Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality

Carole M. Cusack is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. She trained as a medievalist and her PhD was published as Conversion among the Germanic Peoples (1998). She now specialises in contemporary religious trends (pilgrimage and tourism, modern Pagan religions, NRMs, and religion and popular culture). Her books include Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (2010), The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations (2011) and (with Katharine Buljan) Anime, Religion, and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in Contemporary Japan (2014). She has published widely in edited volumes and journals, and is the editor (with Christopher Hartney) of Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Garry W. Trompf (2010) and (with Alex Norman) of Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production (2012). Pavol Kosnáč is an independent scholar based in Bratislava, Slovakia. He has studied Religious Studies at Comenius University, where he obtained his BA and MA, and political philosophy, jurisprudence and European culture at the Collegium of Anton Neuwirt (both in Bratislava). Afterwards he moved to England to continue his studies at the University of Oxford, completing an MSt in Study of Religion. He held a six-month placement at INFORM in London, then travelled extensively working as a freelance analyst for British, Slovak and Asian think-tanks. He plans to start a PhD next year. His academic background is mostly in sociology of religion, history of Christianity and Islam, and the study of new religious movements. He is interested especially in new and alternative religiosity, non-religiosity, the contemporary religious situation in Europe, and overlaps between religion, violence and war.

• Introduction: Fiction, Invention, and Hyper-reality in New Religions and SpiritialitiesCarole M. Cusack and Pavol KosnáčTolkien’s Legendarium, the Elven Lineage, and the Internet 1. The Elven Path and the Silver Ship of the Valar: Two Spiritual Groups Based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s LegendariumMarkus DavidsenTië eldaliévaReverend Michaele Alyras de Cygne and CalantirnielIlsaluntë ValionGwineth2. Spirituality and Self-Realisation as ‘Other-Than-Human’: The Otherkin and Therianthropy CommunitiesCarole M. Cusack3. Salvation and Animation: Religion, Fandom, and Identity in the Romantic Narratives of Mystics and SoulbondersVenetia Laura Delano Robertson4. The Development of Spirituality in the Brony CommunityPavol KosnáčFilm and Television as Sacred Texts5. Spirituality Struck: Anime and Religio-Spiritual Devotional PracticesKatharine Buljan6. Jediism and the Temple of the Jedi OrderThe Temple of the Jedi Order7. Virtual Knights and Synthetic Realms: Jediism in Second LifeHelen Farley8. A Brief History of Dudeism Oliver Benjamin9. Diego Maradona and the Psychodynamics of Football Fandom in International CinemaMarcus FreeOnline Mediation of Invented, Fiction-Based, and Hyper-real Religions10. "Discordians Stick Apart": The Institutional Turn Within Contemporary DiscordianismJ. Christian Greer11. SubGenius vs The Conspiracy: Playfulness and Sincerity in Invented ReligionsDavid G. Robertson12. Kopimism and Media Devotion: Piracy, Activism, Art, and Critique as Religious PracticeDanielle L. Kirby and Elisha H. McIntyre13. Beyond Belief: Revival in Virtual WorldsWilliam Sims BainbridgeCountercultural Personal Spiritualities and Religions14. African-American Ufology in the Music and Mythos of Sun RaJohanna J. M. Petsche15. The Church of All WorldsOberon Zell 16. An Implicit Hyper-real Religion: Real-Life SuperheroesAdam Possamai and Vladislav Iouchkov

"This book’s goal is to serve as an introductory text on a variety of new religions and spiritualities, their worldview, and the complexity of their ongoing fight for legitimacy. The contributors to Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality successfully demonstrate that these “phenomena have real life consequences.”"- Tarryl Janik, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee"This volume takes readers on a truly marvelous journey. Insightful and a pleasure to read."- Lukas Pokorny, University of Vienna, Religious Studies Review