Why the New Religions?

An online conversation hosted by the Transformative Studies Ph.D. program.

Sociologist of religion, Constance A. Jones, Ph.D., Professor in the Transformative Inquiry Department will discuss the nature of new religious belief systems and formats in the 21st century. Counter to the significant rise of secularization (absence of religion) in our time, many new religious movements are appearing throughout the world. What are the causes of these movements? Why do these movements include diverse, even, contradictory, beliefs and practices--from fundamentalism to cultic practice? Why is religion often distinguished from spirituality?

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Host Biography

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Constance A. Jones, Ph.D. is a sociologist of religion who joined CIIS in 1994, having taught at several colleges and theology schools. Beginning with her doctoral dissertation on the caste system in India, she has pursued a long interest in the cultures and religions of the East, including the adoption of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and practices in the West. She researches spiritual teachers as well as the evolution of new religious movements around the world.

Throughout her career in higher education, she has helped establish women’s studies departments and curricula in several colleges and has published research on women’s status in India and feminist methods.

She has been a member of a multidisciplinary team of scholars that investigates new religious movements around the world and has published articles on movements that are based on Eastern religious belief and practice.

At present, Constance has a book, Krishnamurti: Self-Inquiry, Awakening, and Transformation, in press with Cambridge University Press. In this volume she outlines the life and teaching of the enigmatic 20th century philosopher and teacher J. Krishnamurti.

She serves in scholarly positions with the Gurdjieff Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man (2017- present) Tbilisi, GEORGIA and the Publications Committee of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America (2018-present), Ojai, CA.

Related Academic Program
Doctor of Philosophy in Transformative Studies