World Religions and Spirituality Project

World Religions and Spirituality Project

Founder	David G. Bromley
Established	2010
Location	Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia , United States
Website	wrldrels.org

The World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP) is a nonprofit, online international scholarly consortium founded in 2010. WRSP functions primarily as a resource for scholars, but it is accessible to everyone. At the core of the project are detailed group profiles that report on key elements of religious and spiritual organization. These elements include information on group founders, histories, doctrines, rituals, leadership, organization, and development. A full range of religious and spiritual groups are included in WRSP, with particular attention to newly developing traditions that religion scholars frequently refer to as new religious movements (NRMs) or alternative religious movements. Scholars of record are invited by the project’s directors to author WRSP entries.

WRSP construes religion and spirituality broadly and therefore includes groups that identify as spiritual but not religious, as well as those that identify as neither religious or spiritual but are incorporated into the academic study of religion. There are thus humanist, agnostic, and atheist groups, as well as groups that have an element of humor and may thus be considered parody religions, such as Dudeism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. In addition, WRSP profiles other forms of organization with religious or spiritual implications, such as sacred sites, museums, theme parks, archives, non-institutionalized religious roles, and the anti-cult movement. The website also includes interviews with scholars of religion and other knowledgeable observers, as well as media resources, books and articles on relevant traditions and topics, and archives on newly emerging religious traditions.

Special Projects

WRSP includes thematic, regional, and local special projects that offer in-depth exploration of specific geographic or thematic areas of study. Each special project provides additional resources relevant to understanding the specific theme or region.

Thematic Special Projects

Marian Apparitional and Devotional Groups

• Project Director: Joseph Laycock (Texas State University) and Jill Krebs (McDaniel College)

This WRSP special project presents profiles of some of the many thousands of Marian apparitional movements as well as more general Marian devotional groups that have appeared around the world through history and continue to appear in the modern era. This includes the Order of Saint Charbel, the Lady of All Nations, the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes, the Necedah Shrine, the Orthodox Church of the Sovereign Mother of God (OCSMG), the Palmarian Catholic Church, Gianna Talone, Veronica Lueken, and Saut-d'Eau, as well as Our Lady of Aparecida, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Yankalilla.

Religious and Spiritual Movements and the Visual Arts

• Project Director: Massimo Introvigne (CESNUR)

This special project on the visual arts presents profiles on movements that have produced their own significant art or were significantly influenced the visual arts, as well as individual artists in whose career religious movements have played a key role. There are articles on Marina Abramovic, Margaret Ithell Colquhoun, Julius Evola, Zbigniew Makowski, Teofil Ociepka, Ciurlionis, Sallie Ann Glassman, Grand Master Hun Yuan, Oberto Airaudi, and Daesoon Jinrihoe, amongst others. The website also looks at the visual art culture of groups like Scientology, Christian Science, and the Federation of Damanhur.

Spiritual and Visionary Communities

• Project Director: Timothy Miller (University of Kansas)

This special project features historical and contemporary religious, spiritual, and visionary movements from all parts of the world that practice communal living. This includes groups such as the Branch Davidians, the Faithists, the Father Divine, The Family International, The Farm, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Holy Order of Mans, and Integral Yoga International, the Koinonia Farm, the Peoples Temple, Shiloh Youth Revival Centers, and The International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Women in the World’s Religions and Spirituality Project

• Project Directors: Rebecca Moore (San Diego State University) and Catherine Wessinger (Loyola University)

The focus of this special project is on women and religion, such as female leaders and goddesses, the Mormon feminist Ordain Women movement, the role of women in the Holiness movement, and other controversial issues concerning women in religions.

Regional Special Projects

Australian Religious and Spiritual Traditions

• Project Directors: Carole M. Cusack (University of Sydney) and Bernard Doherty (Charles Sturt University)

This special project documents the diversity of religious traditions in Australia through a set of profiles. The profiles are supplemented by academic articles on religion in Australia and governmental reports on religion. This includes articles on the Answers in Genesis (AiG), the Australian Christian Lobby, Hillsong Church, Jesus Christians, Kenja Communication, and The Family.

Canadian Religious and Spiritual Traditions

• Project Directors: Susan Palmer (McGill University) and Hillary Kael (Concordia University)

The Canadian Religious and Spiritual Traditions Special Project documents the diversity of religious traditions in Canada through a set of profiles of religious and spiritual groups that originated in Canada. This includes articles on the Army of Mary, the Cowboy Trail Church, Eckhart Tolle, Fadia Ibrahim, Kateri Tekakwitha’s shrine, Roch Theriault's Holy Moses Mountain Family, the New Latter Rain Movement, Olga Park, Toronto Blessing, and the United Church of Canada.

Japanese New Religions

• Project Directors: Ian Reader (University of Lancaster), Erica Baffelli (University of Lancaster), and Birgit Staemmler (University of Tubingen)

In this Special Project WRSP provide profiles of a number of new religions in Japan that, because of their size, histories, dynamics and activities, have been especially prominent in the Japanese context. A second focus is on other lay-centred religious groups that offer an alternative avenue of adherence and faith to the mainstream. This includes articles on Agon Shu, Aum Shinrikyo, Covert Shin Buddhists, Shinji Takahashi’s God Light Association, Hikari no Wa, reiki, Rissho Koseikai, Seicho no Ie, Shinnyo-en, Soka Gakkai, Tenrikyo, Tenshinseikyo, and Haruhisa Handa’s World Mate.

Religion and Spirituality in Russia and Eastern Europe

• Project Directors: Kaarina Aitamurto (University of Helsinki) and Maija Penttilä (University of Helsinki)

This project documents the diversity of religious traditions in Russia and Eastern. This includes articles on Applied Sciences Association, Astral Karate, the Maausk Movement, the Orthodox Church of the Sovereign Mother of God, and Rodnoverie.

Spiritual and Religious Traditions in Italy

• Project Directors: Stefania Palmisano (University of Turin) and Massimo Introvigne (CESNUR)

The special project on religion and spirituality in Italy features profiles of a number of new religions, religious movements and spiritual communities that, because of their size, histories, dynamics and activities, have been especially prominent in the Italian context. This includes articles on Comunità Odinista, the Cult of the Dead in Naples, Damanhur, La Missione, Nova Cana, Pensa e Vai, and the Red Tent Movement.

Local Special Projects

World Religions in Richmond

• Project Director: David G. Bromley (Virginia Commonwealth University)

This project chronicles the religious and spiritual diversity that exists in Richmond, Virginia.