Revelatory Events

Three Case Studies of the Emergence of New Spiritual Paths

Ann Taves (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

384 Seiten

2016
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-15289-9 (ISBN)

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Unseen presences. Apparitions. Hearing voices. Although some people would find such experiences to be distressing and seek clinical help, others perceive them as transformative. Occasionally, these unusual phenomena give rise to new spiritual paths or religious movements. Revelatory Events provides fresh insights into what is perhaps the bedrock of all religious belief--the claim that otherworldly powers are active in human affairs. Ann Taves looks at Mormonism, Alcoholics Anonymous, and A Course in Miracles--three cases in which insiders claimed that a spiritual presence guided the emergence of a new spiritual path. In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr., reportedly translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates unearthed with the help of an angel. Bill Wilson cofounded AA after having an ecstatic experience while hospitalized for alcoholism in 1934. Helen Schucman scribed the words of an inner voice that she attributed to Jesus, which formed the basis of her 1976 best-selling self-study course.
In each case, Taves argues, the sense of a guiding presence emerged through a complex, creative interaction between a founding figure with unusual mental abilities and an initial set of collaborators who were drawn into the process by diverse motives of their own. A major work of scholarship, this compelling and accessible book traces the very human processes behind such events.

Ann Taves is professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her books include Religious Experience Reconsidered and Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James (both Princeton).

Illustrations and Tables vii Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 Part 1 Making Meaning 13 Case Study A Restored Church 17 1 Translation 23 2 Materialization 50 3 Beginnings 66 Case Study An Anonymous Fellowship 82 4 Stories 89 5 Fellowship 110 6 Seeking 129 Case Study A Course in Miracles 151 7 Emergence 157 8 Teaching(s) 180 9 Roles 195 Part 2 Creating Paths 223 10 Groups 225 11 Selves 240 12 Motives 270 Conclusion 290 Appendix Discussion of Methods 297 Appendix Charts 311 Bibliography 331 Author Index 347 Subject Index 351

Erscheint lt. Verlag	8.11.2016
Zusatzinfo	1 Maps
Verlagsort	New Jersey
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 235 mm
Gewicht	567 g
Themenwelt	Sonstiges ► Geschenkbücher
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-10	0-691-15289-6 / 0691152896
ISBN-13	978-0-691-15289-9 / 9780691152899
Zustand	Neuware