Central European Journal for Contemporary Religion is a scholarly journal published both by the Hussite Theological Faculty of the Charles University and Karolinum Publishers, which aims to serve as a publication platform for Comparative Religion and related disciplines. It focuses mainly on contemporary religious phenomena with special (but not exclusive) focus on Central and Eastern Europe. It should serve both as a source of information on te religious life in the region and as a supply of scholarly studies focused on contemporary lived religion at large. It is published semi-annually both in print and online (free access). Its goal is to bring thought-provoking contributions related not only to current established religions and religious movements new and old, but also to contemporary spirituality in its wider context, including the New Age milieu, Neopaganism and pop-cultural spirituality. The journal also covers the latest theoretical and methodological trends in Comparative Religion, Ritual Studies and other disciplines. The editorial board consists of scholars from most Czech Comparative Religion departments, as well as experts on the most important religious traditions across the globe.
CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL FOR CONTEMPORARY RELIGION, Vol 2 No 2 (2018), 123–141
Yoga, Tantrism, and Persecution: MISA, a New Religious Movement in Social Conflict
Zdeněk Vojtíšek
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/25704893.2018.7
published online: 28. 11. 2018
abstract
Known since the 1990s as Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), Gregorian Bivolaru’s movement has a history of four decades of conflict with Romanian society, represented by the police and courts as well as the media, which have given a lot of attention to apostates and anti-cult activists. In the perspective of new religions studies, the conflict seems to be a typical case, albeit an exceptionally severe one. The article offers basic information about the MISA movement and its conflicts. It suggests an explanation of these conflicts in five possible misunderstandings, due to which the relationship between the new religious movement and the surrounding society becomes extremely complicated.
keywords: new religious movements; Gregorian Bivolaru; MISA (Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute); social conflict; Yoga; Tantrism
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Yoga, Tantrism, and Persecution: MISA, a New Religious Movement in Social Conflict is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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