Abstract
The aim of The Problem of Invented Religions is to explore the concept of ‘invented religions’. It treats Carole Cusack’s Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (2010) as a starting point from which to debate the titular concept. Contributing authors engage this topic through a mixture of empirical case studies and theoretical analyses, and not all contributing authors accept the term ‘invented religion’ without question; therefore, this collection of essays extends, complicates, and problematizes the concept. The chapters of this book were originally published in Culture and Religion, volume 14, issue 4 (December 2013).
After an introduction from editors, the book can be split into three sections: outlining key terms and concepts for the analysis of ‘invented’ religions, extended case studies, and critiques of the value of the concept ‘invented religions’ and explorations of its limitations. Outlining chapters are authored by Carole Cusack, arguing for the benefit of studying ‘invented’ religions in exposing the role of play and narrative in the origin and formation of religions, and Markus Davidsen, arguing for the term ‘fiction-based religion’ rather than ‘invented’ or ‘hyper-real’ religion. Case studies are provided by Danielle Kirby, looking at five functions of fictional texts in ‘invented’ religions; Essi Mäkelä and Johanna Petsche, studying Discordianism as a ‘liquid religion’; Steven Sutcliffe, comparing the genealogies of Rosicrucianism, Wicca, and Findhorn; and Michael Stausberg and Anna Tessmann, studying Zoroastrianism in contemporary Russia. Critiquing chapters are authored by Paul-François Tremlett, arguing that the study of so-called ‘invented’ religions can be used re-draw the category of religion so that such religions reveal themselves as generating new forms of public assembly, and Teemu Taira, similarly challenging the term and arguing that such religions expose the interests and practical outcomes of certain phenomena being classified as ‘religions’.
This collection of essays provides insight into the scholarly debate on what constitutes ‘religion’, looking to the newest forms of what might be classed as religious. This book would be most beneficial for those interested in the possible boundaries of religious belief and practice. However, I would also recommend this book to laypersons interested in learning about the religious landscape beyond the so-called ‘world religions’ and what such a landscape might mean for being human.