This title was first published in 2002. Drawing on primary research on the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, a millenarian New Religious Movement of Indian origin, this book examines the status of tradition in the contemporary world through a critical engagement with the recent social theory of Anthony Giddens on the emergence of a post-traditional society. Walliss examines both the ways in which forms of tradition not only persist but also flourish in the contemporary world and also the manner in which such traditions are drawn on and (re)created by individuals in their ongoing construction of self-identity. Illuminating some of the difficulties encountered when social theory is applied to 'the real world', this book also offers a way of theorising about the status of contemporary religiosity that does not refer directly to the notion of secularisation.

Contents: Introduction - responding to late modernity; Beyond tradition and modernity; Reflexive traditions and the New Age religious life; From world-rejection to ambivalence: a genealogy of the Brahma Kumaris; The ascetic and the instrumental: two contemporary renditions of Raja Yoga; Users, drifters and searchers: a typology of Brahma Kumaris membership patterns; Manifesting ambivalence: the pursuit of the millennium; Conclusion - in search of post-traditional religiosity; Bibliography; Index.