Paul Heelas

I found this book to be difficult to understand. I didn’t know much about New Age going into it and after reading this book for class, I feel like I still don’t know much the New Age. I think in order to read this book and really grasp its theoretical arguments, you need to have a pretty decent background in understanding the New Age philosophy. If you are interested in academic, scholarly work on the New Age movement, this book might be right for you. But if you are looking for a primer on New Age, this is not the title.… (mere)

Explores a typology of religion based on religions of difference,( Charismatic Christianity for example) religions of humanity( Dalai Lama and liberal Christians, for example )and spiritualities of life.(Quakers and New Age Pagans)And the social contexts these faiths operate and develop in in as well as counter arguemnts as to both the typology and the contexts.

Its about deepening your awareness of the social bases of your own faith. If you know why African or American poverty may drive one way of expressing a faith whilst affluence may drive a more individual spiritual journey you can deal with a irony of conservative authoritarian Christianity that shows a great compassion for the poor, Or a liberal spirituality of life that has lost a sense of community.

Compassion grows from celebrating our positives and accepting each of us are not without sin/ have a shadow side* delete the version that causes you less offence ;-)… (mere)