Acknowledgements Introduction: Spirituality and the Re-Branding of Religion 1. A Brief History of Spirituality 2. Western Psychology and the Politics of Spirituality 3. Spirituality and the Privatisation of Asian Wisdom Traditions 4. Selling the Soul: The Business of Spirituality Conclusion: Spirituality and Resistance Challenging the Corporate Takeover
Jeremy Carrette teaches Religious Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He is author of Foucault and Religion (Routledge, 2000) and editor of Michel Foucault and Religious Experience (2003), and has also co-edited the Routledge Centenary Edition of William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience (2002). Richard King is a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University. He is author of Orientalism and Religion (Routledge ,1999), Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought (1999) and Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism (1995).
'Selling Spirituality acknowledges that contemporary business
ethics include a dimension of social responsibility ... In effect,
the market has become God. As Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, said in his Richard Dimbleby Lecture in 2002: "The very
survival of the public sphere, a realm of political argument about
vision and education, is going to demand that we take religion a
good deal more seriously." Carrette and King show how true this
is.' - New Statesman'In sum, Selling Spirituality offers a
provocative thesis ... ' - British Association for the Study of
Religions'The scholarship behind the book is carefully researched
and well documented.' - Zadok'Jeremy Carrette and Richard King
break completely new ground... [They] direct our attention to
potentially fruitful areas of more systematic investigation [and]
illustrate the importance of contemporary religion as a research
subject.' - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion"Clearly written,
passionate, and polemical, this book is sure to spark debate in the
college classroom."--Diane Jonte-Pace, Santa Clara University,
Religious Studies Review
'This book is a long-needed, highly insightful critique of the
spiritual supermarket, site of the prostitution of spirituality for
personal profit and corporate gain. Jeremy Carrette and Richard
King have provided a powerful indictment of the corporate
exploitation of 'the spiritual,' using advertising and the media to
distort the ethical and philosophical teachings of the world
religious traditions to buttress their control of the minds of the
people they wish to dominate as their loyal consumers. Serious
students and teachers of spiritual thought or practice are
well-advised to cultivate their self-critical alertness and hone
their critical insight with the help of this hard-edged and
illuminating book.' – Robert Thurman, Columbia University, USA
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