The Encyclopedia of World Religions

New Testament S 319

powerful prophet and a close-knit organization, like a surrogate family, to counter-balance the nat ural inclination of people to remain with the old for the sake of family and community. It probably also will single out some simple, sure technique or practice—a method of PRAYER or MEDITATION , a dance or rite—that comes reassuringly out of the past, but also is strong enough to give people a powerful and immediate experience. Features like these will motivate people to spread the new teaching, and in a few cases the new religion will be successful enough to grow worldwide, like Mormonism ( see L ATTER - DAY S AINTS ) or the Unification Church. New religions are often controversial. Some have been regarded as dangerous “cults,” ( see CULTS AND SECTS , RELIGIOUS ) a word that has come to suggest a religious movement that makes exces sively high demands on its members’ time, energy, and freedom of thought. At the same, most of the established religions of the world began with many of the characteristics of new religious movements. New Testament The second part of the B IBLE that Christians use; for Jews, the Bible consists of three parts, T ORAH , P ROPHETS , and Writings. Chris tians refer to the entire Hebrew scriptures as the Old Testament ( see SCRIPTURES , H EBREW ). To it, Christians add 27 books about J ESUS and his earli est followers. These 27 books are called the New Testament. THE FORMULATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT It took a little more than 300 years for Christians to put the New Testament into final form. The idea that some Christian writings were sacred seems to have arisen early. The book of 2 Peter ( see P ETER , EPISTLES OF ) in the New Testament already refers to a collection of P AUL ’s letters. But the Gnostic teacher Marcion (mid-second century C . E .; see G NOSTICISM ) seems to have been the first to suggest that there be an authoritative selection of Christian writings. As a Gnostic, Marcion rejected the Hebrew Bible because he thought that “the God of the Jews” was EVIL . He suggested replacing it with the letters of Paul and the gospel of Luke, both edited, however,

movements typically center around remarkably charismatic personalities who believe they have seen VISIONS or had experiences that present a dra matically new teaching or practice to the world, although occasionally the new religion may be constructed without a single leader. However, a new religion must have not only a founding person or idea, but also an audience and a situation recep tive to the novel perspective on ultimate truth. In changing times—and we must remember that most times are changing times for people actually in them—old religious teachings, practices, and insti tutions may seem out of step with the real world in which people live. Perhaps an old tribal religion may not seem to have the right tools to deal with a world of contact with European culture, with new ideas, economies, and technologies; this was the situation out of which CARGO CULTS arose. An old religion may seem hopeless in terms of a religious world view. Perhaps a religious language whose images are of camels, kings, and shepherds may not make contact with some people whose real world centers more around cars, congresses, and corporations. A prophet may then arise to declare, here is a new religion revealed by G OD or a god who says the old ways are really true, but here are some ways of looking at the religion which show it is really com patible with the new science. Moreover, the central God of the old belief is now changing the world faster than before, and all the progress you see around you is really leading up to the KINGDOM OF G OD ; have FAITH this is so. An example of this type in C HRISTIANITY would be S EVENTH -D AY A DVENTISM . Note that the most successful new religions, like those in Japan ( see J APAN , NEW RELIGIONS OF ), do not say everything in the former faith is false and bad. Rather, they will probably affirm the old, but put it all in a new light, so that people can say of the new teaching, “This was really true all the time, but we didn’t realize it until now.” It also must provide potent inward motivation for break ing with the past and meeting the new needs it has uncovered. This probably will be obtained through strong simplicity in leadership, organization, and practice. The new religion will likely have a single