CHANGING BELIEFS AND SCHISMS IN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS

 

INFORM Seminar XLIX

Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building,
London School of Economics, Saturday 1 December 2012
https://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/howToGetToLSE.htm

To register: WE ARE NOW TAKING PAYPAL BOOKINGS: www.inform.ac/seminar-payment
Or post a booking form (attached) and a cheque payable to ‘Inform’ to Inform, Houghton St., London WC2A 2AE.
(Inform@lse.ac.uk; 020 7955 7677).

Tickets (including buffet lunch, coffee and tea) paid by 12 November 2012 cost  £38 each (£18 students/unwaged).
NB. Tickets booked after 12 November 2012 will cost £48 each (£28 students/unwaged).
A limited number of seats will be made available to A-Level students at £10 before 12 November 2012 (£20 after 12 November). A party of 5 or more A-Level students from one school can include one member of staff at the same price.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

The presence of speakers on an Inform programme does not mean that Inform endorses their position. 

The aim of Inform Seminars is to help participants to understand, or at least recognise, different perspectives.
For Inform’s codes of practice see www.Inform.ac

9.30-9.50    Registration and coffee

9.50-10.00  Welcome and Introduction

10.00-10.25 Eileen Barker (Professor Emeritus, LSE; Chair & Honorary Director, Inform)

“Re-vision and Division in New Religions: Some Introductory Remarks”

10.25-10.50 Claire Borowik (Co-Director of the Worldwide Religious News Service, and member of The Family International)

“The Family International: Rebooting for the Future”

10.50-11.15 J. Gordon Melton (Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Baylor University)

“When Science Intervenes—Revising Claims in the New Age”

11.15-11.45 Coffee

11.45-12.10 Susan Palmer (Lecturer in Religious Studies, Dawson College / Concordia University)

“Dr. Malach Z. York’s Spiritual Divagations”

12.10-12.35 Masoud Banisadr (PhD in chemical engineering and engineering mathematics, and former member of MEK)

“The Metamorphism of MEK (Mujahedin e Khalgh) and its Schism”

12.35-13.00 Mike Mickler (Professor of Church History, Unification Theological Seminary) 

“The Post-Sun Myung Moon Unification Church”

13.00-14.00 Lunch

14.00-14.25 James Tong (Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles)

“The Re-Invented Wheel: Revisioning and Diversification in the Falun Gong, 1992-2012”

14.25-14.50 David V. Barrett, PhD (Freelance Writer)
                    “The Fragmentation of a Sect: Revisioning Beliefs and Schisms in the Worldwide Church of God”

14.50-15.20 Tea

15.20-15.45 Eugene Gallagher (Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies, Connecticut College)  

“The Branch Davidians”

15.45-16.10 Massimo Introvigne (Lawyer and Managing Director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), Turin)

“Mormon Origins - Revisionism or Re-Interpretation?”

16.10-16.50 Panel Discussion