Hard Work: Locating Gurdjieff in the Study of Religion/s
What kind of data do Gurdjieff and the Work' provide the student of religion', and how is this material best approached within the disciplinary field of the study of religion/s? This article is an exercise in general orientation to the Gurdjieff movement' from the perspective of th...
| Published in: | Journal for the academic study of religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publ.
[2014]
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| In: |
Journal for the academic study of religion
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| Further subjects: | B
G.I. Gurdjieff
B New Religious Movements B Theory B s / study of religion B Cultural History |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | What kind of data do Gurdjieff and the Work' provide the student of religion', and how is this material best approached within the disciplinary field of the study of religion/s? This article is an exercise in general orientation to the Gurdjieff movement' from the perspective of the comparative study of religion/s. It briefly reviews existing secondary sources on Gurdjieff and selected associates and descendants in order to identify lacunae in scholarly conceptualisations, before moving on to discuss how best to locate the Work academically in the modern history of culture and religion. The merits and pitfalls of three different academic approaches to representing the Gurdjieff phenomenon will be considered: (i) as a sui generis Gurdjieff Studies'; (ii) as a study of a new religious movement'; (iii) as data for modern social and cultural history. Despite the respective attractions of (i) and (ii), I argue for the (deferred) benefits of (iii). |
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| ISSN: | 2047-7058 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jasr.v27i3.26500 |