Overview

Just as we speak of ""dead"" languages, we say that religions ""die out."" Yet sometimes, people try to revive them, today more than ever. New Antiquities addresses this phenomenon through critical examination of how individuals and groups appeal to, reconceptualize, and reinvent the religious world of the ancient Mediterranean as they attempt to legitimize developments in contemporary religious culture and associated activity. Drawing from the disciplines of religious studies, archaeology, history, philology, and anthropology, New Antiquities explores a diversity of cultic and geographic milieus, ranging from Goddess Spirituality to Neo-Gnosticism, from rural Oregon to the former Yugoslavia. As a survey of the reception of ancient religious works, figures, and ideas in later twentieth-century and contemporary alternative religious practice, New Antiquities will interest classicists, Egyptologists, and historians of religion of many stripes, particularly those focused on modern Theosophy, Gnosticism, Neopaganism, New Religious Movements, Magick, and Occulture. The book is written in a lively and engaging style that will appeal to professional scholars and advanced undergraduates as well as lay scholars.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dylan M. Burns ,  Almut-Barbara Renger
Publisher:   Equinox Publishing Ltd
Imprint:   Equinox Publishing Ltd
ISBN:  

9781781795040

ISBN 10:   1781795045
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   20 March 2018
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

"1. Introduction: What are New Antiquities? Dylan M. Burns and Almut-Barbara Renger 2. `From Aphrodite to Kuan Yin'- `The Tao of Venus' and its Modern Genealogy: Invoking Ancient Goddesses in Cos(met)ic Acupuncture Almut-Barbara Renger 3. Ancient Goddesses for Modern Times or New Goddesses from Ancient Times? Meret Fehlmann, University of Zurich 4. The Artifice of Daidalos: Modern Minoica as Religious Focus in Contemporary Paganism Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne 5. Transforming Deities: Modern Pagan Projects of Revival and Reinvention Kathryn Rountree, Massey University, Auckland 6. Archaeology, Historicity, and Homosexuality in the New Cultus of Antinous: Perceptions of the Past in a Contemporary Pagan Religion Ethan Doyle White, University College London (doctoral student) 7. Reading History with the Essenes of Elmira Anne Kreps, University of Oregon 8. The Jungian Gnosticism of the Ecclesia Gnostica Olav Hammer, University of Southern Denmark 9. The Impact of Scholarship on Contemporary ""Gnosticism(s)"": A Case Study on the Apostolic Johannite Church and Jeremy Puma Matthew Dillon, Rice University (doctoral student) 10. Studying the ""Gnostic Bible"": Samael Aun Weor and the Pistis Sophia Franz Winter, Vienna University 11. Binding Images: The Contemporary Use and Efficacy of Late Antique Ritual Sigils, Spirit-Beings and Design Elements Jay Johnston, University of Sydney 12. (Neo-)Bogomil Legends: The Gnosticizing Bogomils of the Twentieth-Century Balkans Dylan M. Burns and Nemanja Radulovic, University of Belgrade"

Reviews

A set of successful and engaging contributions. There are two main approaches visible to the appropriation and use of antiquities: while some scholars feel the need to expose archaeological fantasies as inaccurate ... others explicitly abstain from such historical evaluation since all religions change over time . Having both approaches included in one volume is a major strength, not least because it raises important questions regarding the status of historical research and academic historical knowledge in the discipline called history of religions. Numen

This lively and informative collection of essays offers readers instructive examples to explain the continuing appeal of ancient religious traditions, but only when transformed to align with modern sensibilities. The collection does more than this, however: it presents a compelling case for understanding all modern forms of spirituality as new antiquities, and this includes the many varieties of contemporary Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on. --Coudert, Allison P., University of California at Davis

Author Information

Almut-Barbara Renger is Professor of Ancient Religion and Culture and their Reception History at the Institute for the Scientific Study of Religion at Freie Universitat Berlin. Dylan M. Burns is a research associate at the Egyptological Seminar of Freie Universitat Berlin.

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