From “Comparative Mysticism” to “New Age Spirituality”
Oxford University Press eBooks December 23, 2011 Steven Sutcliffe
The new age has been difficult to define and theorize within the academic study of religion. This chapter examines how new age elements compare with the "world religions" model of rationalized bureaucratic organization and locates the new age within a discursive shift from mysticism to spirituality. It traces a general development in syllabi on the new age: from phenomenological descriptions of comparative mysticism and new age spirituality based on biographies, practices, and beliefs, toward a more theoretical interest in accounting for the structure and production of new age formations as a contribution to comparative problems in religious studies. Several pedagogical strategies are discussed.