Acta Comparanda – Subsidia

ISSN 2684-2173

Consist mostly of the proceedings of the International conferences on New Religious Movements (NRM) held at the Faculty for the Study of Comparative Religions and Humanism  in Castle Ieperman, Wilrijk – Antwerp.

2015 Christian Science
2016 Jehovah’s Witnesses
2017 Scientology
2018 The Life and Legacy of Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Movements,
2019 Ahmadiyya

A special edition: “Les mouvements antisectes et la laïcité – Le cas de la FECRIS (2017)”

In 1994 an issue was printed entitled “Kierkegaard en het moderne denken in een Bevrijde Stad” (95 p.). Autors: Elsebeth Bank, Magda Beek, Safet Bektovic, Inigo Bocken, Jacques Caron, Jan Gysen, Levi Matuszczak, Aad J. van der Perk, Josephine Van Otten, Nicolaas van Vosselen, en Leslie Versweyveld.

In 2010 a publication (Subsidia I) edited by Rit Van den Bergh, Hubert Dethier & Sam Landuyt was printed on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of The Working Group Kierkegaard.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia I

wordt volledig gewijd aan Søren Kierkegaard. Rit Van den Bergh, Hubert Dethier en Sam Landuyt, zorgden voor betekenisvolle bijdragen. Naast de introductie handelen de  artikels respectievelijk over “Leopold Flams lectuur van Kierkegaard in de periode 1947-1964” en “Søren Kierkegaard: tijdelijkheid en eeuwigheid – wezenlijkheid en existentie / Eeuwigheid van Wezen binnen de Context van Existentie – Een wel heel bijzondere Ontmoeting met Søren Kierkegaard”.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia II

The Evolutions of Christian Science in scholarly perspective (April 23 – 25,  2015)

Papers by Régis Dericquebourg (CNRS), Shirley Paulson (Birmingham), Nawal Issaoui (Bordeaux), Robin Harragin (Claremont), Timothy Rider (Birkbeck) , Donald Westbrook (Claremont), Sally Lessiter (Oxford) , Massimo Introvigne (CESNUR) and the welcome speech by Vinai Kumar, former professor of the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) in Antwerp.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia III

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in scholarly perspective: What is new in the scientific study of the movement?  (21-22 April, 2016)

Introducing and Opening – Chris Vonck
Welcome – Henri Rosenberg
The Introduction programme – Régis Dericquebourg

Keynote speaker: George D. Chryssides (York, St John University, UK) The Truth is out there –And How Jehovah’s Witnesses Find it.

Session 1: Theology and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses

  • Miquel Angel Plazza Navas (CSIC, Spanish National Research Council, Barcelona) Music and Jehovah’s Witnesses: an historical approach to their hymnal and music practices.
  • Rolf J. Furuli (University of Oslo) The Mental Health of Jehovah’s witnesses.
  • Donald Raymond Jacobs (Independent Researcher) Unofficial Jehovah’s Witness Apologetics: The Rise and Fall of a Precarious Community.
  • Philippe Barbey (Paris 5 Descartes-Sorbonne) Jehovah’s Witnesses: Between Tradition and Modernity

Session 2: World perspective on the Jehovah’s Witnesses

  • Willy Fautré (Human Right without Frontiers Int.) A History of The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium.
  • Massimo Introvigne (Pontifical Salesian University, Turin, director of CESNUR) Jehovah’s Witnesses in Italy: A Story of Success and Controversies.
  • Gerhard Besier (Dir. Sigmund Neumann Inst. – Berlin,Dresden – prof. Stanford University Jehovah’s Witnesses in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – 1949-1989
  • Ringvee Richter (Institute of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church) From Controversial Bible Students to respected Bible Translators? Some reflections on the reception of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Baltic States.
  • Tim Richter (University of South Africa) International Bible Students and Jehovah‘s Witnesses in the Australian Press (1896-1941).
  • Laurie Larvent (Faculté libre de Lille) Opposition to the Jehovah’s Witnesses: the Laymen’s home Missionary Movement.
  • Mouna Alghosayn Zaiter (Unversité Bordeaux Montaigne) The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lebanon Today.
  • Bernard Blandre (Président-fondateur AEIRM, Sarreguemines). Russell, les adventistes et les premiers étudiants de la Bible.
  • Régis Dericquebourg (FVG & GSRL-CNRS Paris) The Rise of prophetism in an industrial society. Market rationality and the economy of charisma. A propos de Charles Taze Russell.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia IV

Scientology in a scholarly perspective (24-25th January 2014)

Welcome and introduction / Bienvenue et introduction
Régis Dericquebourg, Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, Chris Vonck

J. Gordon Melton, On doing research on Scientology. Prospects and pitfalls

Germana Carobene, The research of a juridical identity for Scientology, according to recent European case law. Considérations relatives au statut juridique de l’Eglise de Scientologie

Douglas E. Cowan, Clearly Material: Objects, Meaning, and the Ongoing Construction of New Religious Reality. Matériel: buts, signification et développement d’une nouvelle réalité religieuse

Régis Dericquebourg, Affinities between Scientology and Theosophy. Affinités entre la scientologie et la théosophie

Bernard Doherty, The Fertile Mind of Phillip Bennett Wearne, an Early Scientology Apostate. Phillip Bennett Wearne, l’homme à l’esprit fertile, un des premiers apostats

Massimo Introvigne, L. Ron Hubbard croyait-il au lavage de cerveau? L’étrange histoire du Manuel sur le lavage de cerveau rédigé en 1955

Aldo Natale Terrin, Scientology and Its Contiguity with Gnostic Religionand Eastern Religions. La scientologie: des affinités avec la religion gnostique et les religions orientales

Donald Westbrook, The L. Ron Hubbard landmark site in Bay Head, New Jersey as case study of Scientology’s intellectual history. Le site historique L. Ron Hubbard à Bay Head, dans le New Jersey. Témoignage de l’histoire intellectuelle de la Scientologie

Eric Roux, Postscript/Postface.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia V

Les mouvements antisectes et la laïcité Le cas de la FECRISAVANT-PROPOS

FECRIS

Regis Dericquebourg :Fédération Européenne des Centres de Recherche et d’Information sur le Sectarisme

FRANCE

Patricia Duval : Introduction. La FECRIS et ses associations membres en France

RUSSIE

Correspondant de Human Rights Without Frontiers en Russie : Introduction.La FECRIS et ses associations membres en Russie

AUTRICHE

Christian Brünner : Introduction.La FECRIS et son association membre en Autriche

ALLEMAGNE

Gerhard Besier : Introduction. La FECRIS et ses associations membres en Allemagne

SERBIE

Miroslav Jankovic : Introduction. La FECRIS et son association membre en Serbie

Conclusions et recommandations  –  Index des auteurs

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia VI

The Life and Legacy of Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Movements in Scholarly Perspective (May  29-30, 2017)

  • Chris Vonck – Welcome
  • Tony van Loon – Opening lecture
  • Dericquebourg – B. Rigal-Cellard – Words of the OERL
  • David G. Bromley – Unificationism as Prototypical New Religion

First part : Social scientists perspectives

  • Eileen Barker-The Unification Church: a Kaleidoscopic Introduction
  • Gerhard Besier – The Unification Church in Germany
  • Alexa Blonner – The New God of Unificationism: Precedents and Parallels
  • George Chryssides – The Welsh Connection: Pastor Joshua McCabe’s role in the Unification Church’s early history
  • Régis Dericquebourg – The prophetic Career of Sun Myung Moon in modernity. Alliance between Value rationality and Means-end rationality for the restoration of Paradise on Earth.
  • Willy Fautré – Abduction, sequestration and ‘deprogramming’ attempts of Unification Church Members in Japan.
  • Massimo Introvigne – The dynamics of the Schisms and the birth of the Family Peace Association.
  • Donald A. Westbrook – Post-charismatic outcomes of New Religions: Themes from Unificationism, Mormonism, and Scientology.

 

Second Part: U.C. theological analyses

  • Mark Bramwell – The Family Pledge and the Family Peace Association
  • Dan Fefferman – Unification Political Theology: Past, Present and Future.
  • Kim Jonsuk – The Split of the Unification Movement & the Process of Destruction of the Scriptures
  • Mickael L. Mickler – Gender Politics in the Post-Sun Myung Moon
  • Richard A. Panzer – The Sinless Only Begotten daughter vs the 3 Generations Kingship
  • Kerry Williams – « Only One God: The Debate on God as « Heavenly Father » vs. God as « Heavenly Parents » in the contemporary Unification Movement »
  • Andrew Wilson – Theological Developments in the FFWPU since the Death of Rev. Moon.

Acta Comparanda – Subsidia VII

Ahmadiyya in scholarly perspective (October 24 & 25, 2019)

  • Brahim Laytouss:  Welcome
  • Chris Vonck: My (Holy) search for a Qur’an in the 50ies.
  • Ken Avonts, Sumera Tariq and Fazeel S. Khan: Two Branches in Ahmadiyya.
  • Heiko Wenzel: Is Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat an intolerant version of Islam? A dialogue with Hiltrud Schröder’s book on the Jamaat.
  • Sumera Tariq: Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud  Ahmed’s political thought and Pakistan’s Making.
  • Muhammed Haron: South Africa’s Ahmadiyya Community: a religous minority with a double-identity.
  • Idrees Ahmed: The history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
  • Michael Birkel: Continuity and Change: Historical roots and contemporary expression of the ideas of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in the United States.
  • John H. Hanson: The Ahmadiyya in Ghana: Aspiritual Muslims in a Global community.
  • Iftikar Ayaz: History of the Ahmadiyya Community. A theological Perspective.
  • Ataul Wasih Tariq and Vasco Fronzoni: Blasphemy, Ahmadiyya theology and positive legislation in the Case of Morocco and Pakistan.
  • Fazeel S. Khan: An assessment of the claim of Prophethood attributed to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement.
  • Maria d’Arienzo: Sovereignty and power in Ahmadiyya.
  • Willy Fautré: The Ahmadis in the World, a Human Rights perspective.
  • Thierry Valle: The case of the Ahmadis refugees in Thailand and Malaysia.
  • Iftikhar Ayaz: Conclusion of the Conference