• Intellectuals in the Field of New Religious Movements (NRMs): A Case Study
• What is the Role of Intellectuals in the Field of Religious Studies?
• Conclusion
• Notes
• References
• Index