ISKCON Communications Journal

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ISKCON Communications Journal
ISKCON Communications Journal.jpg
EditorShaunaka Rishi Das
Categories Hindu studies
FrequencyBiannual
Publisher International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founded1994
Final issue2005
Website content.iskcon.org/icj/index.html
ISSN 1358-3867
OCLC 425957799

The ISKCON Communications Journal (ICJ) was a biannual magazine [1] of dialogue, focussing on issues related to missionary development in ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) and with issues of communication, administration, social development and education which affected mission in ISKCON. [2] ICJ also provided a forum for members of various communities to comment on ISKCON's development. [3] It was established in 1993 [4] [5] and was published by ISKCON Communications Europe until its last issue appeared in 2005.

Contents

The ICJ came to be regarded by scholars as ISKCON's intellectual magazine [6] and published papers by a number of prominent scholars. [7] British sociologist James Beckford saw the ICJ as an example of the contribution of religious movements to their own academic study. [8] Beckford held that the magazine showed how "organic intellectuals" of ISKCON were discussing their research and ideas with scholars and in some cases conducting joint research. [9] According to the Danish religious studies scholar Mikael Rothstein, the magazine was a means of internal communication in ISKCON, as well as forum for dialogue with academics. In his view, the magazine represented ISKCON's fundamental interest in good relations with the academic community. [10]

The founder and commissioning editor of ICJ throughout its life was Shaunaka Rishi Das.

Related Research Articles

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A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (IAST: Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda; was the twentieth-century spiritual, philosophical, and religious teacher from India who spread the Hare Krishna mantra and the teachings of “Krishna consciousness” to the world. Born as Abhay Charan De and later legally named Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is often referred to as “Bhaktivedanta Swami”, "Srila Prabhupada", or simply “Prabhupada”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Society for Krishna Consciousness</span> Religious organisation

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. It was founded on 13 July 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its main headquarters is located today in West Bengal, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New religious movement</span> Religious community or spiritual group of modern origin

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satsvarupa dasa Goswami</span> American poet and disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami (born 1939)

Satsvarupa das Goswami is a senior disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), better known in the West as the Hare Krishna movement. Serving as a writer, poet, and artist, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami is the author of Bhaktivedanta Swami's authorized biography, Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. After Prabhupada's death, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was one of the eleven disciples selected to initiate future disciples. Satsvarupa dasa Goswami is one of the first few Westerners ordained by Bhaktivedanta Swami in September 1966. He is a Vaishnava writer, poet, and lecturer, who published over a hundred books including poems, memoirs, essays, novels, and studies based on the Vaishnava scriptures.

Ravindra Svarupa Dasa is a religious studies scholar and a Hare Krishna religious leader. He was initiated by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1971. He has been a member of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission since 1987, Chairman of that Commission's North American GBC Continental Committee, is the president of ISKCON of Philadelphia, and an ISKCON Guru. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion from Temple University and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He has written extensively on Vaishnava philosophy and used his education to further the discourse of Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology within the context of ISKCON. He is the author of Encounter with the Lord of the Universe: Collected Essays 1978-1983. He also is featured on Shelter's Attaining the Supreme, where he gives a lecture on a hidden track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen A. Kent</span> Canadian sociologist of religion

Stephen A. Kent is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He researches new religious movements (NRMs), and has published research on several such groups including the Children of God, the Church of Scientology, and other NRMs operating in Canada.

Benjamin Zablocki was an American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he taught sociology of religion and social psychology. He published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements, cults, and brainwashing.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami</span>

Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, also known as Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh and by the honorific Sripada, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader, chemist, writer about religion and science, and poet. In 1971 he received spiritual initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few years later he became one of the religious leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

The academic study of new religious movements is known as new religions studies (NRS). The study draws from the disciplines of anthropology, psychiatry, history, psychology, sociology, religious studies, and theology. Eileen Barker noted that there are five sources of information on new religious movements (NRMs): the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organizations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaunaka Rishi Das</span> Hindu theologian

Shaunaka Rishi Das is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), a position he has held since the centre's foundation in 1997. He is a lecturer, a broadcaster, and Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University. His interests include education, comparative theology, communication, and leadership. He is a member of The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, convened in 2013 by the Woolf Institute, Cambridge. In 2013 the Indian government appointed him to sit on the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation. Keshava, Rishi Das's wife of 27 years, died in December 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margit Warburg</span> Danish sociologist of religion

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard L. Thompson</span> American mathematician and religious figure

Richard Leslie Thompson, also known as Sadaputa Dasa, was an American mathematician, author and Gaudiya Vaishnava religious figure. Historian Meera Nanda described him as a driving intellectual force of 'Vedic creationism' as co-author of Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (1993), a work that has attracted significant criticism from the scientific community. Thompson also published several books and articles on the relationship between religion and science, Hindu cosmology and astronomy. He was a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the branch of ISKCON dedicated to examining the relationship of modern scientific theories to the Vaishnava worldview. In the 'science and religion' community he was known for his articulation of ISKCON's view of science. Danish historian of religion Mikael Rothstein described Thompson as "the single dominating writer on science" in ISKCON whom ISKCON has chosen to "cover the field of science more or less on his own". C. Mackenzie Brown, professor of religion at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, described him as "the leading figure" in ISKCON's critique of modern science.

Mikael Rothstein is an associate professor of religious history at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Johannes Monrad Aagaard was a Danish theologian and evangelist. He was a professor of missiology at the University of Aarhus. He founded the Department of Missiology and Ecumenical Theology and the Center for New Religious Studies at the University of Aarhus. He was active in the Christian countercult movement as the founder of the Dialog Center International, an international educational organization concerned with groups it defines as cults and other new religious movements. He was a former president of the International Association for Mission Studies. He was a member of the Faith and Order Commission and was on the board of the Theological Educational Fund. He co-founded and chaired the Nordic Network for Missiology and Ecumenical Studies.

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Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, founder-president-acharya of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

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References

  1. Rochford 2007, p.141
  2. ICJ Mission Statement, http://content.iskcon.org/icj/index.html
  3. Geertz, Warburg & Christensen 2008, p.32
  4. Rothstein 1996, p.207
  5. Robbins & Zablocki 2001, p.517
  6. Geertz, Warburg & Christensen 2008, p.32
  7. Altglas, Véronique 2005, p.165-188
  8. Beckford 2003, p.153
  9. Beckford 2003, p.153
  10. Rothstein 1996, p.207

Bibliography