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Frederic Rowland Young

Timothy Larsen

in Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England

Frederic Rowland Young was a Secularist lecturer who worked for G. J. Holyoake and wrote for his newspaper, the Reasoner; he later became a Unitarian minister. With George Sexton, he became a ... More

Frederic Rowland Young was a Secularist lecturer who worked for G. J. Holyoake and wrote for his newspaper, the Reasoner; he later became a Unitarian minister. With George Sexton, he became a Christian apologist and a proponent of Spiritualism. Eventually, he became convinced of the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ and served for a time as a Congregational minister.Less

George Sexton

Timothy Larsen

in Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England

George Sexton was the most academically distinguished popular freethinking lecturer, and specialized in disseminating the latest scientific thought. He converted to Spiritualism and to orthodox ... More

George Sexton was the most academically distinguished popular freethinking lecturer, and specialized in disseminating the latest scientific thought. He converted to Spiritualism and to orthodox Christianity. His work as a Christian apologist included editing the Shield of Faith.Less

Crisis of Doubt

Timothy Larsen

in Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England

The Victorian Secularist movement knew that it was experiencing a crisis of doubt. Freethinkers reconverted because they came to believe that Secularism was merely negative, that it offered no basis ... More

The Victorian Secularist movement knew that it was experiencing a crisis of doubt. Freethinkers reconverted because they came to believe that Secularism was merely negative, that it offered no basis for morality, and that it adhered to a procrustean system of logic. Positively, they were drawn to the Bible and to Jesus of Nazareth, to the realm of the spirit (sometimes through Spiritualism), and to Christians who modeled learning and a commitment to justice. Popular radicals were ahead of members of the social elite when it came to these intellectual trends.Less

Chasing Ghosts: Spiritualism and the Struggle for Public Knowledge

Michael D. Gordin (ed.)

in A Well-Ordered Thing

This chapter looks at the controversy surrounding Spiritualism in the 1870s. Considered by many a modernized religion more suited to the day's empirical advances, Spiritualism sparked substantial ... More

This chapter looks at the controversy surrounding Spiritualism in the 1870s. Considered by many a modernized religion more suited to the day's empirical advances, Spiritualism sparked substantial disagreement as to whether actual “spirits” of the departed were responsible for the phenomena that occurred in seances. In Russia in particular, where the Great Reforms had vigorously initiated debates over the place of scientific expertise in a modernizing state, Spiritualism became the center of a controversy about the status of religion, science, and superstition. A central episode in the history of Russian Spiritualism served as a microcosm of the concerns about science's relation to the disjointed society of the Great Reforms: the creation and work of the Commission for the Investigation of Mediumistic Phenomena. The Commission was set up in May 1875 at Dmitrii Mendeleev's instigation by the Russian Physical Society—a newly created sibling to the Russian Chemical Society.Less

Embodying the Extraordinary in Iceland and India: The Difference Spirits Make

Corinne G. Dempsey

in Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth: Adventures in Comparative Religion

This chapter juxtaposes Hindu and Christian strategies for conferring extraordinary abilities onto human bodies. The traditions under consideration, Icelandic Spiritualism and Indian Neo-Vedanta, ... More

This chapter juxtaposes Hindu and Christian strategies for conferring extraordinary abilities onto human bodies. The traditions under consideration, Icelandic Spiritualism and Indian Neo-Vedanta, were similarly formed by their countries’ respective independence struggles during the turn of the last century as well as by scientific frameworks through which both find validation. This use of science emerges from the turn-of-the-century scientific revolution that challenged the existence of religion, met by Spiritualism and Neo-Vedanta not with a rejection of the supernatural but with a softening of the divide between science and religion, matter and spirit. This chapter's juxtaposition illuminates how the similar epistemological, historical, and political forces that shape these traditions are trumped by that which most dramatically distinguishes them: the insistent presence or absence of spirits. Rather than analyzing this presence/absence of spirits as representing yet another layer of social influence, this chapter focuses on the ways practitioners’ differently conceived bodily encounters with the sacred guide their cosmologies and, subsequently, their ethics.Less

The Examples

Susan Starr Sered

in Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women

Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. ... More

Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. First, it points out ways in which these religions differ from one another. Some of the examples are self-consciously independent religions that exist in a society where the dominant religion is male dominated (Feminist Spirituality, Afro-Brazilian religions). Others are religious streams that co-exist alongside of, and sometimes intertwined with, male-dominated religions (zār, Spiritualism, Korean shamanism, Burmese nat cultus). Still others are the major religion of an entire society (the Ryūkyū Islands, the Black Caribs of Belize). And finally, others are sects of otherwise male-dominated religions (Christian Science, Shakerism).Less

Rituals and Relationships

Susan Starr Sered

in Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women

There are several women's religions that could essentially be described as constellations of rituals: these religions lack a standardized belief system, formal membership procedures, rules and ... More

There are several women's religions that could essentially be described as constellations of rituals: these religions lack a standardized belief system, formal membership procedures, rules and regulations, and recognized leaders. The clearest example of this model is Spiritualism in the United States. An emphasis on ritual, however, does not mean that women's religions are simplistic. If we abandon a dichotomy between ritual (magical, superstitious, ignorant) and theology (philosophical, abstract, unselfish, moral), we begin to see that rituals may express very complex belief systems. Spiritualist seances, for example, explicate and reinforce the notion that material reality is not the only reality; that all living creatures are eternally connected with one another; that what one person does affects everyone and everything forever; that people are not specks of dust, disappearing into nothingness when they die; that love has meaning; that human relationships are sacred. This chapter examines rituals and interpersonal relationships in women's religions in the contexts of initiation, mourning, and food rituals.Less

No Father in Heaven Androgyny and Polydeism

Susan Starr Sered

in Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women

Notions of the supernatural are what differentiate religious from secular belief systems. Given the importance that religious devotees accord their deities, this chapter looks at the gods and spirits ... More

Notions of the supernatural are what differentiate religious from secular belief systems. Given the importance that religious devotees accord their deities, this chapter looks at the gods and spirits of each of the key examples of women's religions. The previous chapters argued that the rituals of women's religions are concerned with interpersonal relationships and reflect an essentially this-worldly, immanent orientation. Concern with relationships and this world also characterize the supernatural beings who are worshipped and addressed in women's religions. Unlike both the spirits of Spiritualism and the nats of Burma, Ryūkyūan kami (loosely translated as gods) generally do not have myths associated with them, nor are they highly differentiated among themselves. The various Afro-Brazilian religions have somewhat different theological approaches and posit somewhat different pantheons. In the case of the Black Caribs of Belize, prayers are addressed to God, the Virgin Mary, and deceased ancestors. This chapter examines androgyny and polydeism in women's religions, focusing on Christian Science, Shakers, and Spiritualism.Less

Ritual Magic from 1850 to the Present

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

in The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction

This chapter examines ritual magic from 1850 to the present. The modern occult revival of the 19th century was a complex phenomenon with widespread causes. Romanticism stimulated interest in the ... More

This chapter examines ritual magic from 1850 to the present. The modern occult revival of the 19th century was a complex phenomenon with widespread causes. Romanticism stimulated interest in the mysterious and the unknown, which in turn created a cultural receptivity to Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and magic. Freemasonry also served as an important factor in the occult revival by serving as a channel of Hermetic wisdom. The growth of fringe Masonry also reflected the contemporary revival of ritualism in the Anglican Church and this movement significantly influenced the restoration of sacramental worship to Anglican devotion and the revival of religious orders.Less

Epilogue

Melissa Daggett

in Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey

The epilogue considers the demise and legacy of Modern American Spiritualism in the Crescent City and on a national level. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Creole circles terminated, but Spiritualism ... More

The epilogue considers the demise and legacy of Modern American Spiritualism in the Crescent City and on a national level. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Creole circles terminated, but Spiritualism still existed at venues such as Minerva Hall. Nineteenth-century Spiritualism diversified and evolved in the 1890s on the national level. The hallmarks of Modern American Spiritualism began to fade away and were replaced with a religion more traditional with an established ministry and a stable congregation. François Dubuclet continued his association with Spiritualism by joining a Spiritualist church and encouraged relatives in Chicago to follow his example. Dubuclet and René Grandjean were active members of the First Church of Divine Fellowship of Spiritualism. The epilogue compares and contrasts nineteenth-century Spiritualism with Voodoo, and the Spiritualist and Spiritual churches. The ministries of Mother Leafy Anderson and Mother Catherine Seals in the eclectic Spiritual churches are highlighted.Less

Spirits and Bodies

Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce

in Why are Women more Religious than Men?

Women are more likely than men to engage in the type of religious and spiritual activities motivated by a desire to maintain contact with the souls of the dead. This chapter presents a brief history ... More

Women are more likely than men to engage in the type of religious and spiritual activities motivated by a desire to maintain contact with the souls of the dead. This chapter presents a brief history of Spiritualism and explains its disproportionate appeal to women. In some cases, mediumship was socially empowering for female practitioners. It argues that, prior to the institutionalization of Spiritualism in the twentieth century, women were more likely than men to become mediums because the role required sensitivity and a caring attitude to others. The second part of this chapter introduces data on women's attitudes to the disposal of the dead and to the human body in general in order to suggest a link between bodily purity and religious enthusiasm. Women are far more concerned than men about being cremated alive and about the decay of their bodies. This, in itself, does not make them more religious but it does point to some elective affinities between feminine attitudes and religiosity.Less

Not to Hell but to Salem: Antebellum Religious Crises

in The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in Nineteenth-Century America

This chapter traces how in the 1830s, the metaphor of Salem witchcraft moved out of histories and literature and into public discourse in the United States. The witchcraft trials provided an insight ... More

This chapter traces how in the 1830s, the metaphor of Salem witchcraft moved out of histories and literature and into public discourse in the United States. The witchcraft trials provided an insight into the political consequences if a nation became overwhelmed by “fanatical” followers of new religious movements such as Spiritualism and Mormonism. They also provided reporters, editors, and even average citizens with a symbol that had the authority of historical precedent.Less

Between the Heavenly and the Human

Ying-shih Yü

Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke (eds)

in Chinese History and Culture: Sixth Century B.C.E. to Seventeenth Century

This article traces the origin and development of the first spiritual awakening in Chinese intellectual tradition during what some scholars call the age of “axial breakthrough”. It defines this ... More

This article traces the origin and development of the first spiritual awakening in Chinese intellectual tradition during what some scholars call the age of “axial breakthrough”. It defines this awakening as an “inward transcendence” that helped re-orient the path of the Chinese value system, and distinguishes it from other forms of transcendence that occurred in the similar time period.Less

The Spiritual Nervous System: Reflections on a Magnetic Cord Designed for Spirit Communication

Jeremy Stolow

in Deus in Machina: Religion, Technology, and the Things in Between

This chapter documents the development of a nineteenth-century American Spiritualist technology for communicating with the dead, first proposed by Andrew Jackson Davis in 1853. The chapter situates ... More

This chapter documents the development of a nineteenth-century American Spiritualist technology for communicating with the dead, first proposed by Andrew Jackson Davis in 1853. The chapter situates this seemingly fantastical technology in relation to the expanding circulation of popular science in the nineteenth century, and in particular the rapid growth of non-expert discourses about electrical signalling drawing upon diverse fields, from telegraphy to neuro-anatomy. The chapter demonstrates how Davis and his Spiritualist contemporaries adopted and adapted this new understanding of ‘the electrical circuit’ as a basis for diverse communication systems, extending from intra-corporeal to terrestrial, astronomical, and even supernatural spaces and dimensions. The chapter concludes by arguing that there is no clear basis for separating Spiritualist practices and discourses about cables, signals, electrical circuits, and nervous systems from the practices and discourses of ‘proper’ or ‘legitimate’ techno-science, and that the rejection of the former by the latter is ultimately a political act.Less