Product Description

Dancing and chanting with their shaven heads and saffron robes, Hare Krishnas presented the most visible face of any of the eastern religions transplanted to the West during the sixties and seventies. Yet few people know much about them.
This comprehensive study includes more than twenty contributions from members, ex-members, and academics who have followed the Hare Krishna movement for years. Since the death of its founder, the movement, also known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), has experienced debates over the roles of authority, heresy, and dissent, which have led to the development of several splinter movements. There is a growing women's rights movement and a highly publicized child abuse scandal. Providing a privileged look at the people and issues shaping ISKCON, this volume also offers insight into the complex factors surrounding the emergence of religious traditions, including early Christianity, as well as a glimpse of the original seeds and the germinating stages of a religious tradition putting down roots in foreign soil.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1272058 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08
• Released on: 2004-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 496 pages

Review

"The great strength of this very useful and important resource comes from its reliance on both the work of scholars in the field of Indian religions and the evaluations of those who have personally experienced this movement over years of change...Highly recommended" -- Choice

"This is a poignant book." -- David E. Settje, Concordia University, River Forest, Religious Studies Review

Review

"This book constitutes a unique contribution to scholarship on ISKCON. There is a thorough recounting of ISKCON's history and development, beliefs and practices, and internal struggles, with a focus on developments since the passing of the movement's founder. But what makes this collection so extraordinary is the blending of voices--scholars, movement defenders and opponents, current members and former members--in one volume. Together the contributors create a rich, nuanced understanding of a significant religious movement." -- David Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University

About the Author

Edwin F. Bryant is assistant professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University. His publications include The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Cultureand Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God, Srimad Bhagavata Purana Book Ten. Maria L. Ekstrand is a psychologist on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco who was involved in the development of ISKCON's child abuse investigation guidelines.

Customer Reviews

A Serious Study
This is a truly impressive, academic study of ISKCON, a religious group that remains, after so many years, one of the most fascinating NRM's (New Religious Movements) of the 20th century. The book has an excellent range and variety of material--everything from first-hand accounts of ex- and current members to serious academic studies of various aspects of the movement. This book stands as the definitive study of ISKCON.