The Gnostic L. Ron Hubbard: Was He Influenced by Aleister Crowley?
Scientology was defined by its founder himself, L. Ron Hubbard, as a “Gnostic religion.” In 1969, however, a Trotskyist Australian journalist and an opponent of Scientology, Alex Mitchell, disclosed in a Sunday Timesarticle that Hubbard had been involved,in 1945-46, in the a...
| Published in: | The journal of CESNUR |
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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: |
[2019]
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| In: |
The journal of CESNUR
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Crowley, Aleister 1875-1947
/ Parsons, Jack 1914-1952
/ Ordo Templi Orientis
/ Hubbard, L. Ron 1911-1986
/ Magic
/ Esotericism
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| RelBib Classification: | AZ New religious movements BF Gnosticism |
| Further subjects: | B
L. Ron Hubbard
B Scientology B O.T.O B Agapé Lodge B Babalon Working B Aleister Crowley B Jack Parsons |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Scientology was defined by its founder himself, L. Ron Hubbard, as a “Gnostic religion.” In 1969, however, a Trotskyist Australian journalist and an opponent of Scientology, Alex Mitchell, disclosed in a Sunday Timesarticle that Hubbard had been involved,in 1945-46, in the activities of California’s Agapé Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis, an occult organization led by British magus Aleister Crowley. The article generated a cottage industry of exposés criticizing Hubbard as having been a member of a “black magic” organization. Some scholars also believe Hubbard to have been influenced by Crowley in his subsequent writings about Dianetics and Scientology. While conflicting narratives exist about why exactly Hubbard participated in the activities of the Agapé Lodge and his leader, the rocket scientist Jack Parsons, the article argues that Hubbard researched magic well before 1945, came to conclusions about the role of magic in Western culture that are largely shared by 21stcentury scholars, and created with Scientology a system that is inherently religious rather than magic. |
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| ISSN: | 2532-2990 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of CESNUR
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.26338/tjoc.2019.3.3.3 |