Children of the New Age: A History of Spiritual Practices

by Steven Sutcliffe

Overview

The first true social history of the phenomenon known as New Age culture, Children of the New Age presents an overview of the diverse varieties of New Age belief and practice from the 1930s to the present day. Drawing on original ethnographic research and rarely seen archival material, it calls into question the assumption that the New Age is a discrete and unified 'movement', and reveals the unities and fractures evident in contemporary New Age practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415242981
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/14/2002
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steven Sutcliffe is affiliated to the University of Stirling. He is the author of numerous journal articles on the New Age and is the co-editor, with Marion Bowman, of Beyond the New Age.

Table of Contents

Introduction: On the Genealogy of the New Age: A Field Note; Part 1: Emblem Chapter One: The Life and Times of 'New Age'; Chapter Two: 'Oligarchy of Elect Souls': Alice Baileys New Age in Context; Chapter Three: The Nameless Ones: Small Groups in the Nuclear Age; Chapter Four: The End is Nigh: Doomsday Premonitions; Part Two: Idiom Chapter Five: Heaven on Earth: From Apocalypse to Self-Realisation; Chapter Six: A Group of Seekers: the Unit of Service; Chapter Seven: A Colony of Seekers: Findhorn; Chapter Eight: A Network of Seekers: Holistic Healing; Chapter Nine: The End of the New Age; Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

'Some texts are genuine gifts to the scholarly community ... Steven Sutcliffe's Children of the New Age is just such a work ... That Children of the New AGe provides the most subtle and informed account of the phenomena to date is to be welcomed.' - Journal of Contemporary Religion

'[Sutcliffe] is objective but sympathetic, critical without being judgmental, and his text is invested with the authority that comes form personal field research and the intelligent use of public and private archives.' - The Christian Parapsychologist

'Stephen Sutcliffe has provided us with a useful contribution to our knowledge of contemporary spiritualities in Children of the New Age.' - Ron Geaves

'This study by Dr Sutcliffe is an insightful contribution tothe 'New Age' phenomenon that will be of real interest to libraries and individual scholars.' - Studies in World Christianity: The Edinburgh Review of Theology and Religion, Issue 9.2

From the Publisher