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1. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Nan Nan, James R. Lewis Introductory Essay: Chinese New Religions
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2. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
James R. Lewis Danceageddon: Following the Money Trail Behind Shen Yun’s Revised Eschatology
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Falun Gong was originally a qigong group that entered into conflict with the Chinese state around the turn of the century. It gradually transformed into both a religious group and a political movement. Exiled to the United States, the founder-leader, Li Hongzhi, acquired property near Cuddebackville, New York, which he subsequently designated Dragon Springs. Dragon Springs, in turn, became the headquarters of Shen Yun Performing Arts, an ambitious touring dance and music company that claims to embody the traditional culture of China prior to its subversion by the Chinese Communist Party. Though Li’s earlier eschatology emphasized that individuals needed to become Falun Gong practitioners in order to survive the imminent apocalypse, the significant success of Shen Yun seems to have prompted Li Hongzhi to rewrite his eschatology, which now emphasizes that all one need do in order to be “saved” is to view live Shen Yun performances.
3. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Yu-Shuang Yao Masculinity and Femininity: Comparing and Contrasting Two Modern Buddhist Movements in Taiwan, Foguang Shan and Ci Ji
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This article examines how modern Chinese Buddhism has been influenced by its interactions with the modern world. For our purposes, ‘modern Chinese Buddhism’ refers to a form of what has become known in the West as ‘Engaged Buddhism,’ but in Chinese is known by titles that can be translated as ‘Humanistic Buddhism’ or ‘Buddhism for Human Life.’ This tradition was initiated on the Chinese mainland between the two World Wars by the monk Tai Xu (1890–1947). Its main branches have flourished in Taiwan, whence two of them have spread worldwide. The most successful, at least in numerical terms, has been Fo Guang Shan (the Buddha’s Light Mountain) and Ci Ji (the Buddhist Compassion and Relief Society), the former founded by a personal disciple of Tai Xu, Xing Yun, the latter founded by Zheng Yan. Both of them are now very old but remain powerful charismatic leaders.
4. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
WANG Chengjun Falling from Heaven to Earth: The Qigong Movement in Contemporary China
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The Qigong movement was one of the most remarkable New Religious Movements, and one of the most important social and cultural phenomena in China during 1980s–1990s. It rose rapidly and created what was termed a “fever” in a very short time in Post-Mao China, and then suddenly fell off the late 1990s. This paper analyzes how and why Qigong, as a new religion, endured such a drastic change within specific political, economic and cultural contexts in China across the course of twenty years. It argues that the rise of Qigong can be mainly ascribed to people’s urgent need for the promotion of health, eagerness to restore national pride, and the change of people’s lifestyle and mindset in response to the “Reform and Opening-up” subsequent to 1978. The collapse of the movement could be seen as an unavoidable result from certain intrinsic and extrinsic factors, namely, the natural tensions between Qigong itself and the national political authorities as well as the scientific establishment, harmful outcomes it produced among some practitioners, and the change in the social and cultural contexts that fostered qigong. In general, it is plausible to say that both its rise and fall were products of the time China underwent subsequent to the “Reform and Opening-up” period.
5. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
ZHANG Xinzhang The Potential Illegitimacy of the PRC’s Effort to Distinguish from “Cult” or “Destructive Cult”
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The PRC has a systematic, self-consistent theory and set of policies focused on xie jiao (邪教), a term that is often mistranslated as “destructive cults,” thereby causing disagreement throughout the international academic world. A more appropriate and accurate translation/interpretation agreeable to all within the PRC and beyond would contribute to bridging the confusion that often leads to misunderstanding. Our article addresses this problem by analyzing official Chinese documents and the critiques of certain international experts. Although the concept of xie jiao has its own philosophical logic, that it is often misunderstood in international communications leads to much dispute over interpretation and policy. Sino-western cultural differences explain much of this misunderstanding.
book reviews
6. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Carole M. Cusack Ted Anton, Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Professor Culianu
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7. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Carole M. Cusack Carlo Ginzburg and Bruce Lincoln, Old Thiess a Livonian Werewolf: A Classic Case in Comparative Perspective
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8. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Carole M. Cusack Timothy Verhoeven, Sexual Crime, Religion and Masculinity in Fin-de-Siecle France: The Flamidien Affair
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9. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Christopher Hartney Paul Daley, On Patriotism
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10. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Monica Alice Quirk Steven J. Sutcliffe and Carole M. Cusack (eds.), The Problem of Invented Religions
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11. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Garry Trompf Daniele Miano, Fortuna: Deity and Concept in Archaic and Republican Italy
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