© Columbia University Press
The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant
August, 2004
Cloth, 496 pages, none
ISBN: 978-0-231-12256-6
$56.50
/ £33.00
"The great strength of this very useful and important resource comes from its reliance on both the work of scholars in the field of Indian religions and the evaluations of those who have personally experienced this movement over years of change...Highly recommended" — E. Findly, Choice
"This is a poignant book." — David E. Settje, Religious Studies ReviewConcordia University, River Forest
"This book constitutes a unique contribution to scholarship on ISKCON. There is a thorough recounting of ISKCON's history and development, beliefs and practices, and internal struggles, with a focus on developments since the passing of the movement's founder. But what makes this collection so extraordinary is the blending of voices--scholars, movement defenders and opponents, current members and former members--in one volume. Together the contributors create a rich, nuanced understanding of a significant religious movement." — David Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University
"This volume of splendid and uncensored reports and reflections from the front lines of the Krishna Consciousness movement contains a degree of intelligence and wisdom unexpected, and in my experience, unprecedented for a "movement" that still actively propogates its teachings. Almost all of the contributors are devotees, many of them still active, who have become scholars, and have both the temerity and a ruthless commitment to honesty to look upon not only the Krishna Consciousness movement with equal degrees of passion and dispassion, but at their own lives as well. This is as clear a window into the trajectory of a modern spiritual movement as we are likely to see." — Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa
"This excellent study balances the views of scholars and participants in a long-needed assessment of the Hare Krishna movement's evolution since the death of its charismatic founder in 1977. As a fascinating portrait of a young religious community's internal and external struggles, the collection should appeal to both supporters and critics of the 'Hare Krishnas' while more general readers will enjoy the wealth of detailed real-life religious history." — Thomas J. Hopkins, Franklin & Marshall College