The Invention of Sacred Tradition

James R. Lewis is lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. He is editor of a number of collected works and author of numerous books and articles including Legitimating New Religions (2003). Olav Hammer is Professor, History of Religions at the University of Southern Denmark. His publications include Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age (2001).

• Introduction Olav Hammer and James R. Lewis; 1. Scientology, scripture and sacred tradition Mikael Rothstein; 2. 'He may be lying but what he says is true': the sacred tradition of Don Juan as reported by Carlos Castaneda, anthropologist, trickster, guru, allegorist Charlotte E. Hardman; 3. Invention of sacred tradition: Mormonism Douglas J. Davies; 4. Antisemitism, conspiracy culture, Christianity, and Islam; the history and contemporary religious significance of the 'Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion' Christopher Partridge and Ron Geaves; 5. The invention of a counter-tradition: the case of the North American anti-cult movement David G. Bromley and Douglas E. Cowan; 6. 'Heavenly deception'? Sun Myung Moon and 'Divine Principle' George D. Chryssides; 7. 'Forgery' in the New Testament Einar Thomassen; 8. Three phases of inventing Rosicrucian tradition in the seventeenth century Susanna Åkerman; 9. A name for all and no one: Zoroaster as a figure of authorization and a screen of ascription Michael Stausberg; 10. The peculiar sleep: receiving the URANTIA book Sarah Lewis; 11. Ontology of the past and its materialization in Tibetan treasures Holly Gayley; 12. Pseudo-Dionysius: the mediation of sacred traditions Kevin Corrigan and Michael Harrington; 13. Spurious attribution of the Hebrew Bible Philip R. Davies; 14. Inventing paganisms: making nature Graham Harvey.

Review of the hardback: '… this book offers a wealth of descriptive material on an important aspect of invented religious traditions; it offers many insightful interpretive claims; and it provides essential materials for further theorizing these issues.' Religion