From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War EraCertainly, religious strains were evident through postwar popular culture from the 1950s Beat generation into the 1960s drug counterculture, but the explosion of nontraditional religions during the early 1970s was unprecedented. This phenomenon took place in the United States (and at the edges of American-influenced Canadian society) among young people who had been committed to bringing about what they called "the revolution" but were converting to a wide variety of Eastern and Western mystical and spiritual movements. Stephen Kent maintains that the failure of political activism led former radicals to become involved with groups such as the Hare Krishnas, Scientology, Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the Jesus movement, and the Children of God. Drawing on scholarly literature, alternative press reportage, and personal narratives, Kent shows how numerous activists turned from psychedelia and political activism to guru worship and spiritual quest as a response to the failures of social protest and as a new means of achieving societal change. |
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From slogans to mantras: social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam War era
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictBooks on countercultural religion in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s are just now being published. Here, Kent (sociology, Univ. of Alberta, Canada) analyzes the religious movements that took ... Read full review
From slogans to mantras: social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam War era
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictBooks on countercultural religion in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s are just now being published. Here, Kent (sociology, Univ. of Alberta, Canada) analyzes the religious movements that took ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction Defining a Generation | 1 |
Religion Drugs and the Question of Political Engagement | 6 |
Political Frustration and Religious Conversions | 25 |
Radical Rhetoric and Eastern Religions | 44 |
Conversions to Syncretic and Western Religions | 94 |
Conclusion Mystical Antagonism and the Decline of Political Protest | 151 |
Reexamining the Scholarship on Protesters Religious Conversions | 191 |
| 203 | |
| 229 | |
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action activists activities alternative American appeared attempt became become began believed Berg Berkeley California called Children Church claimed concluded consciousness continued converts counterculture critical culture Davis decade demonstration direct discussion Divine drugs early Eastern efforts event example experience feel felt followers former Free Ginsberg goals going groups Guru Hare Krishna hope Hubbard interest interview involved issues Jesus joined Kent Krishna late later leaders Left letter liberation lives looking March means ment mind mission months move movement mystical organization participated Party peace period person political position Press programs protest radicals realized received religion religious rhetoric Scientology social society spiritual teachings things thought tion took Transcendental Meditation transformation turned Unification United University various Vietnam wanted Wolfe women York young youth
Bibliographic information
| Title | From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era Religion and Politics |
| Author | Stephen A. Kent |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Syracuse University Press, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0815629486, 9780815629481 |
| Length | 268 pages |
| Subjects | › History / Social History Religion / Cults Social Science / Popular Culture |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |