Massimo Introvigne
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Massimo Introvigne (b. June 14, 1955 in Rome) is a social scientist and the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of numerous books and hundreds of articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is also a lawyer specializing on intellectual property rights.
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[edit] Life
Massimo Introvigne has a B.D. Philosophy, and Dr. Jur. of the University of Turin, Italy, and has been a part-time professor at the Regina Apostolorum Rome, Italy. He is also a member of the "Sociology of Religion" group of the Italian Association of Sociology a society joined by invitation only .
Introvigne is a partner and attorney specialized on intellectual property at the Jacobacci & Associati law firm in Turin, Italy. He is married and has four children. In 2002, Massimo Introvigne ranked at place 160 in the list of the 200 wealthiest people in Italy.
During his studies and while holding several teaching positions in the field of sociology and history of religions in a number of Italian universities, Introvigne started collecting books on minority religions and esoteric-gnostic schools in the 1970s. His collection now includes more than 25,000 volumes that are made available to the public via the CESNUR library. He founded CESNUR in 1988.
He is a leading member of the Catholic movement Alleanza Cattolica [2] and one of the founding members of the Italian think tank Nova Res Publica [3] initiated 1999 by Silvio Berlusconi to whose Forza Italia it is closely connected [4] Introvigne is also a member of the National Council of the Italian Christian Democrat party UDC. In the academic year 2005-2006, he gave one course at the Opus Dei affiliated Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
[edit] Work
Introvigne is the author of more than 40 books including Le Nuove Religioni ("The New Religions". 1989), and I Mormoni ("The Mormons", 1991), and editor of nine books in the field of sociology of religion. In 2001, he was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy), one of the most reviewed Italian books in this field. He has also written hundreds of articles published in scientific journals in 12 countries. His extensive bibliography can be found in the Cesnur library
CESNUR, which is one of his achievements, has been described by Roberto Gervaso of "Il Giornale" (29 May 2001) as "the irreplaceable and inexhaustible landing for any one who wants to get acquainted with religions." The collection of books on religion in the International Center and Library "is regarded as the largest collection in Europe and the second in the world in its field," according to its website. [5]
He is also the main editor of the website www.cesnur.org. He has participated in several activities of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion and the International Federation of Catholic Universities and is a member of the group "Religions" of the Italian Association of Sociology (AIS).
[edit] Views of his work
Several critics have pointed out that Introvigne's membership in the Italian Catholic movement Alleanza Cattolica is not a sign of religious neutrality. (The Alleanza Cattolica states that they are "a civic and cultural organization of catholic lay people – independent of any political party – whose aim is the positive and apologetic – therefore also polemic – spreading and realization of the social doctrine of the Church, that is the application of the changeless natural and Christian moral law to the changing historical context." Articles in their journal Cristianità present energetically the conservative Catholic values against practiced homosexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce and call the world social forum "A Laboratory of Subversion".)
Anton Hein lists him under cult apologists and Thomas Gandow and Stephen A. Kent call him a cult lobbyist, referring to his activities with national and international organizations in Europe.
Gandow, Kent, as well as Benjamin Zablocki see Introvigne's framing of scholars resp. academics (those who agree with CESNUR) vs. anti-cult movement (those who do not agree with CESNUR regardless of their academic qualifications) as biased, not to mention the term anti-cult terrorism he coined.
One of the main points which are questioned regarding Introvigne's work is his attitude regarding brainwashing and the CESNUR information he presents on that subject.
- Kent noted that while the CESNUR site contains much scholarly correct information, Introvigne's articles and statements regarding brainwashing are mainly polemical and some of them are without scholarly value.
- Raffaella di Marzio claimed in 1999 Introvigne did omit important information regarding the brainwashing controversy (although she later co-operated with CESNUR and is now a regular participant in several CESNUR projects)
- Gandow refers to the "APA-Lie" as a scientific scandal (Berliner Dialog 1-98 [6]) Introvigne's reply [7] was regarded as useful even by critics, since he went to great length to obtain and post on the Internet crucial and previously unavailable documents of the original U.S. controversy
Another critic of Introvigne is Miguel Martinez. The controversy begins Introvigne's study Defectors, Ordinary Leavetakers and Apostates: A Quantitative Study of Former Members of New Acropolis in France. Martinez is a former high-ranking member of New Acropolis and his view of the organization is very much in contrast to the one of Introvigne, though Martinez agrees that many ex-members of New Acropolis bear no grudge against their former organization. Introvigne labelled Martinez as an "apostate" and Martinez strongly disagrees with Introvigne's description of apostates, including Introvigne's claim that their hostility is due, not to their former group, but to contact with the anti-cult movement. Martinez started on his site a collection of critical essays and documents regarding Introvigne and CESNUR. Introvigne got one Italian provider to close down the site, but it reappeared with a non-Italian provider. The further development includes mutual name-calling and counter-arguments on various topics.
While there are many critics from the world of the anti-cult, a number of whom are called by Introvigne as anti-cult activitists, from the world of scholars and writers there are more people who support Introvigne's work. His Encyclopedia of Religion in Italy was one of the most reviewed books in Italy for the year and those reviews were positive for the most part. Many of the reviews came from the most important newspapers of the country.
Also, the fact that 12 scientific journals have published his works and that many scholars support CESNUR shows wide acceptance of his scholarship and leadership in the field of sociology of religion.
[edit] Books
- The Unification Church (Studies in Contemporary Religions, 2), Signature Books (September 1, 2000) ISBN 1-56085-145-7
- Osho Rajneesh: Studies in Contemporary Religion (Studies in Contemporary Religions, 4), Signature Books (August 1, 2002), ISBN 1-56085-156-2
- Les Mormons, Brepols (December 30, 1996), ISBN 2-503-50063-3
- I nuovi movimenti religiosi: Sètte cristiane e nuovi culti, Editrice Elle Di Ci (1990), ISBN 88-01-14260-9
- Il ritorno dello gnosticismo (Nuove spiritualità) , SugarCo (1993), ISBN 88-7198-216-9
- I nuovi culti: Dagli Hare Krishna alla Scientologia (Uomini e religioni), Mondadori; 1. ed. Oscar Uomini e religioni edition (1990), ISBN 88-04-34057-6
- Il satanismo (Collana religioni e movimenti), Elle Di Ci (1997), ISBN 88-01-00799-X
[edit] Other
- New Age is Mistaken Answer to Search For Meaning, Interview with Introvigne, Turin, Italy, 19 March 2003 (ZENIT). Available online
- "The Secular Anti-Cult and the Religious Counter-Cult Movement: Strange Bedfellows or Future Enemies?" in New Religions and the New Europe, Robert Towler, ed. (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1995), pp. 32-54.
- "Christian New Religious Movements: A Roman Catholic Perspective" and "New Religious Movements and the Law: A Comparison between Two Different Legal Systems - The United States and Italy," in New Religions and New Religiosity, Eileen Barker and Margit Warburg, eds., (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1998), pp. 243-261 and 276-290.
- "Children of the Underground Temple: Growing Up in Damanhur," in Children in New Religions, Susan J. Palmer and Charlotte E. Hardman, eds., (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1999), pp. 138-149.
- "After the New Age: Is There a Next Age?" in New Age Religion and Globalization, Mikael Rothstein, ed., (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2001), pp. 58-69.
- "Lectorium Rosicrucianum: A Dutch Movement Becomes International," in New Religions in a Postmodern World, Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg, eds., (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2003), pp. 11-22.
- "Occult Masters and the Temple of Doom: The Fiery End of the Solar Temple," (co-authored with Jean-Francois Mayer) in Cults, Religion and Violence, David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 170-188.
[edit] References
↑ Associazione Italiana di Sociologia
