ABOUT PREFACE I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X.

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CONTENTS INCLUDE:

ABOUT THE EXPERTISE

In this joint report, Drs. Juha and Marja Pentikäinen of Finland describe “five dimensions of religion”—cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, and cultural—and examine and evaluate the senses in which these are reflected in their case study of the Church of Scientology. The result is a survey of the theology, practices and community life of Scientologists in abundant demonstration of these dimensions. “There are, according to our opinion, many reasons why Scientology may be considered a new religion,” they write. “What in particular fits into its categorization is the fact that it is a modern Western-born religion in the very Western meaning of the word ‘religion.’ It clearly is a manifestation of that type of new ‘religiosity’ which has emerged in the Western world using modern media of socio-cultural networks when transmitting its religious message to a wider public…. Thus, we have found Scientology to be a religion.”

BIOGRAPHIES

Juha Pentikäinen, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of religion at the University Helsinki (Finland), founder of the Institute of Comparative Religion at the Univeristy of Tromsö (Norway), and professor of northern ethnography at the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi (Finland). After having received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Turku in 1968, he was appointed to start the new discipline of the study of religions at the University of Helsinki in 1972. He has been a visiting professor of the study of religions, cultural or social anthropology, folkloristics and Scandinavian Studies in the Universities of California (Berkeley, Los Angeles), Texas (Austin), Minnesota (Minneapolis), Indiana (Bloomington) and Rome (Sapienza). He has been the Delegate of Finland in the United Nations and UNESCO and is the member and advisor of several work groups and committees nominated by the government and ministries of Finland. Dr. Pentikäinen has done fieldwork across the world, giving lectures in more than sixty countries. He is the author of hundreds of articles, dozens of books and numerous films on the study of religion. His books in Finnish have been translated into French and English and include Oral Repertoire and Worldview: An Anthropological Study of Marina Takalo’s Life History (1978) and Kalevala Mythology (revised edition, 1999). In 1995, he was nominated to the membership of Academia Scientiarum Fennica.

Marja Pentikäinen, MSc, served as executive chief of the Foreigners’ Office of the City of Tampere. Her doctoral thesis at the University of Tampere was on the subject of the integration of African and Asian refugees in Finland. She has lectured at the Universities of Tampere and Helsinki and offered her expertise as a social worker to expert groups and committees on the subjects of foreigners, immigrants, refugees, their social problems, values and religions, particularly in the context of Finland.

Preface

Scientology, Social Science and the Definition of Religion

by James A. Beckford, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, England

Social Change and New Religious Movements

by Bryan R. Wilson,
Emeritus Fellow in Sociology, Oxford University

The Church of Scientology

by Juha Pentikäinen, Marja Pentikäinen, University of Helsinki, Finland

The Relationship Between Scientology and Other Religions

by Fumio Sawada, Eighth holder of the secrets of Yu-itsu Shinto, the oldest religion in Japan; President, Ahlul-Bait Center

The Religious Nature of Scientology

by Geoffrey Parrinder, Methodist minister, Professor, Comparative Study of Religions, University of London

Religious Philosophy, Religion and Church

by G.C. Oosthuizen, Professor of Science of Religion, University of Durban-Westville, Natal, South Africa

Scientology a New Religion

by M. Darrol Bryant, Department of Religious Studies, Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Apostates and New Religious Movements

by Bryan R. Wilson,
Emeritus Fellow in Sociology, Oxford University

Scientology: An Analysis and Comparison of its Religious Systems and Doctrines

by Bryan R. Wilson,
Emeritus Fellow in Sociology, Oxford University

The Reliability of Apostate Testimony About New Religious Movements

by Lonnie D. Kliever Ph.D., Professor of Religious Studies

The Sea Organization and its Role Within the Church of Scientology

by Frank K. Flinn Ph.D. Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies

Brief Analyses of the Religious Nature of Scientology

by J. Gordon Melton, Baylor University, Samuel Hill, Gary Bouma, Irving Hexham

Congregational Services of the Church of Scientology

by Bryan R. Wilson,
Emeritus Fellow in Sociology, Oxford University

Is Scientology A Religion?

by Alan W. Black, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

Is Scientology a Religion?

by Dean M. Kelley, National Council of Churches

Religious Toleration & Religious Diversity

by Bryan R. Wilson,
Emeritus Fellow in Sociology, Oxford University

Scientology A Religion In South Africa

by David Chidester, Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Scientology: A True Religion

by Urbano Alonso Galan, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Gregorian University of Rome

Scientology: A Way of Spiritual Self-Identification

by Michael Sivertsev, Moscow Academy of Sciences

Scientology: A Worshipping Community

by Lonnie D. Kliever, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

Scientology and Contemporary Definitions of Religion in the Social Sciences

by Alejandro Frigerio, Professor of Sociology, Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires

Scientology and Islam an Analogous Study

by Fumio Sawada, Eighth holder of the secrets of Yu-itsu Shinto, the oldest religion in Japan; President, Ahlul-Bait Center

Scientology and Religion

by Christiaan Vonck, Rector, Faculty for Comparative Study of Religion, Antwerp, Belgium

Scientology: A Comparison with Religions of the East and West

by Per-Arne Berglie, Professor of History of Religion, University of Stockholm

Scientology Its Cosmology, Anthropology, System of Ethics and Methodologies

by Régis Dericquebourg, Professor of Sociology of Religion, University of Lille III, France

Scientology – Its Historical-Morphological Frame

by Dario Sabbatucci, Professor of History of Religions, University of Rome

Scientology: Its True Nature

by Harri Heino, Professor of Theology, University of Tampere, Finland

Scientology: The Marks of Religion

by Frank K. Flinn, Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies Washington University
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