Alternative Spiritualities, the New Age and New Religious Movements in Ireland

national | education | event notice Monday September 28, 2009 21:00 by Laurence Cox - National University of Ireland, Maynooth

an interdisciplinary research conference

- 44 presenters from 3 continents, not counting poster presentations
- Established academics, independent scholars and postgrad researchers
- Disciplines represented include anthropology, census and survey research, comparative studies, computing, education, ethnology, European Studies, folklore, history of art, human geography, Irish studies, psychology, religious studies, sociology and theology

National University of Ireland Maynooth
October 30th - 31st 2009

Plenary lectures:
- Prof. Tom Inglis, UCD, "A sociological map of religion in contemporary Ireland"
- Prof. Eileen Barker, LSE, "Cults, sects and / or new religions"
- Prof. Paul Heelas, Lancaster, "Spirituality and the New Age"

In recent decades, the religious landscape of the island of Ireland has transformed dramatically. New religious movements and what is sometimes called the "New Age" have flourished, along with the arrival of religions long-established elsewhere. Ways of being which classify themselves as non-religious or as consciously resisting religion (new spiritualities, humanism, skepticism, anti-cult organisations etc.) have also become far more significant. (The "newness" of any movement or group, and the "New Age" classification, are of course both often strongly contested, but are used here for practical purposes.)

These developments raise big questions for the study of religion, but also have important implications in fields as wide-ranging as gender relations, roads protests, the politics of church and state, immigration, tourism, funeral practices, education, youth cultures, health and regulation, globalization, and our relationship to the past, physical or imagined. They shed light on the transformation of religion in contemporary Ireland as well as providing us with insights into the nature of the society we live in.

This is the first conference to bring together academic research on these topics in Ireland, showcasing work on specific religious groups and movements, as well as more diffuse expressions of spirituality and religious organisation which have arrived, (re-)emerged or flourished in Ireland after 1945. It includes theoretical and empirical papers from a range of disciplines on many different aspects of these new movements in Ireland, including but not limited to "New Age" groups, pagan / Celtic movements, other new religious movements, world religions in Ireland, alternative medicine and bodywork, "cults" and schisms within established Irish churches, non- and anti-religious groups, and new religious movements abroad which have strong Irish roots or influences.

While the conference is dedicated to serious research, it is open to the public, either in whole or in part (one-day registration options are available, and the evening lectures can be attended separately at a special price). The conference is non-profit, and registration fees are simply to cover food, speakers' travel and accommodation costs, etc.

Paper topics include

- Globalisation, modernity and new religions in Ireland
- Questioning the "new religious movements" category
- New forms of religious affiliation
- New religious movements, media and cyberspace
- History of alternative religions in Ireland
- World religions in Ireland
- Celtic identities and religiosities
- The feminist divine
- Holistic spiritualities
- Christian new religious movements
- Rethinking new religious movements, Catholicism and Islam
- Psychology and religion
- Conceptualising and measuring religious beliefs

Online at www.nrmireland.net or http://nrmireland.blogspot.com:

- Full timetable and list of papers
- Registration details (early bird rate until Oct 15th)
- Call for poster presentations

All welcome; registration details and rates are on the websites.

The evening lectures by Prof. Barker (8 pm, Friday) and Prof. Heelas (8 pm, Saturday) can be attended separately; cost €20 or €10 for students / unwaged with ID

More details online at http://www.nrmireland.net or http://nrmireland.blogspot.com