“In this book, we have named the phenomena neoreligion and reactivation. Neoreligion does not mean a change inside institutionalised religion, it does not correspond to some kind of dogmatic creative crisis, which would bring established religious groups to claim to create something new while only dusting out ancient components of their religion. It is not to confuse, either, with some kind of religious nostalgia, a desire to return to the origins or foundations of a religion. Such a dynamic can be observed with the born-again phenomena – obvious in the spheres of monotheistic religions – that is individual religious revivalism of people who are often searching for a supposedly original orthodoxy.
Neoreligion, on the contrary, is the phenomenon where, outside existing religions, new religions are created, but not from nothing: they are reactivated in a new form. They take their roots – or at least claim to do so – in traditional or ancient beliefs and adopt some of the imagined traditional behaviours. The movement, therefore, is one of transformation, since it is a takeover of the old. But this change does not simply follow the logic of the old: there is also a dimension of novelty, of creation.
This volume is dedicated to studying these phenomena: describing and analysing their various appearances, uncovering their logic and dynamics, shedding light on the motivations of followers, and discussing their consequences.”
ABOUT AUTHORS:
Samim Akgönül (PhD 2001), Historian and Political scientist, Professor of Turkish studies, is the Director of the Department of Turkish Studies of the University of Strasbourg and co-coordinator of “Religions and Pluralism” research team of French National Center for Scientific Research (DRES). He also co-leads the research team working on “Analysis of contemporary issues in European societies: inequalities, mobility, risks” of the Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute “Making European Society”. His research focuses mainly on the political history of Turkey and minorities, especially non-Muslim minorities in Turkey, Muslim minorities in the Balkans and the “new minorities” related to Turkey in Western Europe. His most recent books are 100 Years of Greek-Turkish Relations: The Human Dimension of an Ongoing Conflict, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2023; La Modernité turque : adaptations et constructions dans le processus de modernisation ottoman et turc (ed.), Istanbul, ISIS, 2022; La Turquie « nouvelle » et les Franco-Turcs : une interdépendance complexe, Paris, L’Harmatan, 2020.
Kerem Görkem. Arslan, holder of a master’s degree in social and cultural anthropology, is a doctoral student affiliated with Droit, Religion, Entreprise et Société laboratory (DRES UMR 7354, jointly supervised by CNRS & University of Strasbourg) under the supervision of Professor Samim Akgönül. His thesis focuses on the development of heterodox religiosities in contemporary Turkey. His areas of research are new religious movements, anthropology and philosophy of myths, anthropology of religion, neopagan identification and marginalization.
Elif Dastarlı is an associate professor of art history and art critic specialised in the Turkish modern and contemporary art. Dastarlı worked as a lecturer at Işık University, Sakarya University, Sakarya Applied Sciences University, and Marmara University. Her academic pursuits led her to temporarily reside in Lisbon and Strasbourg. Dastarlı is the author of Yan Kapıdan Girenler: Modern Türk Resminin Analizi (Hayalperest, 2021) and the co-author of Feminist Art in Resistance: Aesthetics, Methods and Politics of Art in Turkey (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023). Some of her book chapters were published in the following books: A Companion to Modern Turkey’s Centennial (Edinburgh University Press, 2023); La Modernite Turc – Adaptations et Constructions dans le Processus de Modernisation Ottoman et Turc (ISIS, 2021); Nevhiz, Drawing, Diary (Corpus, 2018); Türk Mimarisinde İz Bırakanlar (Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, 2015); Antik Çağ’dan XXI Yüzyıla Büyük İstanbul Tarihi (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Culture Corp., 2015).
Stéphane François, professor of political science at the University of Mons, member of the Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités (EPHE/CNRS/PSL). Research interests: extreme right; countercultures; radical ecology; neopaganism/marginal spiritualities. Latest publication: Une avant-garde d’extrême droite. Contre-culture, conservatisme radical et tentations modernistes, Lyon, Éditions de la Lanterne, 2022.
Martin Greve is a German ethnomusicologist based in Istanbul and Beirut. His doctoral thesis deals with the history of Turkish Art Music in the 20th century. His habilitation thesis is a study of Turkish music in Germany. From May 2011 – September 2018, Martin Greve was a research associate at the Orient-Institut Istanbul responsible for the research field Music in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. From 2020 until 2023, he was directing the DFG-funded research project entitled Music, Migration and Musical Expression at the Orient-Institut Istanbul. His latest book is Dersim’in Yeni Soundunun Oluşumu. Anlatılamazı İfade Etmek co-authored in 2019 with Özay Şahin (Tarih Yurt Vakfı Yayınları).
Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religions, is managing director of CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, and the author of some seventy books, including Inside the Church of Almighty God (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020).
Damien Karbovnik, ARCHE Laboratory (University of Strasbourg), works on contemporary esotericism, new religious movements and personal development. Latest publication L’échec d’une “religion” New Age : l’exemple des Ateliers Planète », Revue d’Histoire des Religions, 2021/3, Tome 238, p. 515-545.
Adrien Nonjon is a doctoral student at the Europe-Eurasia Research Center (CREE) at Paris National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations (INALCO). He holds a master’s degree in geopolitics and political science. Specialising in political and cultural history of contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, he focuses on right-wing movements and ideologies. Associate researcher in the “Illiberalism” and “Transnational History of the Far Right” research programs of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University from 2019 to 2021, he published in 2023 a monograph on the Azov regiment and the Ukrainian far right at Cerf editions.
İlkay Canan Okkalı is an art historian. She is currently employed as Faculty Member and Vice Dean at Trabzon University Faculty of Fine Arts and Design. In 2022 she became Associate Professor in the fields of Western Art and Contemporary Art. Okkalı edited the essay collection The Future Belongs to the Youth (TAÇ Foundation, 2008) under the sponsorship of UNESCO. She is a chapter author in the books, A Century-old Turkish Palace in Vienna from the Ottomans to the Present (Denizbank, 2016), Women of Art in the Shadows (Ayrıntı, 2018), The Changing World of Women (Kronik, 2021), Essays on Art History: A Gift for Necdet Sakaoğlu (Kriter, 2022), Tools for the Craftsman (Kanca, 2022). She is the author of Füreya Koral. (Ketebe, 2022). Okkalı’s articles on art practices of women and Turkish painting have been published in national and international academic journals. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) Turkey.
Ringo Ringvee is an adviser at the religious affairs department at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior. He is also member of the Advisory Committee on Human Rights of the Chancellor of Justice. He completed his PhD at University of Tartu on the state-religions relations. His research interests lie in religious minorities, roles of religious actors in the society, and legislation on religions, i.e., religious freedom issues.
His publications include “Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Baltic States – A Historical Overview“ In G. Besier, K. Stokłosa (eds.) Jehovah’s Witnesses in Europe: Past and Present III. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021; “Secular Society, Secular State: Egalitarian Legislation on Religion?“ In R. Altnurme (ed.) Old Religion, New Spirituality. Implications of Secularisation and Individualisation in Estonia, Brill, 2021; “What do the censuses tell about minority religions? Some reflections on Estonia“ in: George D. Chryssides (Ed.). Minority Religions in Europe and the Middle East. Mapping and Monitoring. Routledge, 2019.
Anne-Laure Zwilling is an established researcher of the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) at the joint research unit Droit, Religion, Entreprise, Société of the University of Strasbourg, where she is the director of several international research projects. She holds a PhD in religious sciences and a habilitation in religious anthropology. Her fields of interest are religious minorities in France and Europe, and religious founding texts. Her recent publications include Religion and Prison: State Governance and Social Issues. A European Comparative Overview, Springer, 2020 (ed., with Julia Martinez-Ariño); Non-religion in contemporary societies. Institutional and legal perspectives, Springer 2022 (ed., with Helge Årsheim); Contemporary Challenges to the Regulation of Religions in Europe, Porto: U. Porto Press, 2023 (ed., with Helena Vilaça and Maria João Oliveira).
CREDITS: Cover design by Nihal Yazgan; Cover Photo by Kerem Görkem Arslan.
