Thomas, A orcid.org/0000-0002-6959-0112 and Graham-Hyde, E (2023) The Return of the “Cult”. Implicit Religion, 24 (2). pp. 129-134. ISSN 1463-9955
Abstract
Recent years have seen an apparent “return” of normative religious and cultic language in political and media discourses, often adopted in pejorative and confrontational contexts. Arguably driven by contemporary political divisions and debates surrounding COVID-19 restrictions, terms including “cult,” “brainwashing,” and “groupthink” have reignited discourses surrounding so-called “cultic” behaviour and beliefs. We argue, however, that the “cult debate” has not returned, but rather transitioned into new and implicit conversations surrounding “good” and “bad” religion. In this special issue of Implicit Religion, we seek to avoid re-treading old ground concerning definitions of “cults,” and instead adopt a renewed approach to the academic study of normative cultic language—placing an emphasis on the ways in which these terms are used, negotiated, and understood in contemporary discourses.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2023. This is an author produced version of an article published in Implicit Religion, made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | New Religious Movements; cults; methodology; Trump; vaccines; minority religion |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Mar 2023 14:50 |
Last Modified: | 23 Feb 2025 01:13 |
Published Version: | https://journal.equinoxpub.com/IR/article/view/235... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Equinox Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1558/imre.23573 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:196779 |
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Filename: Return of the 'Cult'_ Introduction.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0