Новите религиозни движения и работата на фолклориста
New Religious Movements and the Folklorist’s Work

Summary/Abstract: The article by Alexander Panchenko deals with the questions of emergence of new religious movements in contemporary Russia and the study of contemporary urban folklore. Although sociological approach to the study of new religious movements proceeds usually from the theories of secularization, the author claims that the appearance of these movements should be viewed also in various contexts of national and historical peculiarities of different cultures. Proceeding from the study of religious practices and personal narratives by the followers of “The Last Testament Church” (also known as “the movement of Vissarionovtsy”), the author argues that indigenous Russian new religious movements appear to be typical “crisis cults” comparable to so-called “cargo-cults” and other messianic and prophetic movements of this kind.

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