Chmielewski, Wendy E.

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 Swarthmore CollegeWorksLibrary Staff Works 10-1-1998 Review Of "Women In New Religions: In Search Of Community, Sexuality, And Spiritual Power" By E. Puttick Wendy E. Chmielewski Swarthmore College Peace Collection, wchmiel1@swarthmore.edu Let us know how access to this work benefits you. Follow this and additional works at: http://works.swarthmore.edu/sta-libraries  Part of the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Wendy E. Chmielewski. (1998). "Review Of "Women In New Religions: In Search Of Community, Sexuality, And Spiritual Power" By E. Puttick". Nova Religio. Volume 2, Issue 1. 167-169. http://works.swarthmore.edu/sta-libraries/13 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Swarthmore College Libraries. It has been accepted for inclusion in Library Staff Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. Review: Women in New Religions: In Search of Community, Sexuality, and Spiritual PowerAuthor(s): Wendy E. ChmielewskiReview by: Wendy E. ChmielewskiSource: Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 2, No. 1(October 1998), pp. 167-169Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.1998.2.1.167Accessed: 24-06-2016 14:27 UTCYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available athttp://about.jstor.org/termsJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusteddigital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information aboutJSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toNova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent ReligionsThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:27:50 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms   167This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:27:50 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termswho sometimes behave like Asian Buddhists (ritually speaking, that is)”(p. 64).  To illustrate this diversification among adherents, Numrichprovides useful biographies of the head monks, leading Asian members,and select non-Asian converts (some of whom take special layordination).  The attempt to educate the children of Asian immigrantsin Buddhism and Asian cultures sometimes backfires;  young Asian-Americans have commented that “Thai kids are boring . . . They seemmore dependent on their parents . . . They all stay home until they’remarried” (p. 104).  Such comments indicate the cultural andgenerational stresses encountered in the process of Americanization.In general, Numrich’s study is more descriptive than analytical.  Itwould have been useful to include more discussion of how each centeradheres to or diverges from the practical realities of Buddhism in itshome country.  Also, while he suggests that Americanized Buddhismwill evolve into a distinct form, Numrich does not speculate on its contentor appearance.  Nonetheless, this book contains valuable material andmerits inclusion in libraries with collections on American and Asian-American religion.Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount UniversityBook  ReviewsWomen in New Religions:  In Search of Community, Sexuality, and SpiritualPower.  By Elizabeth Puttick.  St. Martins Press, 1997.  282 pages.  $18.95paper.Sociologist Elizabeth Puttick has written a fascinating account of therole of women and gender in new  religious movements (NRMs).  Puttickwas for five years a member of the Osho movement led by thecontroversial Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.  Guided by her own experiencesand by the Osho movement’s prominent place among post-war NRMs,she decided to focus on this group in her book.  The author alsoincorporates information and examples from other NRMs based onEastern traditions including Elan Vital, Tibetan Buddhist groups, Friendsof the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), and the International Societyfor Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).  In one chapter Puttick exploresvarious forms of Goddess Spirituality practiced by adherents of FeministWitchcraft, traditional Wicca, ecofeminism, and Native Americanspirituality.  In general, Puttick provides important backgroundinformation to help her readers sort out the various NRMs, their leaders,and movement histories.Puttick approaches her study of women’s role in the new religionsfrom the standpoint of a psychological investigation.  She explores thecomplexity of intra-group relationships and power dynamics, paths to168This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:27:50 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termsspirituality, work roles, and leadership.  While there are separate chapterson such topics as the master-disciple relationship, the abuse of power,sexuality and the spirit, and feminine spirituality, Puttick examines allthese issues throughout the book.  For example, in the chapter on femalespiritual leadership, Puttick weaves all these topics into explaining whyfew women have ever become leaders in NRMs.While we learn something about men’s lives in these various groups,Puttick is particularly adept at teasing out the ways women shape theirreligious communities and are themselves shaped by their experiencesin NRMs.  One of Puttick’s stated goals is to “throw some light on whywomen are drawn into these movements and what they get out of them”(p. 232).   Puttick presents us with a complicated answer that centers onspirituality, then radiates out to include respect of women’s potential asreligious beings and working members of their communities.  Anunderstated subtext in the book is the author’s attempt to explain whywomen (and in some instances men as well) join religious groups thatseem unfamiliar at best, or fanatical and sexist at worst to Westernaudiences.  By exploring the intricate picture of women’s place in NRMs,Puttick is successful in making these women’s choices seemcomprehensible, rational, and, in some cases, liberating.Perhaps a more appropriate title for this work would have been Genderin New Religions.  Except for a chapter on women spiritual leaders inNRMs, we learn little about the whole experience of individual women.The reader does not always learn the identity of NRM members whosewords are quoted in the text.  Rather than focus on individual women,Puttick instead examines the genderized meanings of power, spirituality,and work within NRMs.  She displays a feminist sensibility in exploringthese themes.  For example, Puttick spends a significant portion of thebook examining the master-disciple relationship.  She considers the manystrands of this complex issue, exploring how both women and men reactto this hierarchical and male-dominant relationship model.  She pointsout the potential for abuse within this traditional relationship, and howsome women have found themselves in vulnerable positions.However, it is also clear that women have frequently gained positionsof respect and status within some NRMs.  Over the last thirty years theroles women play in many groups have changed just as women’sexpectations in outside society have changed.  Surprisingly, we learnthat many women who join Eastern-based NRMs have been activelyinvolved in the women’s movement.  Puttick speculates that these womenhave taken their ideas of female strength and equality into their religiouscommunities.  Feminism is integral to the newer forms of Paganism,Wicca, and Goddess Spirituality.The least satisfying chapter of the book is the last one, titled “A NewModel of Spiritual Needs and Values.”  Puttick gives an overview of oldermodels that have typologized religion.  She chooses to describe in detailNova Religio   169Modern African Spirituality: The Independent Holy Spirit Churches in East Africa,1902-1976.  By Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen.  British Academic Press, 1996.$59.50 cloth.This book presents the reader with a detailed history of the emergenceof four independent “Holy Spirit” churches in East Africa.  Rasmussenhas done painstaking research in the field in order to produce thiscomprehensive history, and her text is so rich in raw data that it plungesthe reader into the joy and exhilaration as well as the pain and confusionof church members.  This feat of the author (to make the life-world ofchurch members come alive) does not detract from her scholarly taskto analyze, compare, and theorize on the phenomena in question.Rasmussen traces the beginnings and growth of the independentchurches from their roots in the Friends Africa Mission during the 1920sand provides a plausible explanation for the highly unlikely event of aPentecostal-type church arising from a Quaker Mission.  She furtherdescribes the early years of the Holy Spirit movement when it exhibitedmany millenarian characteristics and indicates how some beliefs and anumber of practices were modified over time.  The descriptions of beliefsand practices such as worship, prayer, purification, and initiation aredense and reflect the author’s thorough knowledge of her subject.  Thechurches’ establishment of organizational structures and achievementof official recognition also receives attention.Throughout the book, Rasmussen compares the practices of the HolySpirit churches with those of the Friends Mission and traditional religionsin order to show how these churches established their own traditionsbut did not escape the imprint of earlier influences.  One aspect ofRasmussen’s findings which I found surprising is the apparently slightinfluence which the traditional religions of the region exerted on theThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:27:50 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termsAbraham Maslow’s theories of human motivation, adapting them toNRMs and adding a gender component.  The chapter also includes abrief overview of spiritual trends in Western society and some speculationabout the future of religion.  Except for the section revamping Maslowthere is little here that might be called a “new model.”By placing an examination of gender and women’s roles at the centerof her study, Puttick has given us new insights into the complex dynamicsat work in NRMs.  This book thus not only uncovers multiple layers ofinformation about NRMs, it also provides a valuable framework withinwhich to examine women’s experiences in other religious settings.  It ishoped that this work will inspire more studies of women and gender inNRMs.Wendy E. Chmielewski, Swarthmore College Peace CollectionBook  Reviews

Review Of  Women In New Religions: In Search Of Community, Sexuality, And Spiritual Power  By E. Puttick

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Review Of Women In New Religions: In Search Of Community, Sexuality, And Spiritual Power By E. Puttick

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