James R. Lewis (scholar)

Last updated

James R. Lewis
James R. Lewis.png
Lewis, c. 2022
Born(1949-11-03)November 3, 1949
Leonardtown, Maryland, United States
DiedOctober 11, 2022(2022-10-11) (aged 72)
OccupationAcademic, sociologist of religion, researcher, and writer
LanguageEnglish
Genres Astrology, New Age, academic study of New religious movements
Website
jamesrlewis.info

James R. Lewis (November 3, 1949 - October 11, 2022) was an American philosophy professor at Wuhan University. He was a religious studies scholar, sociologist of religion, and writer, who specialized in the academic study of new religious movements, astrology, and New Age.

Contents

Early life

Lewis was born in Leonardtown, Maryland, and raised in New Port Richey, Florida. In his youth, in the early and mid-seventies, he was a member of Yogi Bhajan's 3HO, a new religious movement combining the teachings of kundalini yoga and Sikhism. [1] Feeling disenchanted with the organization, he formed a small and short-lived breakaway movement. [1]

Education

Lewis received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Wales, Lampeter, in the United Kingdom, and pursued a career as a professional reference book writer in the 1990s. [2]

Works

In 1992, he formed an academic association called AWARE, with the primary goal "to promote intellectual and religious freedom by educating the general public about existing religions and cultures, including, but not limited to, alternative religious groups." [3] Describing its outlook as "scholarly and non-sectarian", AWARE stated that it sought to educate scholars and the general public about the persecution of religious and cultural minorities in the United States and abroad, and to assist the United States in its efforts to counter prejudice. [3]

Other scholars involved in the formulation of AWARE as an "anti-anti-cult organization" included Eileen Barker, David G. Bromley, and Jeffrey Hadden, who felt a need for an organization of academics prepared to appear as expert witnesses in court cases. [4] AWARE proved controversial; critics complained that Lewis associated too closely with NRM members, and Lewis dissolved the body in December 1995 after concerns from members of its advisory board. [4]

Some months prior, in May 1995, Lewis, fellow scholar Gordon Melton and religious freedom lawyer Barry Fisher had flown to Japan in the early stages of investigations into the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway to voice their concern that police behaviour, including mass detentions without charge and the removal of practitioners' children from the group, might be infringing the civil rights of Aum Shinrikyo members. [5] [6] They had travelled to Japan at the invitation and expense of Aum Shinrikyo after they had contacted the group to express concern over developments, and met with officials over a period of three days. [5] While not having been given access to the group's chemical laboratories, they held press conferences in Japan stating their belief, based on the documentation they had been given by the group, [7] that the group did not have the ability to produce sarin and was being scapegoated. [5] [6] Lewis likened the group's treatment to a Japanese Waco. [6] The scholars' defense of Aum Shinrikyo led to a crisis of confidence in religious scholarship when the group turned out to have been responsible for the attack after all. [6]

Lewis edited a series on Contemporary Religions for Brill, and co-edited a series on Controversial New Religions for Ashgate. [8] He was a co-founder of the International Society for the Study of New Religions and editor-in-chief of the Alternative Spirituality & Religion Review (ASSR). [9] [10] He taught in the University of Wisconsin System, where he edited a book titled Scientology, [11] and, on an adjunct basis, at DePaul University. Lewis was an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tromsø and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wales, Lampeter, [9] before becoming a professor at Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei, China. [12]

Reception

A prolific author, Lewis won a Choice Outstanding Academic Titles award in 1999 [13] [14] for Cults in America. [15] The Choice review described it as a "very readable book" that offered a "balanced overview of controversies centering on cults in America", containing basic information on several dozen groups, as well as the more general conflict between "anti-cultists" seeking government assistance to eliminate cults, and religious "libertarians" defending religious liberty even for disliked groups. [13] The review stated that while Lewis differed with the anti-cult view, he presented "arguments and references from both sides – respectfully and in language free from insinuation or invective. Strongly recommended". [13] Lewis won another Choice Outstanding Academic Title award, for The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements , [16] with a second edition of this handbook published in 2016 with Inga Tøllefsen as co-editor. [17] He has also won New York Public Library and American Library Association awards for his reference book Violence and New Religious Movements. [18]

The work of AWARE in the 1990s was criticized by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, who alleged that Lewis was disseminating movement "propaganda", and used poor research methods. [3] This echoed earlier criticisms in a Skeptic article by Stephen A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, who felt that materials produced by Lewis and J. Gordon Melton on the Church Universal and Triumphant and The Family in their joint work Sex, Slander, and Salvation , were "as much an apology as a social scientific product". [19] Anson Shupe and Susan E. Darnell in turn characterised Kent's and Krebs' paper as an ad-hominem attack, and part of a pattern of accusing scholars of bias when their field research produced findings at variance with anti-cult stereotypes. [20] Melton defended their joint work, stating that far from being a public relations exercise, the AWARE report on the Church Universal and Triumphant had "startled and upset" the group's leadership, and led to wide-ranging changes in the organization. [21] Jeffrey Kaplan stated that the aims of AWARE had been "laudable", but that the risks involved for academics in joining the "cult wars", as well as the organization's apparently unsuccessful appeals for funding from new religious movements, led to controversy. [4]

The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death, edited by Lewis, was reviewed by Holly Folk, writing for the journal Communal Societies. She criticized the book for its layout, arranging the chapters in order of publication, resulting in discrepancies between accounts that were not addressed. Additionally, she expressed concerns over the book not addressing some remaining questions relating to the Solar Temple. She called these issues "deeply frustrating", but praised the book as "an important research tool" and "a welcome addition" to the study of new religious movements. [22] The book was praised by Régis Dericquebourg who described it as bringing together many different points of view and a large amount of information usefully. He said the causes of the mass murder-suicides of the OTS were explained more disparately than other topics addressed in the book, and wished that it had included a chapter addressing the various other theories of Maurice Fusier and the Vuarnet family. [23]

In December 2017 conference, Lewis was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as claiming that Falun Gong-founded media Sound of Hope and New Tang Dynasty Television "are in fact manipulated and sponsored by international anti-China forces". [24] In 2018, Lewis authored Falun Gong: Spiritual Warfare and Martyrdom. [25] Lewis edited Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong (2019). [26]

Selected bibliography

Related Research Articles

The Christian countercult movement or the Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist and other Christian ministries and individual activists who oppose religious sects that they consider cults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falun Gong</span> New religious movement from China

Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a new religious movement. Falun Gong was founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a 427-acre (1.73 km2) compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near the residence of Li Hongzhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoko Asahara</span> Founder of the Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo

Shoko Asahara, born Chizuo Matsumoto, was the founder and leader of the Japanese doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and was also involved in several other crimes. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and his final appeal failed in 2011. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum members. He was ultimately executed along with other senior members of Aum Shinrikyo on July 6, 2018.

Millenarianism or millenarism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and religions worldwide, with various interpretations of what constitutes a transformation.

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

A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or they can be part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges that the modernizing world poses to them by embracing individualism, while other NRMs deal with them by embracing tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs number in the tens of thousands worldwide. Most NRMs only have a few members, some of them have thousands of members, and a few of them have more than a million members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokyo subway sarin attack</span> 1995 terrorist attack by Aum Shinrikyo

The Tokyo subway sarin attack was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the cult movement Aum Shinrikyo. In five coordinated attacks, the perpetrators released sarin on three lines of the Tokyo Metro during rush hour, killing 13 people, severely injuring 50, and causing temporary vision problems for nearly 1,000 others. The attack was directed against trains passing through Kasumigaseki and Nagatachō, where the National Diet is headquartered in Tokyo.

CESNUR, is a non-profit organization based in Turin, Italy that studies new religious movements and opposes the anti-cult movement. It was established in 1988 by Massimo Introvigne, Jean-François Mayer and Ernesto Zucchini. Its first president was Giuseppe Casale. Later, Luigi Berzano became CESNUR's president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Gordon Melton</span> American religious scholar (born 1942)

John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he resides. He is also an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

A cult is a group which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader, who tightly controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices which are considered deviant. It is in most contexts a pejorative term, also used for a new religious movement or other social group which is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular person, object, or goal. This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.

David G. Bromley is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, specialized in sociology of religion and the academic study of new religious movements. He has written extensively about cults, new religious movements, apostasy, and the anti-cult movement.

The anti-cult movement consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of cults, uncover coercive practices used to attract and retain members, and help those who have become involved with harmful cult practices.

Anson D. Shupe, Jr. was an American sociologist noted for his studies of religious groups and their countermovements, family violence and clergy misconduct.

A doomsday cult is a cult that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism, including both those that predict disaster and those that attempt to destroy the entire universe. Sociologist John Lofland coined the term doomsday cult in his 1966 study of a group of members of the Unification Church of the United States: Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith. In 1958, Leon Festinger published a study of a group with cataclysmic predictions: When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World.

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.

<i>Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion</i> 1989 book by Marc Galanter

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion is a non-fiction book on cults and coercive persuasion, written by Marc Galanter. The book was published in hardcover format in 1989 by Oxford University Press, and again in hardcover in 1999 in a second-edition work. The second edition was reprinted by Oxford University Press in March 2007.

<i>Scientology</i> (Lewis book) Book by James R. Lewis

Scientology is an edited volume about the Church of Scientology and the beliefs and movement called Scientology. It was edited by James R. Lewis, and published in March 2009 by Oxford University Press. In addition to Lewis, other contributors to the book include J. Gordon Melton, William Sims Bainbridge, Douglas E. Cowan, David G. Bromley, Anson Shupe, James T. Richardson, and Susan J. Palmer. Scientology gives an overview and introduction to the organization, and presents an analysis of the movement from the perspective of sociology. The book compares the organization to religious movements, and goes over its history of controversy. It delves into the practices of the organization and the activities undertaken at its facilities.

John A. Saliba is a Maltese-born Jesuit priest, a professor of religious studies at the University of Detroit Mercy and a noted writer and researcher in the field of new religious movements.

Catherine Wessinger is an American religion scholar. She is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions at Loyola University New Orleans where she teaches religious studies with a main research focus on millennialism, new religions, women and religion, and religions of India. Wessinger is co-general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. She served as a consultant to federal law enforcement during the Montana Freemen standoff and has been cited for her expertise concerning the Branch Davidians and other apocalyptic groups. She is the editor of the Women in Religions series at New York University Press and she is co-editor of the Women in the World's Religions and Spirituality Project, part of the World Religions and Spirituality Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aum Shinrikyo</span> Japanese cult and terrorist organization

Aleph, better known by their former name Aum Shinrikyo, is a Japanese new religious movement and doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been responsible for the Matsumoto sarin attack the previous year.

References

  1. 1 2 Lewis, James R. (2010). "Autobiography of a Schism" (PDF). Marburg Journal of Religion . 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ Butler, Jenny (February 1, 2023). "James R. Lewis: 1949–2022". Nova Religio . 26 (3): 150–152. doi:10.1525/nr.2023.26.3.150. ISSN   1092-6690.
  3. 1 2 3 Robbins, Thomas; Zablocki, Benjamin David (December 1, 2001). Misunderstanding cults: searching for objectivity in a controversial field. University of Toronto Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN   978-0-8020-8188-9 . Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 Kaplan, Jeffrey (1997). Radical religion in America: millenarian movements from the far right to the children of Noah . Syracuse University Press. pp.  139–140, 208. ISBN   978-0-8156-0396-2 . Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Reid, T. R. (May 5, 1995). "Tokyo Cult Finds an Unlikely Supporter". The Washington Post .
  6. 1 2 3 4 Reader, Ian (April 2000). "Scholarship, Aum Shinrikyo, and Academic Integrity" (PDF). Nova Religio . 3 (2): 368–82. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 5, 2011.
  7. ↑ Apologetics Index, Aum Shinrikyo, Aum Supreme Truth; Aum Shinri Kyo; Aleph, 2005
  8. ↑ "Lewis, James R." ebooks.com.
  9. 1 2 "James R. Lewis". Observatoire Européen des religions et de la laïcité (in French). Archived from the original on January 22, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Academic Publishing: Editorial board". Academic Publishing. Archived from the original on January 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ Lewis, James R., ed. (March 2009). Scientology. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195331493.
  12. ↑ "University Distinguished Professors". Wuhan University . Archived from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  13. 1 2 3 Bartlett, Rebecca Ann, ed. (July 2003). Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 1998-2002: Reviews of Scholarly Titles That Every Library Should Own. Association of College & Research Libraries. p. 238. ISBN   978-0-8389-8232-7 . Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  14. ↑ WorldCat Record – Cults in America: A reference handbook. OCLC, Inc. OCLC   39455889 . Retrieved June 17, 2022– via WorldCat.
  15. ↑ Lewis, James R. (1998). Cults in America: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781576070314.
  16. ↑ Lewis, James R., ed. (2008). The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195369649.001.0001. ISBN   9780195149869.
  17. ↑ Lewis, James R.; Tøllefsen, Inga, eds. (2016). The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements: Volume II (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190466176.001.0001. ISBN   9780190466176.
  18. ↑ Lewis, James R., ed. (2011). Violence and New Religious Movements. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199735631.001.0001. ISBN   9780199735617.
  19. ↑ Kent, Stephen A.; Krebs, Theresa (1999). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic. 6 (3): 36–44. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  20. ↑ Shupe, Anson; Darnell, Susan E. (2006). Agents of Discord. New Brunswick (US), London (UK): Transaction Publishers. pp. 135, 158. ISBN   0-7658-0323-2.
  21. ↑ Melton, J. Gordon (1999). "Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!". Skeptic. 7 (1): 14–17. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  22. ↑ Folk, Holly (2008). "The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death". Communal Societies. 28 (2): 96–98. ISSN   0739-1250.
  23. ↑ Dericquebourg, Régis (2007). "Review of The Order of the Solar Temple. The Temple of Death". Archives de sciences sociales des religions (in French). 52 (140): 243–244. ISSN   0335-5985. JSTOR   30119368.
  24. ↑ Yamei (December 3, 2017). "China Focus: International forum analyzes evil nature of Falun Gong". Xinhua . Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  25. ↑ Huang, Chao (2018). "Book Review of James R. Lewis: Falun Gong: Spiritual Warfare and Martyrdom". Temenos. 54 (2): 213–215. doi: 10.33356/temenos.77352 . Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  26. ↑ Chen, Na (October 20, 2020). "Review: Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong, edited by James R. Lewis and Huang Chao". Nova Religio . 24 (2): 112–114. doi:10.1525/nr.2020.24.2.112. ISSN   1092-6690.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.