Editing New Age (section)

==Definitions==
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=One of the few things on which all scholars agree concerning New Age is that it is difficult to define. Often, the definition given actually reflects the background of the scholar giving the definition. Thus, the New Ager views New Age as a revolutionary period of history dictated by the stars; the Christian apologist has often defined new age as a cult; the historian of ideas understands it as a manifestation of the perennial tradition; the philosopher sees New Age as a monistic or holistic worldview; the sociologist describes New Age as a new religious movement (NRM); while the psychologist describes it as a form of narcissism.|source=— Scholar of religion Daren Kemp, 2004{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=1}} }}

The New Age phenomenon has proved difficult to define,{{sfnm|1a1=York|1y=2001|1p=363|2a1=Kemp|2y=2004|2p=1|3a1=Granholm|3y=2013|3p=59}} with much scholarly disagreement as to its scope.{{sfn|Granholm|2013|p=59}} The scholars Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus have even suggested that it remains "among the most disputed of categories in the study of religion".{{sfn|Sutcliffe|Gilhus|2013|p=1}}

The scholar of religion [[Paul Heelas]] characterised the New Age as "an eclectic hotch-potch of beliefs, practices, and ways of life" that can be identified as a singular phenomenon through their use of "the same (or very similar) ''[[lingua franca]]'' to do with the human (and planetary) condition and how it can be [[Spiritual transformation|transformed]]."{{sfn|Heelas|1996|pp=1–2}} Similarly, the historian of religion [[Olav Hammer]] termed it "a common denominator for a variety of quite divergent contemporary popular practices and beliefs" that have emerged since the late 1970s and are "largely united by historical links, a shared discourse and an ''air de famille''".{{sfn|Hammer|2006|p=855}} According to Hammer, this New Age was a "fluid and fuzzy [[cult]]ic milieu".{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=14}} The [[Sociology of religion|sociologist of religion]] [[Michael York (religious studies scholar)|Michael York]] described the New Age as "an umbrella term that includes a great variety of groups and identities" that are united by their "expectation of a major and universal change being primarily founded on the individual and collective development of human potential."{{sfn|York|1995|pp=1–2}}

The scholar of religion [[Wouter Hanegraaff]] adopted a different approach by asserting that "New Age" was "a ''label'' attached indiscriminately to whatever seems to fit it" and that as a result it "means very different things to different people".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=1}} He thus argued against the idea that the New Age could be considered "a unified ideology or ''[[World view|Weltanschauung]]''",{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=515}} although he believed that it could be considered a "more or less unified 'movement'."{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=522}} Other scholars have suggested that the New Age is too diverse to be a singular ''movement''.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruce|1y=1998|1p=24|2a1=Sutcliffe|2y=2003a|2p=9|3a1= Chryssides|3y=2007|3p=22}} The scholar of religion [[George D. Chryssides]] called it "a counter-cultural ''Zeitgeist''",{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=22}} while the sociologist of religion Steven Bruce suggested that New Age was a [[milieu]];{{sfn|Bruce|1998|p=24}} Heelas and scholar of religion [[Linda Woodhead]] called it the "holistic milieu".{{sfn|Heelas|Woodhead|2005|p=8}}

There is no central authority within the New Age phenomenon that can determine what counts as New Age and what does not.{{sfn|York|2001|p=364}} Many of those groups and individuals who could analytically be categorised as part of the New Age reject the term ''New Age'' in reference to themselves.{{sfnm|1a1=Lewis|1y=1992|1pp=1–2|2a1= Heelas|2y=1996|2p=17|3a1=York|3y=2001|3p=364|4a1= Sutcliffe|4y=2003a|4p=200|5a1=Partridge|5y=2004|5p=2|6a1=MacKian|6y=2012|6p=5}} Some even express active hostility to the term.{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=177}} Rather than terming themselves ''New Agers'', those involved in this milieu commonly describe themselves as spiritual "seekers",{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=200}} and some self-identify as a member of a different religious group, such as Christianity, Judaism, or Buddhism.{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=25}} In 2003 Sutcliffe observed that the use of the term ''New Age'' was "optional, episodic and declining overall", adding that among the very few individuals who did use it, they usually did so with qualification, for instance by placing it in quotation marks.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=197}} Other academics, such as Sara MacKian, have argued that the sheer diversity of the New Age renders the term too problematic for scholars to use.{{sfnm|1a1=Chryssides|1y=2007|1p=10|2a1=MacKian|2y=2012|2p=7}} MacKian proposed "everyday spirituality" as an alternate term.{{sfn|MacKian|2012|p=12}}

While acknowledging that ''New Age'' was a problematic term, the scholar of religion [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] stated that it remained a useful [[etic]] category for scholars to use because "There exists no comparable term which covers all aspects of the movement."{{sfn|Lewis|1992|p=2}} Similarly, Chryssides argued that the fact that "New Age" is a "theoretical concept" does not "undermine its usefulness or employability"; he drew comparisons with "[[Hinduism]]", a similar "Western etic piece of vocabulary" that scholars of religion used despite its problems.{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=13}}

===Religion, spirituality, and esotericism===
[[File:Snoqualmie Moondance meditation 02.jpg|thumb|New Age meditation group at the Snoqualmie Moondance festival, 1992]]
In discussing the New Age, academics have varyingly referred to "New Age spirituality" and "New Age religion".{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=1}} Those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be "religion"—negatively associating that term solely with [[organized religion]]—and instead describe their [[Spiritual practice|practices]] as "spirituality".{{sfnm|1a1=Sutcliffe|1y=2003a|1pp=214–215|2a1= Partridge|2y=2004|2p=48}} Religious studies scholars, however, have repeatedly referred to the New Age milieu as a "religion".{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=243|2a1= Partridge|2y=2004|2p=38}} York described the New Age as a [[new religious movement]] (NRM).{{sfn|York|1995|p=2}} Conversely, both Heelas and Sutcliffe rejected this categorisation;{{sfnm|1a1= Heelas|1y=1996|1p=9|2a1=Sutcliffe|2y=2003a|2p=200}} Heelas believed that while elements of the New Age represented NRMs, this did not apply to every New Age group.{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p=9}} Similarly, Chryssides stated that the New Age could not be seen as "a religion" in itself.{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=19}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=The New Age movement is the cultic milieu having become conscious of itself, in the later 1970s, as constituting a more or less unified "movement". All manifestations of this movement are characterized by a popular western culture criticism expressed in terms of a secularized esotericism.|source=— Scholar of esotericism Wouter Hanegraaff, 1996.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=522}} }}

The New Age is also a form of [[Western esotericism]].{{sfnm|1a1=York|1y=1995|1p=33|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=1996|2p=400|3a1=Hammer|3y=2001|3p=9}} Hanegraaff regarded the New Age as a form of "popular culture criticism", in that it represented a reaction against the dominant Western values of [[Judeo-Christian]] religion and rationalism,{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=331}} adding that "New Age religion formulates such criticism not at random, but falls back on" the ideas of earlier Western esoteric groups.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=515}}

The New Age has also been identified by various scholars of religion as part of the cultic milieu.{{sfnm|1a1= Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=522|2a1= Hammer|2y=2001|2p=28|3a1= Chryssides|3y=2007|3p=17}} This concept, developed by the sociologist Colin Campbell, refers to a social network of marginalized ideas. Through their shared marginalization within a given society, these disparate ideas interact and create new syntheses.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|pp=28–29}}

Hammer identified much of the New Age as corresponding to the concept of "[[folk religions]]" in that it seeks to deal with [[existential]] questions regarding subjects like death and disease in "an unsystematic fashion, often through a process of [[bricolage]] from already available narratives and rituals".{{sfn|Hammer|2006|p=855}} York also heuristically divides the New Age into three broad trends. The first, the ''social camp'', represents groups that primarily seek to bring about social change, while the second, the ''occult camp'', instead focus on contact with spirit entities and channeling. York's third group, the ''spiritual camp'', represents a middle ground between these two camps that focuses largely on [[self-development|individual development]].{{sfn|York|1995|pp=36–37}}

===Terminology===
The term ''new age'', along with related terms like ''new era'' and ''new world'', long predate the emergence of the New Age movement, and have widely been used to assert that a better [[way of life (disambiguation)|way of life]] for humanity is dawning.{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p= 15}} It occurs commonly, for instance, in political contexts; the [[Great Seal of the United States]], designed in 1782, proclaims a "new order of ages", while in the 1980s the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] proclaimed that "all mankind is entering a new age".{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p=15}}{{request quotation|date=July 2020}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvJHT39rIIMC|title=The Christianity Reader|first1=Mary|last1=Gerhart|first2=Fabian|last2=Udoh|year= 2007|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226289595|via=Google Books}}</ref> The term has also appeared within Western esoteric schools of thought, having a scattered use from the mid-nineteenth century onward.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p= 25}}  In 1864 the American [[Swedenborgian]] [[Warren Felt Evans]] published ''The New Age and its Message'', while in 1907 [[Alfred Orage]] and [[Holbrook Jackson]] began editing a weekly journal of [[Liberal Christianity|Christian liberalism]] and [[socialism]] titled ''[[The New Age]]''.{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p= 17}} The concept of a coming "new age" that would be inaugurated by the [[Second Coming|return to Earth]] of [[Jesus Christ]] was a theme in the poetry of [[Wellesley Tudor Pole]] (1884–1968) and of [[Johanna Brandt]] (1876–1964),{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=26}} and then also appeared in the work of the British-born American [[Theosophist]] [[Alice Bailey]] (1880–1949), featuring in titles such as ''Discipleship in the New Age'' (1944) and ''Education in the New Age'' (1954).{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p= 26}}

Between the 1930s and 1960s a small number of groups and individuals became preoccupied with the concept of a coming "New Age" and used the term accordingly.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p= 55}} The term had thus become a recurring motif in the esoteric spirituality milieu.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p= 99}} Sutcliffe, therefore, expressed the view that while the term ''New Age'' had originally been an "apocalyptic emblem", it would only be later that it became "a tag or codeword for a 'spiritual' idiom".{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p= 29}}