Scientology’s Sunday Service: Scripture in Action
Although they have received little scholarly attention, the communal rituals of the Church of Scientology, particularly the Sunday service, provide a distinctive perspective on how the Church, through the presiding minister, uses a selection of its scriptural texts to form the consciousness and atti...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
Numen
Year: 2016, Volume: 63, Issue: 1, Pages: 95-112 |
| Further subjects: | B
Scientology
Canon
scripture
ritual
minister
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Although they have received little scholarly attention, the communal rituals of the Church of Scientology, particularly the Sunday service, provide a distinctive perspective on how the Church, through the presiding minister, uses a selection of its scriptural texts to form the consciousness and attitudes of those in attendance. While several elements of the Sunday service are invariable, the minister must craft each service by choosing from among a limited selection of possible sermons and group processing exercises, attributed to L. Ron Hubbard himself, that can be delivered to the congregation. Thus, in keeping with the understanding of scripture articulated by Wilfred Cantwell Smith and of canon by Jonathan Z. Smith, the minister exercises a degree of exegetical ingenuity within the strictures of a strongly literal approach to Hubbard’s canonical teachings. Scientology ministers in the context of the Sunday service thus function like other indigenous theologians who work with canonical bodies of texts. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
| Contains: | In: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341410 |