Imagine no religion: On defining "New Age"

Abstract

"New Age" is generally assumed to be distinguishable from mainstream religion, whether it is approached as a social (i.e., secular) movement or as a religious movement of sorts. Despite these distinctions, insiders and academics alike define the category in much the same way as they define religion. Because there is a dearth of theoretical and methodological consideration in analyses of New Age, however, this likeness is largely ignored. Problematic assumptions about religion—such as the distinction between religion and economics or the existence of an isolatable category of religion in the first place—are carried over uncritically to analyses of New Age. This investigation exposes some of these assumptions in order to call into question the validity of both "New Age" and "religion" as useful theoretical categories.