Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion

Front Cover
Psychology Press, 2005 - Religion - 194 pages

From Feng Shui to holistic medicine, from aromatherapy candles to yoga weekends, spirituality is big business. It promises to soothe away the angst of modern living and to offer an antidote to shallow materialism.

Selling Spirituality is a short, sharp, attack on this fallacy. It shows how spirituality has in fact become a powerful commodity in the global marketplace - a cultural addiction that reflects orthodox politics, curbs self-expression and colonizes Eastern beliefs.
Exposing how spirituality has today come to embody the privatization of religion in the modern West, Jeremy Carrette and Richard King reveal the people and brands who profit from this corporate hijack, and explore how spirituality can be reclaimed as a means of resistance to capitalism and its deceptions.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Spirituality and the Rebranding of Religion
1
A Brief History of Spirituality
30
Western Psychology and the Politics of Spirituality
54
Spirituality and the Privatisation of Asian Wisdom Traditions
87
Selling the Soul The business of spirituality
123
Spirituality and Resistance Challenging the corporate takeover
169
References
183
Index
189
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion
Jeremy Carrette,Richard King
Limited preview - 2004
Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion
Jeremy R. Carrette,Richard King
No preview available - 2005
Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion
Jeremy R. Carrette,Richard King
No preview available - 2005

Common terms and phrases

according ancient approach argues Asian Asian wisdom traditions aspects Barefoot Doctor become belief brand Buddha's Buddhist capitalist spirituality challenge Chapter Chopra Christian commodification consciousness consumer consumerism consumerist contemporary context corporate capitalism corporate religion corporate takeover critique cultural Deepak Chopra desires dimensions discourse economic emergence emphasis Engaged Buddhism enlightenment ethical forms of spirituality global Hindu human humanistic psychology idea of spirituality ideology Ignatius of Loyola increasingly individual individualistic inner institutions liberation lives Mahayana Margaret Thatcher marketplace Maslow meaning modern movements mysticism neoliberalism notion of spirituality offer one's oppression organisation orientation philosophy political popular practices privatisation privatisation of religion promote psychology realisation reflects religious traditions resistance sannyasin secular sense shift silent takeover social justice socially engaged specific sumerism takeover of religion Tao Te Ching Taoist term spirituality transcendence transformation transpersonal psychology trends twentieth century values Vimalakirti Voodoo western societies wider yoga

Bibliographic information

TitleSelling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion
One World Archaeology Readers
AuthorsJeremy R. Carrette, Richard King
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherPsychology Press, 2005
ISBN0415302080, 9780415302081
Length194 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Religion / General
Religion / Hinduism / General
Religion / Psychology of Religion
Religion / Religion, Politics & State
Religion / Spirituality
Social Science / Sociology of Religion
  
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