Contents

pp v-vi

List of figures

pp vii-vii

Notes on contributors

pp viii-x

Acknowledgments

pp xi-xii

Introduction

pp 1-8

PART I - THEORETICAL OVERVIEW

pp 9-10

1 - Understanding schisms: theoretical explanations for their origins

pp 11-34

PART II - SURVEY OF SCHISMS IN SELECTED TRADITIONS

pp 35-36

2 - Charismatic authority in Islam: an analysis of the cause of schisms in the ummah

pp 37-60

3 - Schisms in Buddhism

pp 61-82

4 - Schisms in Japanese new religious movements

pp 83-106

PART III - CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

pp 107-108

5 - Finishing the Mystery: the Watch Tower and “the 1917 schism”

pp 109-128

6 - Challenges to charismatic authority in the Unificationist Movement

pp 129-146

7 - Persecution and schismogenesis: how a penitential crisis over mass apostasy facilitated the triumph of Catholic Christianity in the Roman Empire

pp 147-168

PART IV - WESTERN ESOTERIC TRADITIONS

pp 169-170

8 - Church Universal and Triumphant: shelter, succession and schism

pp 171-195

9 - Schism and consolidation: the case of the theosophical movement

pp 196-217

10 - Satanists and nuts: the role of schisms in modern Satanism

pp 218-247

11 - Schism as midwife: how conflict aided the birth of a contemporary Pagan community

pp 248-262

PART V - NON-WESTERN/POSTCOLONIAL TRADITIONS

pp 263-264

12 - Succession, religious switching, and schism in the Hare Krishna movement

pp 265-286

13 - Schisms within Hindu guru groups: the Transcendental Meditation movement in North America

pp 287-305

14 - Schism in Babylon: colonialism, Afro-Christianity and Rastafari

pp 306-331

Index

pp 332-338