G. I. Gurdjieff and the Study of Religion/s

Authors

  • Steven Sutcliffe University of Edinburgh
  • Carole M. Cusack University of Sydney

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29039

Keywords:

Gurdjieff, study of religion/s, Study of Religions, western guru, G. I. Gurdjieff, The Work, Fourth Way, new religious movements

Abstract

This is an introduction by the guest editors to a special issue on the study of Gurdjieff approached within the comparative study of religion/s. We position this special issue within a new wave in the study of Gurdjieff that aims to eschew emic biases as well as a narrow ‘new religion’ typology in order better to engage the social, cultural and textual histories common to the general study of religion/s. We briefly indicate the existing scholarship on Gurdjieff in this light before introducing the contents of the five original articles in this special issue, with particular reference to the pioneering work of Andrew Rawlinson on Gurdjieff as a ‘western guru’.

Author Biographies

  • Steven Sutcliffe, University of Edinburgh

    Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies

  • Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydney

    Carole M. Cusack is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include religious conversion, northern European mythology and religion, medieval Christianity, secularization and contemporary religious trends. She is the author of Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples (Cassell, 1998), The Essence of Buddhism (Lansdowne, 2001), Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith (Ashgate, 2010), and The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011). She has co-edited several volumes, including Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf (Brill, 2010) with Christopher Hartney and New Religions and Cultural Production (Brill 2012) with Alex Norman. She has published widely in academic journals and edited collections. With Christopher Hartney (University of Sydney) she is Editor of the Journal of Religious History (published by Wiley) and with Liselotte Frisk (Dalarna University, Sweden) she is Editor of the International Journal for the Study of New Religions (published by Equinox).

References

Azize, Joseph. 2012. “Gurdjieff’s Sacred Dances and Movements.” In New Religions and Cultural Production, edited by Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman, 297–330. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004226487_014

2013. “‘The Four Ideals’: A Contemplative Exercise by Gurdjieff.” ARIES 13: 173–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700593-13130202

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Coates, Chris. 2013. “How Many Arks Does It Take?” In Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World, edited by Timothy Miller, 176–189. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

Cusack, Carole M., ed. 2014. “Special Issue: G. I. Gurdjieff.” Journal for the Academic Study of Religion Volume 27 Number 3.

Cusack, Carole M. and Alex Norman, eds. 2012. Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004226487

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Petsche, Johanna. 2013. “A Gurdjieff Genealogy: Tracing the Manifold Ways the Gurdjieff Teaching Has Travelled.” International Journal for the Study of New Religions 4(1): 49–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v4i1.49

2015. Gurdjieff and Music: The Gurdjieff/de Hartmann Piano Music and its Esoteric Significance. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004284449

Pittman, Michael S. 2012. Classical Spirituality in Contemporary America: The Confluence and Contribution of G. I. Gurdjieff and Sufism. London and New York: Bloomsbury.

Rawlinson, Andrew. 1997. The Book of the Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions. Chicago and La Salle, IL: Open Court.

Sutcliffe, Steven J. 2014. “Hard Work: Locating Gurdjieff in the Study of Religion/s.” Journal for the Academic Study of Religion 27(3): 262–284. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v27i3.26500

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Webb, James. 1980. The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Work of G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky and Their Followers. Thames and Hudson: London.

Wellbeloved, Sophia. 2003. Gurdjieff: The Key Concepts. Routledge, London.

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Published

2016-01-20

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Editor's Introduction

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Sutcliffe, S., & Cusack, C. M. (2016). G. I. Gurdjieff and the Study of Religion/s. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 6(2), 109–114. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29039