IN THE LABYRINTS OF MEANING: SUFISM, NEO-SUFISM, NEW AGE
https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2018-14-3-197-214
Abstract
The article examines the phenomenon of “Western Sufi sm”, the complex of spiritual practices and movements, widely spread in Europe and the US in the 1960–1970th. The history of the relationship between the Western society and the Muslim esoteric tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Muslim world had a signifi cant impact on Europe, drawing inspiration and knowledge from the Islamic culture. During the colonial era, Sufi sm was viewed by Europeans primarily as “ethnographic exotics”, but in the 1960–1970th together with the general interest in eastern mystical teachings and the advent of “alternative” religious movements, Sufi sm (or Neo-Sufi sm) acquires the status of Western cultural category, ceasing to be identifi ed with an exclusively Islamic tradition and taking an increasingly universalistic character. Its new adherents become people of diff erent religious beliefs and nationalities.
About the Author
K. S. Vasil'tsov
Department of Ethnography of Caucasus. The Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera).
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Cand. Sci. (Hist.), research scientist.
3, Universitetskaya Embankment, Saint Petersburg, 199034.
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Review
For citations:
Vasil'tsov K.S. IN THE LABYRINTS OF MEANING: SUFISM, NEO-SUFISM, NEW AGE. Islam in the modern world. 2018;14(3):197-214. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22311/2074-1529-2018-14-3-197-214
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