Reconstructors
Reinventing the Spiritual Path within Italian Catholicism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v4i1.29Keywords:
Catholicism, new religious movement (NRM), spirituality, yogaAbstract
This article treats the Reconstructors, a Catholic Community founded in Italy by the Jesuit Vittorio Cappelletto. After a period in India at the school of Anandamurti, the leader of the Ananda Marga movement, Cappelletto’s spiritual experiences induced him to import the teachings received from the Indian guru into Christianity. After presenting the salient stages in the history of the Reconstructors, this article analyses the doctrinal structure and the ritual practices of the movement. Next, it explores the movement’s esoteric bases and the relationships between Cappelletto and his disciples. Finally, the “story behind the story” is engaged, along with reflections upon the contingencies and dilemmas of fieldwork.
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References
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Zablocki, B., and T. Robbins eds. Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Anandamurti, S. S. 1960. Sixteen Points: Our Fundamental Duty. Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha: Tiljala-Calcutta, 1960.
Bastide, R. 1970. “Mémoire collective et sociologie du bricolage,” L’année sociologique, 1, 72–96.
Bromley, D. G. 1998. “The Social Construction of Contested Exit Roles: Defectors, Whistleblowers, and Apostates,” in D. G. Bromley ed. The Politics of Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements. Westport, CT: Praeger, 19–48.
Bromley, D. G., and F. Carter Lewis. 2001. “Re-envisioning Field Research and Ethnographic Narrative,” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 1–37.
Bromley, D. G., and L. F. Carter eds. 2001. Toward Reflexive Ethnography: Participating, Observing, Narrating.
Buckser, A., and S. D. Glazier, eds. 2003. The Anthropology of Religious Conversion. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Cappelletto, G. V. 2000. Yoga per pregare. Torino: Gruppo di Meditazione Profonda.
Carter Lewis, F. 1998. “Carriers of Tales: On Assessing Credibility of Apostate and Other Outsider Accounts of Religions Practices,” in D. G. Bromley, ed. Politics of Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements. Westport, CT: Praeger, 221–37.
Chancellor, J. 2001. “The Family and the Truth?” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 38–53.
Dawson, L. L., 2001. “Raising Lazarus: A Methodological Critique of Stephen Kent’s Revival of the Brainwashing Model,” in Zablocki and Robbins eds. 2001, 379–401.
De Michelis, E. 2004. A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. London and New York: Continuum.
Denzin, N. K., and Y. S. Lincoln, eds. 1994. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Heelas, P. 2008. Spiritualities of Life: New Age Romanticism and Consumptive Capitalism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Kent, S. 2001. “Brainwashing Programs in The Family/Children of God and Scientology,” in Zablocki and Robbins eds. 2001, 349–78.
Leatham, M. C. 2001. “Ambiguous Self-Identity and Conflict in Ethnological Fieldwork on a Mexican Millenarian Colony,” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 77–93.
Liberman, K. 2001. “Ethnographic Practice and The Critical Spirit,” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 93–117.
Mathur, H. C. 1998. Siddhi: The Science of Supernatural Powers. New Delhi: Shree Publishing House.
Mitchell, R. G. 1991. “Secrecy and Disclosure in Fieldwork,” in W. B. Shaffir and R. A. Stebbins eds. Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research. Newbury Park: Sage, 97–109.
Mongini, G. 2004. “Le origini della Compagnia di Gesù nella crisi religiosa del Cinquecento.” PhD dissertation. Torino: Università degli Studi.
Palmer, S. J. 2001a. “Caught Up in the Cult Wars: Confessions of a Canadian Researcher,” in Zablocki and Robbins eds. 2001, 99–123.
—2001b “Spiritual Etiquette or Research Ethics? An Innocent Ethnographer in the Cult Wars,” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 133–57.
Partridge, C. ed. 2003. Encyclopedia of New Religions. Oxford: Lion.
Richardson, J. T., R. Balch and J. G. Melton. 1993. “Problems of Research and Data in the Study of New Religions,” in D. G. Bromley and J. K. Hadden eds. The Handbook on Cults and Sects in America. London: Jai, 213–29.
Rossi, L. 2000. I filosofi greci padri dell’esicasmo. Torino: Il leone verde.
Schein, E. 1985. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Zablocki, B. 2001. “Vulnerability and Objectivity in the Participant Observation of The Sacred,” in Bromley and Carter eds. 2001, 223–45.
Zablocki, B., and T. Robbins eds. Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Published
2010-01-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Palmisano, S. (2010). Reconstructors: Reinventing the Spiritual Path within Italian Catholicism. Fieldwork in Religion, 4(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v4i1.29
