Jesper Aagaard Petersen

Controversial new religions

This book complements Lewiss Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. The former provides an overview of the state of the field. This volume collects papers on those specific New Religious Movements (NRMs) that have generated the most scholarly attention. With few exceptions, these organizations are also the controversial groups that have attracted the attention of the mass media, often because they have been involved in, or accused of, violent or anti-social activities. Among the movements to be profiled are such groups as the Branch Davidians, Heavens Gate, Aum Shinrikyo, Solar Temple, Scientology, Falun Gong and many more. The book will function as a reference for scholars, as a text for courses in NRMs, and will also appeal to non-specialists including reporters, law enforcement, public policy makers, and others.

Nordic Satanism and Satanism Scares: The Dark Side of the Secular Welfare State

The authors examine the interaction between the practice of Satanism and widespread public concern over Satanism in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The authors analyse the unique features of Satanism and Satanism scares in the social and cultural context of Nordic “folk church” Lutheranism and the Nordic welfare state. They also discuss how and why in certain periods the fear of Satanism became one of the most visible public issues in the region, and what factors contributed to the decline of public interest in Satanism. Les auteurs examinent l’interaction entre la pratique du satanisme et la large préoccupation publique vis-à-vis du satanisme dans les pays nordiques du Danemark, de la Finlande, de la Norvège et de la Suède. Les auteurs analysent les caractéristiques uniques du satanisme et des peurs du satanisme dans le contexte social et culturel du luthéranisme nordique comme “Église populaire” et de l’État Providence nordique. Ils discutent également les façons et les raisons suivant lesquelles la peur du satanisme est devenue l’un des problèmes publics les plus marquants de certaines périodes dans la région et les facteurs qui ont contribué au déclin de l’intérêt public vis-à-vis du satanisme.

Satanism in Denmark

The phenomenon of Satanism in Denmark should be understood in relation to the basic dichotomy between a ubiquitous Christian mythology of subversive evil and spiritual warfare on one hand and the discourse and practices of self-designated Satanists on the other. For this reason, when discussing contem porary Satanism it should be made clear from the outset whether one is referring to Christian voices and their claims about others, voices within the “satanic milieu” talking about themselves, or reproductions and appropriations of these voices by the media and popular culture (Petersen 2009, 2012). All influence, relate to, and gradually shade into each other; nevertheless, they should be kept analytically separate. In addition, these types should be related to global trends in order to fully appreciate the impact on Danish cases.

Cult of Carnality: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Contemporary Satanism

Sex and Satan seem utterly entwined in contemporary culture. Mainstream movies like The Witches of Eastwick (1987), The Devil’s Advocate (1997), and Bedazzled (2000 remake) all depict an intimate link between a sexually charged Prince(ss) of Darkness, carnal prowess, and willing worshippers. Earlier on, some of the most famous 1970s porn films, such as The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), perpetuated the same notion, as did the short-lived men’s magazine Satan (1957).1 The sexy devil and randy witch are perennial favorites at Halloween parties, confirming some unsaid sexual charge of the diabolic. Satanic popular music has also returned to the occult carnality so prevalent in late-1960s rock music after a period of more ascetic violence and blasphemy typified by church-burning Scandinavian black metal activists. Hence the sexuality of The Rolling Stones is not that far from the sexualized representations offered by Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir, extreme expressions notwithstanding.2

Religion and popular music in Europe: New expressions of sacred and secular identity

collection as a whole is highly cohesive, and skilfully structures a broad interdisciplinary and cross-period narrative around a logical and focused selection of thoughtful and well-written case studies. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of articles, and consider that Sacred text – Sacred space is likely to appeal to scholars from various disciplines with an interest in sacred space, or indeed to those studying the sacred in general.

The Charge of the Armchair Crusader

Modern Satanism is far more than the “subculture” examined by Chris Mathews in his recent book, and critical scholarship is much better if divested of confirmation bias, cherry-picking, and ideological crusading. In the latter part of the article, I sketch three angles of importance when analyzing fragmented occultural milieus: how the research object is delimited; how accessible material is read and understood; and how this is substantiated through ethnographic research. Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture, by Chris Mathews. Praeger Publishers, 2009. 246pp., hb.,

The Devil’s Party : Satanism in Modernity

49.95. ISBN-13: 9780313366390.