The late 2018 publication of Donald Westbrook’s Among the Scientologists marks the culmination of a decade of increased scholarship on the Church of Scientology from a variety of scholarly perspectives. In conversation with the Religious Studies Project (RSP) panel on ‘New Directions in the Study of Scientology’ held at the British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR) in November 2018, this academic comment seeks to highlight some of the internal and external factors which work to make the study of Scientology a potential minefield for scholars of New Religions. In addition to this I offer four modest proposals for how those within the academy might work toward overcoming some of these challenges, in particular the polarization between different camps within the study of New Religions.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) is seen by many conservative Roman Catholics as a decisive turning-point in a wider history of a diabolically-inspired conspiracy against the Church. One facet of this has been a heightened interest in such circles in preternatural phenomena particularly demonic possession-especially as such phenomena locate the Roman Catholic Church as a central player in wider cosmic and salvific events. This article explores the growing interest in possession over the past half-century and how pre-conciliar Roman Catholic imagery and themes-both visual and theological-including traditional Marian devotion and piety; preternatural phenomena surrounding manifestations of evil; the theology of vicarious and atoning suffering; the vocational insecurity of the Catholic priest and the existence of a Satanic conspiracy of evil, have been utilised in Catholic horror films from the late 1960s through to the present and how an understanding of the historical and theological resonance of these themes amongst traditionalist Roman Catholics can elucidate aspects of the appeal these films have had amongst Roman Catholics in the post-Vatican II era.
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