New Spirituality, Self, and Belonging: How New Agers and Neo-Pagans Talk about Themselves

(Hardback)

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Description

Through in-depth interviews with 22 New Agers and Neo-Pagans, this study proposes a new model of religious identity from a sociological standpoint. The analysis demonstrates that in spite of their great diversity of beliefs and lack of strong organizational ties, a discernible community of alternative spiritualists does exist. This volume will appeal not only to scholars of the sociology of religion, but also to sociologists interested in community builing, social movements, and self-identity.

Reviews

.,."an important and compelling contribution to the growing body of academic study in the field of Neo-Paganism and related religious movement because of its systematic analysis as well as presentation of data."-Religious Studies Review
...an important and compelling contribution to the growing body of academic study in the field of Neo-Paganism and related religious movement because of its systematic analysis as well as presentation of data.-Religious Studies Review
Bloch contributes significantly toward this process of emergent clarity in which the counter-cultural amalgam becomes something more than the sum of its New Age and Neo-Pagan parts.-Sociology of Religion
"Bloch contributes significantly toward this process of emergent clarity in which the counter-cultural amalgam becomes something more than the sum of its New Age and Neo-Pagan parts."-Sociology of Religion
..."an important and compelling contribution to the growing body of academic study in the field of Neo-Paganism and related religious movement because of its systematic analysis as well as presentation of data."-Religious Studies Review

Author Bio

JOHN P. BLOCH is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Kent State University in East Liverpool, Ohio. - His research and teaching interests include social theory, sociology of religion, and sociology of sex and gender.