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World Religions and Spirituality Project

{{Infobox institute

|name = World Religions and Spirituality Project

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|founder = David G. Bromley

|established = 2010

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|location = Virginia Commonwealth University

|city = Richmond

|state = Virginia

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|country = United States

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|website = {{website|https://wrldrels.org}}

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The World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP, formerly known as the New Religious Movements Homepage Project{{cite web |title=Nova Religio and the World Religions and Spirituality Project |url=https://nr.ucpress.edu/content/world-religions-and-spirituality-project |website=University of California Press |accessdate=8 July 2019}}) publishes academic profiles of new and established religious movements, archive material related to some groups, and articles that provide context for the profiles.{{cite journal |last1=Bromley |first1=David G. |last2=Willsky-Ciollo |first2=Lydia |title=The World Religions & Spirituality Project |journal=Religious Studies Faculty Book Gallery |date=January 2016 |url=https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/religiousstudies-books/96 |publisher=Fairfield University |accessdate=8 July 2019}}{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://wrldrels.org/about-us/ |website=World Religions and Spirituality Project |accessdate=12 July 2019}} It is referenced by scholars,{{cite journal | last=Knott | first=Kim | title=Applying the study of religions in the security domain: knowledge, skills, and collaboration | journal=Journal of Religious and Political Practice | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=4 | issue=3 | date=2018-09-02 | issn=2056-6093 | doi=10.1080/20566093.2018.1525901 | pages=354–373| s2cid=158937341 | doi-access=free }}{{cite journal | last=Krebs | first=Jill M. | title=Teaching and learning guide for contemporary Marian apparitions and devotional cultures | journal=Religion Compass | publisher=Wiley | volume=11 | issue=5–6 | year=2017 | issn=1749-8171 | doi=10.1111/rec3.12234 | page=e12234}}{{cite web | title=COVID-19: Scapegoating Shincheonji in South Korea | website=CESNUR | date=1984-03-14 | url=https://www.cesnur.org/2020/shincheonji-second-white-paper.htm | access-date=2020-08-08}}{{cite book | title=Dynamism and the Ageing of a Japanese 'New' Religion | chapter=Notes | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-350-08651-7 | doi=10.5040/9781350086548-008 | page=}}{{cite journal | last=Bromley | first=David | title=Santa Muerte as Emerging Dangerous Religion? | journal=Religions | publisher=MDPI AG | volume=7 | issue=6 | date=2016-06-03 | issn=2077-1444 | doi=10.3390/rel7060065 | page=65| doi-access=free }}{{cite book | last=Deo | first=Nandini | title=Postsecular feminisms : religion and gender in transnational context | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | publication-place=London, UK | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-350-03806-6 | oclc=1039718550 | page=}}{{cite book | editor-last=Kitts | editor-first=Margo | title=Oxford Scholarship Online | chapter=Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2018-05-24 | isbn=978-0-19-065648-5 | doi=10.1093/oso/9780190656485.001.0001 | page=}}{{cite book | last=Bromley | first=David G. | title=Oxford Handbooks Online | chapter=New Religions as a Specialist Field of Study | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2009-09-02 | doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199588961.013.0041 | page=}} journalists,{{cite web | title=HBO's 'Going Clear' leaves future of Scientology unclear | website=Washington Post | date=2015-03-26 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/hbos-going-clear-leaves-future-of-scientology-unclear/2015/03/26/0b0bd3a6-d3ec-11e4-8b1e-274d670aa9c9_story.html | access-date=2020-08-08}}{{cite web | title=N.Y. church descended into fear before teen's fatal beating, ex-members say - CBC News | website=CBC | date=2015-10-17 | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/church-beating-death-1.3276674 | access-date=2020-08-08}}{{cite web | title=Church where teen was beaten to death fueled by fear, ex-members say | website=CBS News | date=2015-10-18 | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/word-of-life-christian-church-where-teen-lucas-leonard-was-beaten-to-death-fueled-by-fear-ex-members/ | access-date=2020-08-08}} and human rights groups{{cite web |title=Bodu Bala Sena (Army of Buddhist Power) / BBS

|url=https://www.prgsrilanka.org/bodu-bala-sena/ |website=People's Rights Group |accessdate=8 August 2020}} to provide a scholarly representation of threatened communities.

History

WRSP developed from Jeffrey K. Hadden's Religious Movements Homepage Project, which he founded in 1995. After Hadden's death in 2003, Douglas E. Cowan became Project Director. In 2007, it was described as "one of the largest information sites on new religious movements".{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=Douglas E. |editor1-last=Bromley |editor1-first=David G. |title=Teaching New Religious Movements on the World Wide Web |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195177299 |page=300}} In 2010, David G. Bromley became the Project Director. He expanded the scope of the project to recruit international scholars instead of local students and renamed it the World Religions and Spirituality Project.{{cite journal |title=Nova Religio and the World Religions and Spirituality Project |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |date=November 2015 |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=130 |doi=10.1525/nr.2015.18.4.140|jstor=10.1525/nr.2015.18.4.140 }}

Purpose

In an article that discusses the challenge of teaching students about new religious movements, Douglas E. Cowan explains that, because of "the thousands of NRMs that exist in the world at any one time, only a relative handful are ever discussed in the various print resources […], and the Internet is, by default, the only source of information available. The issue then becomes how credible the information is that they obtain online."{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=Douglas E. |editor1-last=Bromley |editor1-first=David G. |title=Teaching New Religious Movements on the World Wide Web |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195177299 |page=294–295}} Websites like CESNUR, the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, the Internet Sacred Text Archive, the Association of Religion Data Archives, and WRSP are understood as examples of websites that respond to this problem.{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=Douglas E. |editor1-last=Bromley |editor1-first=David G. |title=Teaching New Religious Movements on the World Wide Web |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195177299 |page=295–296}} These websites serve to popularize the academic study of new religious movements.

Special projects

In addition to publishing profiles, it has ten special projects, thematic or regional, which are directed by recognized scholars.{{cite web |title=Organization & Leadership |url=https://wrldrels.org/organization-leadership/ |website=World Religions and Spirituality Project |accessdate=12 July 2019}}

References

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External links

  • [https://wrldrels.org/ Official website]
  • Projects listings:
  • [https://wrldrels.org/thematic-projects/ Thematic]
  • [https://wrldrels.org/regional-projects/ Regional]
  • [https://wrldrels.org/local-projects/ Local]

{{New Religious Movements}}

Category:2010 establishments in Virginia

Category:Virginia Commonwealth University clubs and organizations

Category:Organizations based in Richmond, Virginia