Carole Cusack
Carole M. Cusack graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Religious Studies and English Literature) in 1986. She completed a doctorate in the Faculty of Arts, with a thesis titled 'An Examination of the Process of Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages' (published as Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples, Cassell, 1998) at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1996. In the same year she was appointed a full-time staff member in the Department of Studies in Religion. She graduated in 2001 with a Master of Education (Educational Psychology) degree. She has received a Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (2004), a College of Humanities and Social Sciences Excellence in Research Supervision Award (2006), and a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision (2010).
She has served the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in a variety of senior roles, including Degree Director of the Bachelor of Arts, Associate Dean (Undergraduate), Acting Director of Academic Support and Development, and Chair of the Department of Studies in Religion. In 2013-2014 she was Pro-Dean (Teaching and Learning) in FASS. She was Editor (with Dr Christopher Hartney, University of Sydney) of Journal of Religious History (Wiley) from 2007-2015, and was founding Editor (with Professor Liselotte Frisk, Dalarna University, Sweden) of the International Journal for the Study of New Religions (Equinox) from 2010-2013. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the journals International Journal for the Study of New Religions (the journal of the International Society for the Study of New Religions), Journal for the Study of Religion (the journal of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa), Atlantis (the journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies), The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies (Equinox), Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (Academic Publishing), and several other journals.
From 1 January 2016 she is Editor of Literature & Aesthetics (journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics) and Co-Editor (with Rachelle Scott, University of Tennessee at Knoxville) of Fieldwork in Religion (published by Equinox).
She is co-Series Editor (with James R. Lewis) of the Brill Handbooks of Contemporary Religions series, and co-Series Editor (with Alex Norman) of the Routledge Religion, Pilgrimage and Tourism 4-volume reprint series. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the Sophia Monograph Series (Springer), the Sacred and Secular Histories series (Palgrave Macmillan), Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism (Oxford University Press), and the ISSNR Approaches to New Religions series (Palgrave Macmillan).
She is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, a Personal Chair to which she was appointed in January 2013.
Supervisors: Professor Eric J. Sharpe (1933-2000)
Phone: +612 9351 6837 (w)
Address: Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006
AUSTRALIA
She has served the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in a variety of senior roles, including Degree Director of the Bachelor of Arts, Associate Dean (Undergraduate), Acting Director of Academic Support and Development, and Chair of the Department of Studies in Religion. In 2013-2014 she was Pro-Dean (Teaching and Learning) in FASS. She was Editor (with Dr Christopher Hartney, University of Sydney) of Journal of Religious History (Wiley) from 2007-2015, and was founding Editor (with Professor Liselotte Frisk, Dalarna University, Sweden) of the International Journal for the Study of New Religions (Equinox) from 2010-2013. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the journals International Journal for the Study of New Religions (the journal of the International Society for the Study of New Religions), Journal for the Study of Religion (the journal of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa), Atlantis (the journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies), The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies (Equinox), Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (Academic Publishing), and several other journals.
From 1 January 2016 she is Editor of Literature & Aesthetics (journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics) and Co-Editor (with Rachelle Scott, University of Tennessee at Knoxville) of Fieldwork in Religion (published by Equinox).
She is co-Series Editor (with James R. Lewis) of the Brill Handbooks of Contemporary Religions series, and co-Series Editor (with Alex Norman) of the Routledge Religion, Pilgrimage and Tourism 4-volume reprint series. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the Sophia Monograph Series (Springer), the Sacred and Secular Histories series (Palgrave Macmillan), Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism (Oxford University Press), and the ISSNR Approaches to New Religions series (Palgrave Macmillan).
She is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, a Personal Chair to which she was appointed in January 2013.
Supervisors: Professor Eric J. Sharpe (1933-2000)
Phone: +612 9351 6837 (w)
Address: Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006
AUSTRALIA
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Monographs & Edited Books by Carole Cusack
As a consequence, the demand for reliable information on Islam has been steadily growing. However, with the exception of entries in general encyclopedias on Islam and encyclopedias of Islamic mysticism (Sufism), there are no reference books on the diverse sects and movements within Islam. Even “Twelver” Shi’a – the dominant form of Shi’a Islam in Iran and Iraq – has no separate reference book (though there is A Shi’ite Encyclopedia being compiled by the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Project Team (https://www.al-islam.org/shiite-encyclopedia-ahlul-bayt-dilp-team).
There is a paucity of books devoted to this topic, primarily because, in contrast to religious traditions like Christianity and Buddhism, Islam appears remarkably uniform. On the surface at least, most of the world’s Muslims are either Sunni or Twelver Shi’a, which is why Islamic sects/ denominations/ movements has not become the subject of monographs or reference books. Yet, beneath this apparent uniformity there is greater diversity than might be anticipated. There are, for example, important movements within Sunni Islam that are, in effect, sectarian – such as Islamic Modernism (on the liberal end) and the Taliban (on the ultra-conservative end). Then there are the various Sufi orders, which often constitute de facto sects. Within Shi’a Islam there is a complex spectrum of Shi’a factions that has largely gone unnoticed, due to the dominance of Twelver Shi’a. There are also syncretistic groups like the Yezidi among the Kurds that mix (nominally Sunni) Islam with pre-Islamic beliefs and practices. Finally, there are splinter groups from Islam, like the Druze and the Baha’i, that have established themselves as separate religions.
Employing fieldwork, discourse analysis, digital ethnography, and theory from film studies, religious studies, and cultural studies amongst other disciplines, each essay demonstrates yet another layer of the imbrication of the religious and the fannish in participatory cultures and textual devotion. The case studies discussed in this collection will be of interest to many—consumers, scholars, fans and aca-fans—but we are proud to say that, both independently and as a whole, this work provides valuable voices in the conversation between Religious Studies and Fandom Studies on
Further, research in the area is multi-disciplinary, and encompasses perspectives from religious studies, cultural studies, cultural history, sociology, history, psychology, theology, and a range of other disciplines including human geography, planning, law, health and environmental studies. The field is controversial for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is often misunderstood by traditionally religious people who are offended by the intimate and taboo nature of the subjects under investigation. Secondly, confusion exists among secular scholars, especially those who advocate the separation of sexuality from all forms of religion and spirituality, which they regard as oppressive. Thirdly, the body, sexuality and religion are typically treated in a prurient manner in public discourses such as news media and print journalism.
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific case studies from traditional religious groups etc), and Volume 4 (examples from contemporary religions and alternative spiritualities).
"
It is important to remember that many ‘occult’ (in the sense of esoteric or ‘hidden’) practices exist within both mainstream religions and new religious movements, as well as in the lives of otherwise quite ‘secular’ Western individuals (for example, bibliomancy, the use of books in divination). Further, ecstatic and mystical elements exist in ‘Eastern’ religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. There is also significant overlap with the New Age, which is a major market, cultural and religious force in the contemporary West, and synergies with conspiracy culture and other sources of ‘rejected knowledge’.
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific examples of modern occult and paranormal phenomena, defined groups etc), and Volume 4 (the occult and the paranormal in contemporary religion and popular culture).""
This book investigates anime, focusing on its historical antecedents (graphic and narrative), its religious and supernatural content, its generic and thematic variety, and its popularity and reception among fans. Here it is important to clarify that the reasons for the popularity of anime, both inside and outside of Japan, and the development of emerging consumer behaviours related to anime are not the focus of this book. Having said this, Chapter 4 contains a basic discussion about a number of features of anime which the audience in the West might find attractive, as well as a brief consideration of Western fandom and fan activities, but the unifying thread woven through this chapter is that of the supernatural. It is in the area of the graphic, religious and supernatural content of anime that this study contributes most to scholarly discourse on the subject.""
Though this sort of xenophobia likely plays a role in our judgment of Middle Eastern suicide bombers and Buddhist self-immolators, we tend to make parallel evaluations when members of alternative religions carry out group suicides. Of the major violent incidents involving new religious movements (NRMs) – the Jonestown murder-suicides (1978), the ATF/FBI raid on the Mt Carmel community (1993), the Solar Temple murder-suicides (1994, 1995, and 1997), the Tokyo subway poison gas attack (1995), the Heaven’s Gate suicides (1997), and the murder-suicides of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda (2000) – the focal violence of four out of six of these events were acts of mass suicide. It has also been argued (most recently by Kenneth Newport in his The Branch Davidians of Waco [2006]) that the members of the Mt Carmel community intentionally committed suicide. If Newport is correct, then that would mean that every NRM involved in a major act of violence except AUM Shinrikyo was a ‘suicide cult.’ Additionally, other NRMs, from Falun Gong to Chen Dao, have been portrayed as suicidal.
When discussing ‘suicide cults,’ contemporary analysts also often refer to what they think of as being historical precedents, such as the ancient community of Masada that famously committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans. Another frequently-mentioned historical example of religiously-motivated mass suicide were the Russian Old Believers, who burned themselves (sometimes along with others trapped inside churches they had torched) rather than adopt liturgical changes they believed would cause them to lose their salvation. Is there some common thread that unites these various phenomena? Despite surface similarities, the situations of the communities involved in suicide violence turn out to be too diverse to bring together under one explanatory scheme. In a handful of cases one can point to religion as being a key motivator. But in most cases, specific local sociological and political factors offer more compelling explanations.
However, the field extends far beyond these “official” journeys, and encompasses the nomadic wanderings of Australian Aboriginal people through their tribal lands, travel to participate in Native American potlatch gatherings, the gathering of Ancient Greeks every four years to honour Zeus Olympios at the Olympic Games, and the modern Druids who perform rituals at Stonehenge during the midsummer solstice. Yet beyond the immediately religious lies journeying that is motivated by individual ‘spiritual’ needs, which may involve traditional sacred routes and sites (Westerners going to Indian ashrams), and radically eclectic, non-traditional pathways (for example, Wagner aficionados who travel to experience productions of the Ring Cycle). In the post-religious milieu of the 21st century, almost any journey to almost any site may be religious and/or spiritual, a journey “redolent with meaning” (Digance 2006).
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific examples of modern pilgrimage and spiritual tourism), and Volume 4 (secular and civil religious/spiritual travel).
Yet the cultural products of new religions and spiritualities are generally ignored, derided or deemed to not exist. Much of this prejudice stems from the tendency to exclude new religions from the category of ‘real religions’. This edited collection seeks to remedy a scholarly lacuna by investigating the cultural products of new religions, both as exemplifications of the theological and spiritual principles of particular movements, and also in terms of their impact on wider society. Appropriate subjects for investigation might include: the architecture of Mormon and Baha’i temples; Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical education system; the music composed by the Russian Theosophist Alexander Scriabin; the iconography of Mythic Images, the company owned by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart of the Church of All Worlds; and the diet advocated by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
This study concentrates the tree as axis mundi (hub or centre of the world) and the tree as imago mundi (picture of the world). The Greeks and Romans in the ancient world, and the Irish, Anglo-Saxons, continental Germans and Scandinavians in the medieval world, all understood the power of the tree, and its derivative the pillar, as markers of the centre. Sacred trees and pillars dotted their landscapes, and the territory around them derived its meaning from their presence. Unfamiliar or even hostile lands could be tamed and made meaningful by the erection of a monument that replicated the sacred centre. Such monuments also linked with boundaries, and by extension with law and order, custom and tradition. The sacred tree and pillar as centre symbolized the stability of the cosmos and of society.
When the Pagan peoples of Europe adopted Christianity the sacred trees and pillars, visible signs of the presence of the gods in the landscape, were popular targets for axe-wielding saints and missionaries who desired to force the conversion of the landscape as well as the people. Yet Christianity had its own tree monument, the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, and which came to signify resurrected life and the conquest of eternal death for the devout. As European Pagans were converted to Christianity, their tree and pillar monuments were changed into Christian forms; the great standing crosses of Anglo-Saxon northern England played many of the same roles as Pagan sacred trees and pillars. Irish and Anglo-Saxons Christians often combined the image of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden with Christ on the cross, to produce a Christian version of the tree as imago mundi.
As a consequence, the demand for reliable information on Islam has been steadily growing. However, with the exception of entries in general encyclopedias on Islam and encyclopedias of Islamic mysticism (Sufism), there are no reference books on the diverse sects and movements within Islam. Even “Twelver” Shi’a – the dominant form of Shi’a Islam in Iran and Iraq – has no separate reference book (though there is A Shi’ite Encyclopedia being compiled by the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Project Team (https://www.al-islam.org/shiite-encyclopedia-ahlul-bayt-dilp-team).
There is a paucity of books devoted to this topic, primarily because, in contrast to religious traditions like Christianity and Buddhism, Islam appears remarkably uniform. On the surface at least, most of the world’s Muslims are either Sunni or Twelver Shi’a, which is why Islamic sects/ denominations/ movements has not become the subject of monographs or reference books. Yet, beneath this apparent uniformity there is greater diversity than might be anticipated. There are, for example, important movements within Sunni Islam that are, in effect, sectarian – such as Islamic Modernism (on the liberal end) and the Taliban (on the ultra-conservative end). Then there are the various Sufi orders, which often constitute de facto sects. Within Shi’a Islam there is a complex spectrum of Shi’a factions that has largely gone unnoticed, due to the dominance of Twelver Shi’a. There are also syncretistic groups like the Yezidi among the Kurds that mix (nominally Sunni) Islam with pre-Islamic beliefs and practices. Finally, there are splinter groups from Islam, like the Druze and the Baha’i, that have established themselves as separate religions.
Employing fieldwork, discourse analysis, digital ethnography, and theory from film studies, religious studies, and cultural studies amongst other disciplines, each essay demonstrates yet another layer of the imbrication of the religious and the fannish in participatory cultures and textual devotion. The case studies discussed in this collection will be of interest to many—consumers, scholars, fans and aca-fans—but we are proud to say that, both independently and as a whole, this work provides valuable voices in the conversation between Religious Studies and Fandom Studies on
Further, research in the area is multi-disciplinary, and encompasses perspectives from religious studies, cultural studies, cultural history, sociology, history, psychology, theology, and a range of other disciplines including human geography, planning, law, health and environmental studies. The field is controversial for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is often misunderstood by traditionally religious people who are offended by the intimate and taboo nature of the subjects under investigation. Secondly, confusion exists among secular scholars, especially those who advocate the separation of sexuality from all forms of religion and spirituality, which they regard as oppressive. Thirdly, the body, sexuality and religion are typically treated in a prurient manner in public discourses such as news media and print journalism.
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific case studies from traditional religious groups etc), and Volume 4 (examples from contemporary religions and alternative spiritualities).
"
It is important to remember that many ‘occult’ (in the sense of esoteric or ‘hidden’) practices exist within both mainstream religions and new religious movements, as well as in the lives of otherwise quite ‘secular’ Western individuals (for example, bibliomancy, the use of books in divination). Further, ecstatic and mystical elements exist in ‘Eastern’ religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. There is also significant overlap with the New Age, which is a major market, cultural and religious force in the contemporary West, and synergies with conspiracy culture and other sources of ‘rejected knowledge’.
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific examples of modern occult and paranormal phenomena, defined groups etc), and Volume 4 (the occult and the paranormal in contemporary religion and popular culture).""
This book investigates anime, focusing on its historical antecedents (graphic and narrative), its religious and supernatural content, its generic and thematic variety, and its popularity and reception among fans. Here it is important to clarify that the reasons for the popularity of anime, both inside and outside of Japan, and the development of emerging consumer behaviours related to anime are not the focus of this book. Having said this, Chapter 4 contains a basic discussion about a number of features of anime which the audience in the West might find attractive, as well as a brief consideration of Western fandom and fan activities, but the unifying thread woven through this chapter is that of the supernatural. It is in the area of the graphic, religious and supernatural content of anime that this study contributes most to scholarly discourse on the subject.""
Though this sort of xenophobia likely plays a role in our judgment of Middle Eastern suicide bombers and Buddhist self-immolators, we tend to make parallel evaluations when members of alternative religions carry out group suicides. Of the major violent incidents involving new religious movements (NRMs) – the Jonestown murder-suicides (1978), the ATF/FBI raid on the Mt Carmel community (1993), the Solar Temple murder-suicides (1994, 1995, and 1997), the Tokyo subway poison gas attack (1995), the Heaven’s Gate suicides (1997), and the murder-suicides of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Uganda (2000) – the focal violence of four out of six of these events were acts of mass suicide. It has also been argued (most recently by Kenneth Newport in his The Branch Davidians of Waco [2006]) that the members of the Mt Carmel community intentionally committed suicide. If Newport is correct, then that would mean that every NRM involved in a major act of violence except AUM Shinrikyo was a ‘suicide cult.’ Additionally, other NRMs, from Falun Gong to Chen Dao, have been portrayed as suicidal.
When discussing ‘suicide cults,’ contemporary analysts also often refer to what they think of as being historical precedents, such as the ancient community of Masada that famously committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans. Another frequently-mentioned historical example of religiously-motivated mass suicide were the Russian Old Believers, who burned themselves (sometimes along with others trapped inside churches they had torched) rather than adopt liturgical changes they believed would cause them to lose their salvation. Is there some common thread that unites these various phenomena? Despite surface similarities, the situations of the communities involved in suicide violence turn out to be too diverse to bring together under one explanatory scheme. In a handful of cases one can point to religion as being a key motivator. But in most cases, specific local sociological and political factors offer more compelling explanations.
However, the field extends far beyond these “official” journeys, and encompasses the nomadic wanderings of Australian Aboriginal people through their tribal lands, travel to participate in Native American potlatch gatherings, the gathering of Ancient Greeks every four years to honour Zeus Olympios at the Olympic Games, and the modern Druids who perform rituals at Stonehenge during the midsummer solstice. Yet beyond the immediately religious lies journeying that is motivated by individual ‘spiritual’ needs, which may involve traditional sacred routes and sites (Westerners going to Indian ashrams), and radically eclectic, non-traditional pathways (for example, Wagner aficionados who travel to experience productions of the Ring Cycle). In the post-religious milieu of the 21st century, almost any journey to almost any site may be religious and/or spiritual, a journey “redolent with meaning” (Digance 2006).
The series comprises four volumes, which reprint 70 articles and chapters (of which no more than 25% will be chapters from edited volumes). The final shape of the four volumes is not yet definitively known, but is likely to be: Volume 1 (methodology and definition of the field), Volume 2 (historical material, ancient, medieval, early modern etc), Volume 3 (specific examples of modern pilgrimage and spiritual tourism), and Volume 4 (secular and civil religious/spiritual travel).
Yet the cultural products of new religions and spiritualities are generally ignored, derided or deemed to not exist. Much of this prejudice stems from the tendency to exclude new religions from the category of ‘real religions’. This edited collection seeks to remedy a scholarly lacuna by investigating the cultural products of new religions, both as exemplifications of the theological and spiritual principles of particular movements, and also in terms of their impact on wider society. Appropriate subjects for investigation might include: the architecture of Mormon and Baha’i temples; Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical education system; the music composed by the Russian Theosophist Alexander Scriabin; the iconography of Mythic Images, the company owned by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart of the Church of All Worlds; and the diet advocated by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
This study concentrates the tree as axis mundi (hub or centre of the world) and the tree as imago mundi (picture of the world). The Greeks and Romans in the ancient world, and the Irish, Anglo-Saxons, continental Germans and Scandinavians in the medieval world, all understood the power of the tree, and its derivative the pillar, as markers of the centre. Sacred trees and pillars dotted their landscapes, and the territory around them derived its meaning from their presence. Unfamiliar or even hostile lands could be tamed and made meaningful by the erection of a monument that replicated the sacred centre. Such monuments also linked with boundaries, and by extension with law and order, custom and tradition. The sacred tree and pillar as centre symbolized the stability of the cosmos and of society.
When the Pagan peoples of Europe adopted Christianity the sacred trees and pillars, visible signs of the presence of the gods in the landscape, were popular targets for axe-wielding saints and missionaries who desired to force the conversion of the landscape as well as the people. Yet Christianity had its own tree monument, the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, and which came to signify resurrected life and the conquest of eternal death for the devout. As European Pagans were converted to Christianity, their tree and pillar monuments were changed into Christian forms; the great standing crosses of Anglo-Saxon northern England played many of the same roles as Pagan sacred trees and pillars. Irish and Anglo-Saxons Christians often combined the image of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden with Christ on the cross, to produce a Christian version of the tree as imago mundi.
Modern Pagans engage with the reinvention of an imagined past, though there are differing attitudes as to how creative or forensically grounded in history and archaeology these reinventions can be. There are also Pagans who engage with the invention of new deities and religious forms, often based on popular fictions, including novels and films. I would argue that this process is not so different from animating an ancient source text or illustration on the wall of an archaeological site.
FBI agents in Mexico in 2018 and sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020. The charges included sex trafficking, racketeering, child pornography possession, and other crimes. The question of whether NXIVM is a religion or a group that can be classified as “religious” arises due to the stereotype of new religious movements (NRMs) that emerged in the 1960s, which posited a charismatic leader (usually male) who predated sexually (and financially) upon members. The archetypes of this form of leadership include Jim Jones, who had sexual relationships with both male and female members of Peoples Temple, and David Berg (Moses David), the founder of the Children of God (later The Family International), whose movement has been accused of sexualizing young children, and abusing them in the context of an allegedly “sex positive” religion, as well as pimping female members as “hookers for Jesus” as a missionary technique. Memoirs by ex-members of the Children of God, Peoples Temple, the Church of Scientology, and many other NRMs have proliferated since the 1990s, and in the 2020s documentaries and books about NXIVM appear regularly. This article analyses NXIVM, its founder, its members, and group practices, identifying certain tropes familiar from the study of NRM leaders, in order to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence to merit classifying it as a new religious movement (NRM) or a “cult.”
Religious minorities are part of the social map of many countries on the globe. Some of these are ancient communities, but others are more recent. Some are a minority in one place while a majority in another cultural context (or had been in the past), whereas others have always lived in the shadow of majorities. Most minorities have little power, but others are actively engaged in the wider society and exercise significant political, economic, or military influence.
While religious minorities are relevant as social and religious phenomena in their own right, equally important is how they are viewed and treated by others. Suspicions and fears of minorities as well as admiring and exoticizing them reveal much about the societies they live in.
UNIVERSITY LECTURE AND TUTORIAL EXPERIENCE: 9 JUNE 2023
Dr Christopher H. Hartney (Chair of Discipline)
Dr Carole M. Cusack (Professor of Religious Studies)
Mr Ray Radford (Casual Lecturer and Tutor)
10 AM Ms Chelsea Neubronner and Erskine Park High School Students arrive.
10.10-10.30 Dr Christopher H. Hartney, “The Idea of Soul and Self in Early Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Ancient Egypt, and Han China.”
10.40-11 AM Dr Carole M. Cusack, “Approaching the Study of Invented Religions.”
11.10-11.30 Three Tutorial Groups in Studies in Religion’s rooms in the Main Quadrangle. Lunch followed by visit to the Chau Chak Wing Museum
For many, cyberspace is a ‘real’ space and an appropriate medium for religious and spiritual participation. It is becoming an environment where people can be religious if and when they choose to be. Customizing religious experiences to suit one’s modern, hectic, work-oriented lifestyle is attractive to many in the contemporary world. Take for example the 10-minute spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, which are so highly appreciated by those confined all day to office computers.
The majority of traditional, mainstream religions now have elaborate and increasingly interactive websites, enabling the faithful to go on virtual pilgrimages, participate in cyber-worship, and access information about their religion quickly and inexpensively. In this way the Internet does more than offer religions a convenient public face: religions can change by existing in a ‘cyber’ environment’. At the same time, completely new and unique, Internet-based religious communities have arisen. The Internet is playing an increasingly dominant role in shaping the spiritual landscape of the contemporary West
s’s The God Susanoo and Korea in Japan’s Cultural Memory: Ancient
Myths and Modern Empire is a revision of his 2017 University of
Tübingen PhD thesis.
The book is an ambitious study that ranges from the earliest Japanese and Korean chronicles to the twentieth century political history of the two nations that demonstrates links between ancient and modern uses of myth. Myths connect Japan’s national identity as descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, and Korea’s colonised identity as descended from her younger brother, Susanoo.
The most recent census in the United Kingdom revealed a twelve-fold increase in those identifying as followers of shamanism.
Contemporary shamanism was revived in the West by spiritual movements of the 60s. In recent years, it has regained popularity via social media, with a proliferation of Instagram and Tik Tok healers and a boom in shamanic tourism.
But there is debate about to what degree these contemporary versions connect to their Indigenous origins.
In the past it’s been a joke to put Jedi as your religion on the census, but there are people who practise Star Wars-inspired faiths quite seriously. The Big Lebowski, The Matrix, Star Wars and the novel Stranger in a Strange Land are just some of the cultural artefacts that have inspired people to invent brand-new religions.
Professor Carole Cusack is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney. She is the author of Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith.
Dr Vivian Asimos is a writer, researcher and academic specialising in religion and contemporary mythology. She is the author of Digital Mythology and the Internet’s Monster: The Slender Man, and co-host of the Religion and Popular Culture podcast.
Dr Aled Thomas is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds and Associate Lecturer at the Open University. He is the author of Free Zone Scientology: Contesting the Boundaries of a New Religion and co-host of the Religion and Popular Culture podcast.
Read the Guardian's report about Church of Jediism founder Morda Hehol's expulsion from a supermarket for refusing to lower his Jedi hood.
This morning I’m chatting to Carole Cusack, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, to learn more.
Christine shares memories from her childhood in the Torres Strait and shows how Christmas songs first inspired her to sing. She also joins children from around Australia in a special performance of her iconic song ‘Island Christmas’.
Celebrating the resilience of Australians, Christine connects with families around Australia and learns about their own Christmas traditions. As we hear her mother and daughter singing Silent Night in traditional language, Christine reveals that – like many Australians - COVID-19 kept them apart for nearly two years. Christine visits a community in the Adelaide Hills who rallied together when the 2019 Summer Bushfires cancelled a decades-long Christmas light tradition.
Heading back in time, Christine shows us how to make a traditional Christmas Pudding recipe from the 1800s, while food historian Jacqui Newling tells us the history of our edible traditions. And we discover the earliest example of an Australian Christmas carol, our very own Australian Christmas Song from 1863.
Get in the Christmas spirit with Christine Anu this December as she explores the reason for the season.
In the twenty-first century trees are again spiritually significant, not only for religious people, due to the devastating impact of environmental destruction, and the loss of biodiversity and animal habitats resulting from the industrialized nations’ rapacious exploitation of natural resources. This special issue traces the sacred tree: from the theological writings of the Orthodox monk St Maximus the Confessor in the seventh century; through its depiction in the Byzantine Christian architecture of medieval Italy; to Glastonbury (UK) where the Holy Thorn signified the resurrection of Christ. The relevance of sacred trees beyond the Christian tradition and in the modern world is probed in articles that consider four disparate cases: the sacred grove on Joseph Smith’s estate in New York state, now a major Mormon pilgrimage site; the aesthetics of tree veneration in contemporary India; trees in nature-oriented modern Paganism; and trees in the Australian national and social imaginary.
The centenary of World War I, the ‘Great War’, is an opportunity to present readers with a collection of fine scholarship from Journal of Religious History on various aspects of religion and war. This virtual issue collects scholarship across over fifty years: the earliest article in the collection was published in 1966, P. S. O’Connor’s “Storm Over the Clergy: New Zealand, 1917;” and the most recent appeared in 2013, James Boyd’s “Undercover Acolytes: Honganji, the Japanese Army, and Intelligence-Gathering Operations.” Rather than restricting content to World War I, I have selected twelve articles in three historical “blocks.”
"
1:35 - Introduction to Prof Carole Cusack
2:35 - What got you interested in the early period of medieval history?
7:30 - Conversion then vs Conversion today
17:50 - The parallels between the moment of the Christianization of Europe, and the colonization and attempted Christianization of indigenous peoples around the world in modern times.
33:00 - How much did this shift to Christianity change peoples’ life?
37:28 - “The template for conversion and for conquest and for colonization is a very ancient one.”
51:46 - Suggested resources from Dr. Cusack
We'll also hear from historian of religion DR. CAROLE CUSACK about how this tradition and others like it connect with the deep cycles of the earth and its creatures.
This event will involve hearing Professor Cusack (Religious Studies), David Associate Professor Smith (American Politics and Foreign Policy), and Ranuka Tandan (Studies in Religion student) discuss how and why Religious Studies are seen as expendable by the university, and the role of religion in politics.
This is an especially relevant discussion with the appointment of Dominic Perrottet as NSW Premier, someone who has used his religious beliefs to push against abortion decriminalisation and marriage equality, and the recent win by students and staff in opposing the threats to USyd's Religious Studies Department.
https://uws.zoom.us/j/4785153660
We've brought together top academics, theologians, clergy, and secular experience designers to offer frameworks around creating meaning for oneself and others.
The event is free, and is open to those of any faith and no faith. We hope that you come away from this summit with new ideas for how to bring matters of ultimate concern into your life and the lives of others.
In this special episode of the Religious Studies Project podcast, the RSP team reflects on the legacy of the project and the future of our work. Co-hosts Breann Fallon and David McConeghy solicited reflections from current and former team members, and this episode features some of the highlights including comments by founders Chris Cotter and David Robertson; interviewers Candace Mixon, Sidney Castillo, and Dan Gorman; board members Russell McCutcheon and Carole Cusack, and editors Thomas Coleman and Lauren Osborne. With extreme gratitude for the many, many contributors and listeners to the Religious Studies Project for a decade of scholarship, we’re proud to say, “Thanks for listening!”
This month on Discourse, Breann Fallon, Carole Cusack and Ray Radford approach the Australian news from a Religious Studies perspective. We cover the appeal of Cardinal George Pell, the drama around Israel Folau, and the impact of Christianity on the recent Australian federal election results.
This year, Jonathan Tuckett is your host (ably assisted by Ethan Quillen) for MasterBrain, recorded live at the BASR Annual Conference in Milton Keynes this past September. Hear him grill Carole Cusack (Sydney) on Bob Marley and religion, Steven Gregg (Wolverhampton) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and religion, Beth Singler (Cambridge) on Game of Thrones (and Religion) and your humble Editor-in-Chief David Robertson on the Beatles etc. Who will win the coveted RSP trophy? Is Jon Snow really dead?
1. Burton Watson, Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, ed. William Theodore de Bary (1868), p. 1.
Carole M. Cusack, ‘“Druids Down Under”: Australian Druidry as Adaptation and Innovation’, in Ethan Doyle White and Jonathan Woolley (eds), Modern Religious Druidry: Studies in Paganism, Celtic Identity, and Nature Spirituality, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, pp. 191-211.
Carole M. Cusack, ‘How Do Pagans Use Fiction and Film?’ in Suzanne Owen and Angela Puca (eds), Pagan Religions in Five Minutes, Equinox, 2024, pp. 207-209.
Carole M. Cusack, “Portraying Charisma: The Representation of G. I. Gurdjieff in Fiction’, Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2024, pp. At: https://www.pdcnet.org/collection-anonymous/browse?fp=asrr&fq=asrr/Volume/8985%7C15/8999%7CIssue:%201/.
Carole M. Cusack, ‘Wulfila, the Gothic Bible, and the Mission to the Goths: Rethinking the ‘Apostle to the Goths’ in Light of Homoian Theology, Conversion as a Strategy of Empire, and Fourth Century Social and Cultural Transformations’, Religions, Vol. 15, 2024. At: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/10/1177.
Carole M. Cusack, ‘Invented Religions and the Law: The Significance of Colanders, Hoods, and Pirate Costumes for Members of Jediism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’, in Margo Kitts (ed.), Violence, Conspiracies, and New Religions: A Tribute to the Work of James R. Lewis, Equinox, 2024, pp. 129-148.
Carole M. Cusack, ‘Nineteenth Century Chinese Temples in Australia: History, Religion and Heritagisation’, Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2024. At: https://www.jdre.org.
intricate brush strokes, listening to the rhythmic tones of a musical composition, watching mesmerizing dance movements, or reading lyric verse from poetic writing can transport us to deeper places where inner-spiritual experience flows freely. Art’s evocative expressions become symbolic road maps to possibilities of transcendence.
transcending both time and cultural barriers to tell his story his way. This is why in order to explore Game of Thrones in a scholarly manner one must not look for one-to-one parallels, but instead take a wider view and look for patterns in the narratives. This is true for the events that transpire, the places and customs practiced, the characters and their motivations as well as the faith or religious practices of those people. In regards to the religious focus, a broad range of historical events and practices originating primarily from the pre-Christianized European context influence The Old Gods ritual practices of Westeros as well as the events that surround their development and eventual destruction.
Would there be goats? Weird chanting around a bubbling cauldron? And I hadn't been to spin class for a few weeks so the thought of being naked, or "skyclad", sent shivers down my back.
Upon my arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find a backyard lit by a small army of candles, pumpkins and apples, and pictures of family members (who, I was soon to realise, had recently died). And everyone was, thankfully, fully dressed.
bags of flour. Men, women, tram conductors, train passengers, a couple on their way to the theatre, were all coated in white. The gang smashed a streetcar window and threw flour inside. Then someone threw a stone that split a man’s head open. “Rowdyism has stamped out innocent fun,” wrote The New York Times. It was October 31, 1894, in Washington, DC.
Each day, he makes offerings to pagan spirits. A couple of times a month, his group meets to perform secret rituals. Sometimes the witches gather at a temple or a forest – other times, in someone’s spare bedroom.
“[It’s] a lot of cleansing and banishing unwanted energies...it could be things like prosperity or for love or for fertility,” he told The Feed.
“Sometimes it can just be to help get rid of all the bullsh-t.”
Studies in Religion (Religious Studies, Religionswissenschaft) is a separate academic field from Theology, though the two disciplines have common research areas. Theology is usually defined as a faith-based inquiry, a conversation between believers. Originally, it referred only to Christian theology, but later was expanded to include faith-based or confessional work done in any religious tradition, ancient, modern, or contemporary. Studies in Religion is a secular discipline that approaches religion as a human cultural production; it’s still called the “scientific” study of religion regularly in Europe, and the “academic” study of religion is another term that’s widely used. Of course, it’s possible to write academic theology; Studies in Religion presumes a non-confessional stance, and includes a wide range of methodologies (historical, philosophical, cultural, literary, psychological and so on).
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1. ANALYSIS
Putin's 'ghost army' has come out of the shadows as they take over in Ukraine
2. LIVE
Australia rips through South Africa's top order yet again to start the Boxing Day Test
3. Why you should watch the
Sydney to Hobart yacht race
4. 'Some were found in cars':
Unprecedented monster storm across United States claims at least 28 lives
5. Ali moved to a regional town dreaming of a
short ride to work. But she faces a three- hour commute every day
6. LIVE
Chance for race record as Sydney to Hobart fleet gets ready to go
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In the lead-up to Christmas, there are some amazing and unusual traditions that take place around the world, from a log that "poos" presents for well-behaved kids to a demonic goat creature that whips naughty children.
Many of the traditions have pagan roots, while others are newer but no less intriguing.
Here's a look at some of the more colourful festive season events that people will be enjoying this month.
I consistently encourage students of mine (both Honours and Postgraduate) to publish. I have edited two volumes in the refereed series Sydney Studies in Religion that feature student articles. Many students also give papers and presentations that they do not publish. This experience is also valuable, and enables them to meet other academics and students with whom they have common interests, and to receive feedback on work in progress.
My case for promotion to Level E rests on my international reputation in Studies in Religion and on my high-level contribution to the University of Sydney since my last promotion, evidenced by my outstanding research, teaching and service.
inherited. Of my six Master of Philosophy completions, four were inherited. Of my current ten research students, two were inherited. That is more than 50% of students who either sought to have me as a supervisor or were allocated to me because of my record of success with ‘problem’ candidatures. Dr David Pecotic (PhD 2005) states: ‘I feel it was not until you took over that I learned how to construct the particular kind of argument that I now know a thesis to be. You helped to transform… an infinite regress of note taking into a modest yet definitive original finding – and all on time and within budget!’
I have been strongly influenced by scholarly literature that suggests that PhD students overestimate what is asked of them,1 and from the start I emphasise the manageable nature of the exercise and attempt to model for research students the value of concentrating on proximate, achievable goals. This is not to say that I give students the false impression that a research candidature is easy; I encourage critical engagement with the topic area and the methodology, but strongly discourage the angst-inducing situation where students identify too closely with their theses and thus find their self-esteem evaporating if the project falters (or even, in some cases, when the project is going well).
I excel at all levels of teaching, and students consistently give feedback on the structured nature of my teaching, and the clarity of my delivery. My interest in the content and methodology of the discipline is evidenced in extensive involvement in curriculum development, resulting in the development of five new units (undergrad and postgrad) in recent years. In addition to this I have contributed to radically revising and reshaping the Department’s curriculum. Students nominating me for this award mentioned the depth of my knowledge base, and my concern to keep abreast of scholarship and integrate the latest research into my teaching.
It provides a forum in which you can deepen your understanding of what is involved in high quality teaching and student learning; it encourages discussion and reflection regarding how this understanding can be applied in your own teaching context.
You will be able to listen to the experiences of other academic staff and to voice any concerns or questions about teaching that you may have.
One of our key aims is to better connect and integrate teachers within the academic and social cultures of our faculty.
Finally, and most importantly, the program will better equip teachers to meet the needs of students, and will improve our students' learning experiences and outcomes.
The tour has a relaxed pace, with extended stays in each destination. Our visits include the museums, cathedrals and palaces of the cities as well as journeys through Scotland’s renowned countryside and time in smaller centres in the north and the western isles.
We’ll explore prehistoric sites, the influence of the Scandinavian world, the castles and monasteries of the Middle Ages, the great battlefields of legend and some remarkable modern sites, such as those associated with Charles Rennie Macintosh.
Travelling in June, we’re assured of long daylight hours and mild temperatures. Accommodation is in comfortable, well-located hotels.