George Chryssides and Fieldwork in New Religious Movements

Christians tend to develop their understanding of other religions, especially new religious movements or "cults," by way of comparison of sacred texts with concerns for orthodoxy and heresy. But other approaches to study add new facets of understanding such as fieldwork can also be helpful. In this podcast George Chryssides discusses his new book Fieldwork in New Religious Movements. In this conversation we discuss not only the academic use of fieldwork, but what "lay fieldwork" might look like as well. From the publisher's website:

"New religious movements are often described as bizarre and sinister. Direct acquaintance, however, often gives a different impression from media portrayals and even from some academic writing. After decades of undertaking fieldwork, the author George Chryssides discusses his experiences, as well as studies by other scholars, and the issues that fieldwork involves. How do one's personal beliefs and lifestyle impinge on field research? How involved should a participant–observer become? How should we assess what we are told by insiders and ex-members? What ethical problems does field research create? How should we engage in online fieldwork, arising from the increasing use of the Internet, accelerated by the Covid pandemic? These are among the issues which this Element explores, and which will be of interest both to field researchers and to those who read about the fieldwork of others."

George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow at York St John University, UK, and was formerly Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His website can be found at http://www.religion21.com/.

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