1st Edition
Yearning to Belong Discovering a New Religious Movement
Cutting across three areas of interest within New Religious Movements - insider perspectives, sociology of religion and the helping professions - this book explores insiders' experience of the Indian Guru-disciple Yogic tradition and is authored by a former member of that tradition. Highlighting the rich spiritual experience of devotees of Guru-disciple Yoga, and broadening the understanding of Guru-disciple Yoga Practice, this book also adds considerably to knowledge of conversion to New Religious Movements and to issues of affiliation and disengagement. Exploring participants' experience of attraction, affiliation and disengagement, these themes highlight individuals' personal experience of Guru-disciple Yoga Practice.
Biography
John Paul Healy is a Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia. His publications include a chapter in Frances Di Lauro (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Reflections on the Sacred, entitled 'Thinking about Levinas in Relation to a Spiritual Community', and an article in the Religion Compass, entitled ’Spiritual Experience and Seeking’.
'Potential readers for this study include those interested in the sociology of religion, new religious movements, or transnational Hindu-inspired movements. It would have particular appeal for those who have followed the brainwashing theory controversy.' Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review ’...a major contribution to empirical studies of non-traditional religions in the West. Healy effectively problematizes simplistic discourses about Svengali cult leaders and brainwashed followers through his case study of Siddha Yoga.’ Fieldwork in Religion
