Contemplative Studies is an emerging academic field that blurs modern boundaries by bringing practices with religious roots into secular spaces like labs, classrooms, and workplaces. This thesis organizes the field into Contemplative Science and Contemplative Pedagogy, situating each within the broader contexts of modernity, American spirituality, science, and secularity. The analysis reveals previously unremarked nuances and paradoxes within the contemplative movement, showing how these practices challenge conventional distinctions between religious and secular domains.
Aleister Crowley, a controversial figure from the late 19th-century British occult revival, had a lasting influence on New Religious Movements such as Wicca and Scientology. Decades after his death, his image and writings gained renewed popularity, appearing on a Beatles album cover and becoming a countercultural icon. This historical analysis traces the reception of Crowley's ideas, from his self-promotion as a 'beastly' persona, through posthumous demonization, rehabilitation in the 1960s, renewed demonization in the 1980s, and gradual scholarly acceptance of his importance to the study of New Religious Movements.