Countercult movement (KKD) , anti-cult movement ( English countercult movement ) - criticism and other types of opposition to religious associations, regarded as representatives of traditional religions of the world, considered as “ cults ” (or sects , new religious movements depending on accepted terminology) with theological or sociological point of view.
Content
History
Among groups professing traditional religions (mainly of various Christian faiths ), several groups have formed to oppose what is considered either as independent heretical teachings or as variants (cults) of their own religions that are contrary to dogma. These groups criticize the teachings, religious practices and activities of the NSD (sects, cults) from the standpoint of the doctrine of traditional religions of the world [1] . In academic studies in the West, the totality of such groups is usually called the countercult movement [2] ( eng. Countercult movement, CCM ). Doctor of Theology of the University of Vienna V. A. Martinovich uses the same term - “anti-cult” or “confessional school of sect studies” [3] - to describe professional or amateur groups of researchers who criticize NSD (in his terminology - “sects”) from the standpoint of the doctrine of traditional religions of the world, either from the point of view of any ideology.
The countercult movement is represented by theologians, mission centers and ordinary members of religious groups, defending the foundations of their creed and exposing the construction of the NSD (cults, sects) from the standpoint of their harmfulness to the spiritual development of man. The main goal of the representatives of this movement is to protect the followers of their religious organization from alien influences and to leave for other religious and political groups, in convincing their former members who joined the NSD to return.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
XX century
In the 20th century, especially since the 1940s, instead of the widespread “sect” and “heresy”, theologians began to widely use the terms “cult” and “cultism” in relation to religious groups that adhere to teachings and practices that are either completely unbiblical or deviating from traditional Christian [4] .
Gradually, a secular anti-cult movement was also gaining strength in the West, in which cults were criticized from the point of view of harming society and the individual, rather than traditional dogma. After several high-profile cases of suicides of cult members, as well as a series of lawsuits in the United States and other Western countries against non-traditional religious associations and their leaders, in the 1970s and 1980s, as a result of the efforts of the media and near-religious journalism, the term “cult” acquired an extremely negative connotation.
Since the 1990s, the debate over cult activities has declined somewhat. Most of them socially adapted and fit into modern society [5] [6] , filling niches unoccupied by traditional Churches [7] , and neutral terms such as “new religions” or “ new religious movements ” began to be used with increasing frequency.
Definitions
E. E. Egilsky, Ph.D., one of the authors of the textbook “Religious Studies” for universities, characterizes the countercult movement (KKD) as
a movement that has a clear confessional coloring. It is represented by Christian activists and organizations related mainly to various Protestant denominations. KKD is associated with conservative and fundamentalist Christian circles. The countercultists attack “cults” from the standpoint of Christian theology, arguing that the creeds of the criticized groups contradict the gospel [2] .
Doctor of Theology of the University of Vienna V. A. Martinovich :
The anti-cult (from the English counter-cult), or confessional school of sect studies, criticizes the teachings, religious practices and activities of the NSD from the standpoint of the creed of traditional religions of the world, or from the point of view of any ideology. The first course of the anti-cult school is represented by theologians, mission centers, defending the foundations of the doctrine of their Church and exposing the construction of sects from the standpoint of their harmfulness to the spiritual development of man. The second trend includes representatives of political parties who criticize sects for their inconsistency with the main provisions of their ideology. A classic example is the criticism of sects for their inconsistency with the ideals of scientific communism, carried out during the Soviet Union. Comparative critical textual analysis underlies the methodology of the countercult [3] .
Counterculture in Russia and abroad
Currently, the counterculture movement involves not only various Christian denominations, it also covers representatives of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and other traditional religions [3] . Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev , Fr. Seraphim Rose , Fr. Oleg Stenyaev , Archpriest Vladimir Fedorov, Archimandrite Rafail Karelin and others [3] . In some Russian religious educational institutions, there is a subject called " sectology ."
The most organized countercult movement is the Christian one, which is widespread in the West , especially in the USA , where there is a rather high degree of confrontation between those who hold different positions regarding “cults” [2] . The oldest of the American countercult organizations is the Christian Research Institute , founded in 1960 by Walter Martin . Another well-known counter-cult organization in the USA is the “ Project of Spiritual Fakes ” ”Has been operating since 1973. In Europe, the“ International Dialogue Center », Having its representative offices in Russia and a number of Asian countries. Countercult opposition is widely represented on the Internet. For example, in the US sector of the World Wide Web alone, there are about two hundred countercult sites. One of the most visited is the “Christian Ministry of Apologetics and Research” effective since 1995
See also
- Anti-cult movement
- Cult
- Destructive cult
- Sect
- Totalitarian sect
- New religious movement
- Opposition to cults
- Criticism of religion
Notes
- ↑ Barker, Eileen . Watching for Violence. A Comparative Analysis of the Roles of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups. - A paper presented at The 2001 International Conference "The Spiritual Supermarket: Religious Pluralism in the 21st Century", April 19-22, 2001. - P. 1-18.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Egilsky E. E. Countercult movement abroad and in Russia . The humanities and social sciences, No. 1, 2007. Date of treatment March 10, 2010. Archived April 17, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 V. Martinovich. On the issue of Orthodox sect studies in the modern world . Minsk Diocesan Vedomosti No. 3 (74), 2005. –P.55-59. Date of treatment March 10, 2010. Archived April 17, 2012.
- ↑ See for example:
- Irvine WC Heresies Exposed, ed. 1921, 1975 (Loizeaux Brothers).
- Ferguson CW Confusion of Tongues, ed. 1928 (Doran & Co).
- Mattes JC The Missionary Faces Isms, ed. 1937 (Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America).
- van Baalen JK The Chaos of Cults, Vol. 1938, 1944, 1960, 1962 (Eerdmans) ISBN 0-8028-3278-4 .
- Sanders JO Heresies Ancient and Modern, ed. 1948 (Marshall Morgan & Scott, London / Zondervan, Grand Rapids).
- Sanders JO Cults and Isms, ed. 1962, 1969, 1980 (Arrowsmith), ISBN 0-551-00458-4 .
- Martin WR The Rise of the Cults: An Introductory Guide to the Non-Christian Cults, ed. 1955 (Zondervan, Grand Rapids), 1977, 1980, 1983 (Vision House, Santa Ana) ISBN 0-88449-103-X
- Martin WR The Kingdom of the Cults, ed. 1965 (Zondervan, Grand Rapids), 1968, 1977, 1985, 1997, 2003 (Bethany Fellowship, Minneapolis) ISBN 0-7642-2821-8 .
- ↑ Balagushkin E. G. Non-traditional religions in modern Russia
- ↑ Kanterov I. Ya. Religious minorities as an object of serious study, not stigmatization
- ↑ Muravyov A.V. , Sitnikov M.N. Ph. D Dvorkin Alexander Leonidovich
Literature
- Abanes, Richard, Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family , Crossway Books, Wheaton, 1998.
- Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions , Harvest House, Eugene, 1999.
- Enroth, Ronald (ed)., A Guide to New Religious Movements , InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2005.
- Geisler, Norman L. and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask , Baker, Grand Rapids, 1997
- House, H. Wayne, Charts of Cults, Sects and Religious Movements , Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2000.
- LeBar, James J. Cults, Sects, and the New Age , Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, 1989.
- Martin, Walter R. The Kingdom of the Cults , edited by Ravi Zacharias, Bethany, Bloomington, 2003
- McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, Handbook of Today's Religions , Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1992
- Rhodes, Ron, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions , Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2001
- Sire, James W. Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible , InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1980.
- Sire, James W. The Universe Next Door 4th ed., InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 2004.
- Tucker, Ruth A. Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement , Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2004.
- Vatican Report on Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements , St. Paul Publications, Sydney, 1988.
History and Criticism
- Enroth RM, Melton JG Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails.— Elgin, Ill .: Brethren Press , 1985.
- Jenkins P. Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History.— New York: Oxford University Press , 2000.
- Johnson P. Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach // Sacred Tribes: Journal of Christian Missions to New Religious Movements, 2002.— Vol. 1.— N. 1.
- Melton, JG The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective // Challenging Religion: Essays in Honor of Eileen Barker / edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson. —London: Routledge , 2003.— pp. 102-113.
- Cowan DE Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult.— Westport, Connecticut & London: Praeger Publishers , 2003.
- Saliba JA Understanding New Religious Movements.— 2nd edition.— Walnut Creek, Lanham, New York & Oxford: Alta Mira Press, 2003.
- Filkina A.V. Ethical aspect in the research of new religious movements: a comparison of the experience of domestic and Western sociologists . // Vestnik TSPU, 2010. - Issue. 5 (95). Date of treatment March 20, 2013. Archived March 21, 2013.
Links
- Apologetics Index; The counter-cult movement
- Douglas E. Cowan: Christian Countercult Website Profiles
- Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry / Matt Slick
- CESNUR: Overview of Christian Countercult movement by Douglas E. Cowan
- Counter Cult Movement at Religious Tolerance
- Jeff Lindsay's discussion of cults from an LDS perspective
- Article: Anti- “Minority Religion” Groups with “Big Religion” Ties