New Sanctification Structure: A Case Study of an Issue of Yoga Journal

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Faculty Member, the University of Tehran

Abstract

New spiritualist sects, whose activities have come to the fore during the past five decades, have created an atmosphere for their followers that are not dissimilar with the sacred atmosphere of the traditional religions. The present paper is a case study of one issue of the journal of Yoga Knowledge, to analyze through comparative study the sanctification structure existing in it. The main question of the present paper is: what are the differences between this kind of sanctification structure and that of the traditional religions?  Relying on the Rudolf Otto's analysis of “the holy” and through analysis of the contents of the said journal, it is discernible that there is a kind of sanctification structure, i.e. the new sanctification structure which is similar to the traditional sanctification structure with four elements: concrete,  inexpressible and unique Nominus, sense of aura while encountering it, and fascination and mystery. However, at the same time the said elements in new sanctification have clear distinctions with traditional sanctification. These distinctions mainly underline the humanistic nature of new sanctifications (at least in some new religious movements).

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