Female Leaders in New Religious Movements 1st Edition by Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen,Christian Giudice 3319615262 9783319615264

Chapter 1 Introduction: Female Leaders in New Religious Movements

Literature

Chapter 2 Women and NRMs: Location and Identity

Introduction

Background

Gender Differences and Alternative Spiritualities

Searching for Universal Spiritual Liberation

Feminine Responses to God: The Wicca Movement

The Pro-Ana/Mia Online Community

Feminist and Eco-Esoteric Spiritualities

African Matriarchal Movements

Womanist Spirituality in the West

Conclusion

References

Chapter 3 God’s Messenger: Ellen G. White

Introduction

Ellen White’s Leadership in Historical Context

Ellen White’s Early Years

Visionary, Public Speaker, Author, and Institution-Builder

Ordained by God: Navigating Gendered Leadership

Conclusion

Bibliography

Chapter 4 Elizabeth Clare Prophet: Gender, Sexuality, and the Divine Feminine

Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Early Spiritual Life and Influence of Mark Prophet

Titles, Offices, and Past-Life Beliefs

Taking and Exercising Power as a Female Leader

Major Theological Innovations

The Shelter Episode

Teachings on the Divine Feminine

Evaluation of Theological Innovations

Sexuality and Gender in CUT-TSL

Allegations of Sexual Impropriety

Ways to View Sexual Impropriety by a Spiritual Leader

Conclusion

References

Chapter 5 ‘Where There is True Love, Anything is Effortless’: Mata Amritanandamayi: Divine Mothe

Introduction

History and Hagiography

Charisma and Bhakti

Leadership, Power, and Controversy

Bhakti Practices Embodied and Disembodied—The Darshan Embrace, the Amma Doll, and Online Worship

Conclusion

References

Chapter 6 Mother and Father of Oneness: An Intersectional Reading of the Shared Leadership of Amma a

Introduction

A Hagiographical Sketch of Amma and Bhagavan: Marrying God Incarnate

Amma as a Woman and Guru: Power, Submission, Tradition and Progression

Shakti: Feminine Power in the Hindu Tradition

Female Gurus

The Shared Leadership of Amma and Bhagavan: Immanent, Transcendent and Integral Aspects of the Found

Purusa and Prakriti: Male and Female as Ontological Principles

Married Guru Couples

Gender and the Self in Oneness: Family Life and Renunciation, the Local and the Global

Conclusion

Bibliography

Chapter 7 ‘I, Jehovah’: Mary Ann de Grimston and The Process Church of the Final Judgment

Introduction

The Early Years: Scientology and Compulsions Analysis

Robert and Mary Ann de Grimston: An (Un)Easy Leadership

Nassau and Xtul: From Psychoanalysis to Religion

The Process Church Is Born: Charismatic Leadership and Institutionalization

The End of The Process Church and Its New Incarnations

Conclusion: The Leader of the Pack

References

Chapter 8 Olivia Robertson: Priestess of Isis

Introduction

Daughter of the “Big House”

Life in Dublin

Finding the Feminine Face of God

Creating the Fellowship of Isis

The Well of Inspiration

Re-Enchantment Through the Goddess

A Charismatic Leader

Finding a Successor

The Future of the Fellowship

Bibliography

Chapter 9 The Power of Writing in Deguchi Nao’s Ofudesaki

Introduction

A Note on Sources Used

The Epistemology of Surprise

Seeing Meaning in the World

Appealing to Men and Losing Adachi

Becoming a Man and Gaining Onisaburō

A Strange, Shamanistic, and Spiritual Metamorphosis

“A Great Battle of Male and Female”

Onisaburō as Miroku

Conclusion: Reading the Ofudesaki as a Religious Text

Bibliography

Chapter 10 Females’ Subversive Interventions in the Religious Field in Ethiopia

Introduction

Overview of the Religious Field in Ethiopia

Emergence of Female Religious Leaders

Abebech Wuletu’s as a Leader

Conclusion: Subversive Interventions

Conclusion

Bibliography

Chapter 11 Female Leadership in Mudzimu Unoera Sect of Guruve, Zimbabwe

Introduction

Mudzimu Unoera Sect: A Historical Overview

Research Methodology

Tritnoi: Anti-language and Anti-society

Understanding the Leadership Patterns in New Religious Movements

Anti-structure?: Female Leadership in Mudzimu Unoera Sect of Guruve in Zimbabwe

Trampling Human Rights or Liberating Souls Through Female Leadership?: Critical Reflections

Conclusion

References

Chapter 12 The Politics of the Goddess: Radical/Cultural Feminist Influences of Starhawk’s Feminis

Radical and Cultural Feminisms

Z. Budapest and Dianic Wicca

Starhawk’s Feminist Witchcraft and the Reclaiming Tradition

Radical and Cultural Feminist Influences on Starhawk’s Writings

Conclusion

References

Chapter 13 The Chalice and the Rainbow: Conflicts Between Women’s Spirituality and Transgender Rig

Introduction

The Dyadic Leadership Model of British Traditional Witchcraft

Female Leaders in Early US Wicca

Transgender Inclusion and Women’s Spaces: The PantheaCon 2011 Conflict

Gender-Fluid and Nonbinary Pagan Theology

Accusations of ‘Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminism’ in the 2010s