Mastering the Devil: A Sociological Analysis of the Practice of a Catholic Exorcist

This study takes the documented growth in the ministry of exorcism within the Catholic Church as a significant challenge to some accounts of secularization. After clarifying how, according to Catholic doctrine, the devil can operate in people\u2019s lives, this study offers a sociological interpretation of exorcism. This interpretation is illustrated and tested by a sociological analysis of data collected, over a period of 10 years, by a well-established Catholic priest in Italy who himself was well trained and well grounded in philosophical analysis. This sociological case study offers fresh insights into the contemporary social significance of exorcism and provides challenges for future research. In the analysis of the data, it was discovered that only 5% of the initial consultations lead to a ritual of exorcism and that a rapprochement with rituals of deliverance is found for the large majority of the cases

Intellectuals of the Other in Religion: Fear and Fascination

The analysis of the role of intellectuals in social life has been widely studied and theorized. However, little application has been made on the involvement of the intellectual in the study of religions. This paper analyses the different types of intellectuals, e.g. Bauman's legislators and interpreters, and the role they take in researching and/or speaking for and/or against the other in religion

Not the New Age: Perennism and Spiritual Knowledges

People who would commonly be called New Agers refuse this appellation; they even disagree with any label. The aim of this article is to give a voice to these people by working on a common thread. This thread is found across 35 so-called New Agers and gives support to a heuristic concept which I call perennism and which I define as a syncretic and tolerant spirituality which interprets the world as Monistic and whose actors are attempting to develop their Human Potential Ethic by seeking Spiritual Knowledge, mainly that of the Self. While researching for this conceptualisation, it will also be argued that the 'New Age' phenomenon is an innovative form of esotericism, at least in its every day life practice, and is thus a new genre of spirituality

Alternative Spiritualities, New Religious Movements, and Jediism in Australia

Australia, it could be argued, has a low rate of occurrence of religious intergroup hostility, and can be seen to have a diverse composition of alternative forms of religion; New Age and Neo-Pagan networks, New Religious Movements; and a new type of religiosity, the hyper-real religion (e.g. Jediism). However, several legal battles have surrounded the case of, for example, the Church of Scientology, the Family, and Ananda Marga. Sentiments towards new forms of religions in the Australian media can be quite negative, and two recent Government reports, which dealt with the freedom of religious beliefs, suggest that more animosity exists towards new religions than one might expect. Given the long history of relative openness toward new religious groups in Australia, these relatively recent negative sentiments might create a sense of fear and anxiety towards them, which might become more amplified in the post September 11th period

Secrecy and Consumer Culture: An Exploration of Esotericism in Contemporary Western Society using the work of Simmel and Baudrillard

Esoteric knowledge seems no longer secret in Western contemporary society. It is part of consumer culture and 'secret wisdom' is no longer the privilege of an aristocracy of culture such as mystics or dervishes; it appears to be within every individual's reach. Exploring this issue with the works of Simmel and Baudrillard, this article will attempt firstly to understand the notion of secrecy, secondly to assess its place in consumer culture - or what Baudrillard would call hyperreality - and finally to evaluate its implication - that is that the proliferation of 'secret wisdom' might lead to a re-enchantment of Western society. However, the over-proliferation of this wisdom might have a totally reverse outcome in hyperreality. It could lead to a blasé attitude among some (over)consumers of secrecy and thus, paradoxically, towards a feeling of disenchantment

Diversity in Alternative Spiritualities: Keeping New Age at Bay

There is a tendency in everyday life and in certain fields of knowledge to generalise every new and alternative spirituality under the label of New Age. This article will argue that the term New Age is a misnomer and does not reflect the panorama of rather different spiritualities, including neo-paganism and what I call Aquarian perennism and presentist perennism. Their differences and their respective genealogies with late nineteenth century 'occult' revival groups will be presented. By introducing these diverse groups and their genealogies, this paper will underline the diversity of beliefs and practices found in the family of Alternative spiritualities

Down-Regulation of Honey Bee IRS Gene Biases Behavior toward Food Rich in Protein

Food choice and eating behavior affect health and longevity. Large-scale research efforts aim to understand the molecular and social/behavioral mechanisms of energy homeostasis, body weight, and food intake. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) could provide a model for these studies since individuals vary in food-related behavior and social factors can be controlled. Here, we examine a potential role of peripheral insulin receptor substrate (IRS) expression in honey bee foraging behavior. IRS is central to cellular nutrient sensing through transduction of insulin/insulin-like signals (IIS). By reducing peripheral IRS gene expression and IRS protein amount with the use of RNA interference (RNAi), we demonstrate that IRS influences foraging choice in two standard strains selected for different food-hoarding behavior. Compared with controls, IRS knockdowns bias their foraging effort toward protein (pollen) rather than toward carbohydrate (nectar) sources. Through control experiments, we establish that IRS does not influence the bees' sucrose sensory response, a modality that is generally associated with food-related behavior and specifically correlated with the foraging preference of honey bees. These results reveal a new affector pathway of honey bee social foraging, and suggest that IRS expressed in peripheral tissue can modulate an insect's foraging choice between protein and carbohydrate sources

Improved annotation of the insect vector of citrus greening disease: Biocuration by a diverse genomics community

The Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama) is the insect vector of the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), the pathogen associated with citrus Huanglongbing (HLB, citrus greening). HLB threatens citrus production worldwide. Suppression or reduction of the insect vector using chemical insecticides has been the primary method to inhibit the spread of citrus greening disease. Accurate structural and functional annotation of the Asian citrus psyllid genome, as well as a clear understanding of the interactions between the insect and CLas, are required for development of new molecular-based HLB control methods. A draft assembly of the D. citri genome has been generated and annotated with automated pipelines. However, knowledge transfer from well-curated reference genomes such as that of Drosophila melanogaster to newly sequenced ones is challenging due to the complexity and diversity of insect genomes. To identify and improve gene models as potential targets for pest control, we manually curated several gene families with a focus on genes that have key functional roles in D. citri biology and CLas interactions. This community effort produced 530 manually curated gene models across developmental, physiological, RNAi regulatory and immunity-related pathways. As previously shown in the pea aphid, RNAi machinery genes putatively involved in the microRNA pathway have been specifically duplicated. A comprehensive transcriptome enabled us to identify a number of gene families that are either missing or misassembled in the draft genome. In order to develop biocuration as a training experience, we included undergraduate and graduate students from multiple institutions, as well as experienced annotators from the insect genomics research community. The resulting gene set (OGS v1.0) combines both automatically predicted and manually curated gene models.Peer reviewedBiochemistry and Molecular BiologyEntomology and Plant Patholog