Moreman, Ch. (ed.) (2013) The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and Around the World. Vol. 1 - 3. Westport: Praeger. - 805 p.

Any student of religion is familiar with spiritualism in general terms, but there are relatively few people who are specifically engaged in it. Most of the available academic works consider spiritism through the prism of historical methodology, treating it as a characteristic part of the broad historical and cultural context of the late Modern period, which sought to rethink the significance of religion in the world and open up new areas of nature for scientific research. To a lesser extent, the historiography of the issue is rich in sociological studies devoted to the interaction of the spiritual community with other social groups and its internal organization.

In this respect, the dominance of historical methodology has led to at least two consequences for researchers of spiritualism: first, the question of the universal nature of a religious phenomenon that manifests itself differently among different cultures and peoples has been sidelined; second, spiritualism has begun to be perceived by many as a" dead religion " of the Victorian era, which has long lost its relevance and relevance. potential. The peer-reviewed collection, conceived by editor-in-chief Christopher Moreman, not only focuses on historical research, but also fights against a purely "museum" approach to spiritualism, trying to create the broadest view of spiritualism as an independent cultural phenomenon.

The collection consists of three volumes: "American Origins and Global Distribution "(Volume 1)," Faith, Practice, and Evidence for Life After Death "(Volume 2), and" Societal and Cultural Responses " (Volume 3). 43 articles are grouped into 11 topics. Without dwelling on their enumeration, we note the main perspectives of the consideration of spiritualism presented in the collection.

First, spiritualism can be considered in a broad sense

page 329
in the context of the history of religious ideas and practices. Since any spiritualistic doctrine is based on a universal religious idea-the belief in the possibility of communicating with the spirit world - it is promising to conduct a comparative study of spiritualistic and other similar practices, such as shamanic, as well as to identify the general cross-cultural characteristics of such practices. The opening article by Jordan Piper, Professor Emeritus at the University of York specializing in Chinese religious traditions, illustrates the disadvantages and advantages of comparative religious studies in the best possible way. One can see the author's excellent command of sources on Chinese shamanism, but the actual comparative study turns out to be reduced to the statement that the difference between the social role of the medium in society in the West (falling out of the social system) and the East (an important social function) is generated by the influence of the mystical tradition of the Abrahamic religions,

As the defining characteristic of mediumship, the author chooses the social function of this religious practice and thus distinguishes between "mediumship", Christian "possession" and"condescension of the Holy Spirit". For example, speaking in tongues among Pentecostals is "the possession of the Holy Spirit, so it is not functional from a social point of view and, accordingly, has nothing to do with mediumship"1. On the contrary, I believe that the "condescension of the Holy Spirit" should be considered as a form of mediumship precisely because the content of the "Holy Spirit" message is of interest to the members of the community. It is more reasonable to make a distinction depending on the subject-addressee: since in the case of the "message of the Holy Spirit" the addressee is not an individual, but a collective one, the social function of the corresponding religious practice also changes. The fact that a particular person on whom the Holy Spirit "descends" is not assigned a social function does not mean that at the moment of the "message" itself he does not perform such a function. Secondly, spiritualism can be considered as a kind of European religion of the Modern era. A comprehensive study of its immediate predecessors - Swedenborgianism and "spiritual magnetism" - will help to establish those aspects of spi-

1. Paper, J. "Mediumism Throughout History and Around the Globe", in The Spiritualist Movement, vol. I, p. 16.

page 330
Some authors describe it as a "synthetic" religion of the Art Nouveau era, which sought to "combine" and "reconcile" religious and scientific ways of constructing a picture of the world. It is worth noting that in this case, the "traditional" view, which relates the birth of spiritism to 1848 (the beginning of the Fox sisters 'activities in the United States), can be corrected: "spiritism", with all the variety of its ideologies and practices , is one of the many religions that sought to reconcile the achievements of the scientific revolution and traditional religious beliefs, rethinking the latter on the basis of rationalistic and empirical grounds. In this regard, if Swedenborgianism has received a sufficient degree of recognition from researchers due to its distinctiveness, then "spiritual magnetism", as Suzanne Crockford points out in her article on the activities of Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, has not received such close attention.2
Third, spiritualism continues to attract the attention of historians who reconstruct its place and role in the culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some articles in the collection use a biographical approach, identifying the place of spiritualistic ideology and practice in the lives of specific people and determining how much their main activity was connected or echoed with the spiritualistic hobby (the editor of the collection selected articles on the" spiritualistic " activities of Frederick Myers, William James, Carl Gustav Jung and Arthur Conan Doyle). Others seek to describe the reactions of various religious and social groups (including the Catholic Church, the scientific community, and the occult community) to his doctrines and practices. Still others, based on a wide range of modern scientific programs, including postcolonial and tender studies, show the alternative nature of spiritualistic practices and doctrines in relation to the cultural norms of the second half of the XIX century. Marguerite Guillory, for example, seeks to demonstrate how black women were pushed to the periphery of the social life of the spiritualist community due to the ideas of gender roles that were characteristic of a certain segment of Victorian society.3
2. Crockford, S. "From Spiritualist Magnetism to Spiritism: The Development of Spiritualism in France, 1840 - 1870", in Ibid, vol. I, p. 137.

3. Guillory, M. S. "Spiritually Repressed: Exploring the Historical Repression of African American Women in

page 331
In addition, the study of the place of spiritualistic practice in the emerging show business and entertainment culture in general deserves special mention. Trying to move away from the classical dichotomies of Western culture "sacred and profane", "spirit and matter", "piety and commerce" and relying on the theory that analyzes the causes and conditions of interaction between public "stars" and "public", Simon Natal emphasizes the game aspect and potential of spiritualism (analyzing in the light of the career theory of the Fox sisters, Davenport brothers and D. D. Hume) 4.

If we develop this important idea of Natal, we come to deconstruct the opposition between artificial and natural, showing how the medium's consciousness can combine both an understanding of the manipulative nature of his activities and a belief in the truth of the messages he transmits. Most of the "audience" treated the sessions as entertainment, during which they got what they wanted most-wonderful things. At the same time, when the "audience" left the session space, it immediately assumed its usual critical, individualistic positions. In this respect, the spiritualistic practice of the second half of the nineteenth century can be considered as an element of secular culture that meets the same human needs as religion.

Fourth, spiritualism is a living tradition with millions of followers around the world. Modern research not only reveals its ideological and practical evolution, but also opens the way for a detailed sociological and ethnographic study of mediums and the client environment that develops around them. Thus, the articles develop and prove the following theses: change in the transcendent agent in modern spiritualism (instead of spirits, angels are beginning to play an increasingly important role, direct appeal to which eliminates the role of an intermediary)5. increasing individualization of spiritualist beliefs and practices under the influence of globalization (for example, in modern Ireland)6; acquisition by local spiritualistic traditions-

Rochesterian Spiritualism", in Ibid, vol. III, pp. 163 - 164.

4. Natale, S. "Mediums and Stars: Mediumship, Show Business and Celebrity in Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism", in Ibid, vol. III, pp. 237 - 238.

5. Moore, R. "Angels Among Us in Four San Diego Spiritualist Churches", in Ibid, vol. I, pp. 161 - 180.

6. Cosgrove, O. "Spiritualism in a Globalized Ireland", in Ibid., vol. I, pp. 195 - 206

page 332
world-famous mediums, primarily due to their transformation into a specific therapeutic practice (on the example of the activity of "John of God" - a well-known Brazilian medium)7.

In addition to the directions of scientific research presented in the collection, it is worth noting two more fundamental features. Several articles in the collection are written by practicing mediums with an academic background.8 This is seen as a characteristic "phenomenological" feature of our time: it is necessary not only to construct the "Other", but also to give him the opportunity to speak to us in a language that we understand. I think that thanks to this technique, the editor managed to achieve the desired "polyphonic" effect, when the voices of critics, supporters and independent researchers of spiritualism are located on the same academic plane. So, thanks to the article by J. G. Wilson, we will learn how the spiritualistic community constructs the image of the "ideal medium". For example, the medium is required to maintain his consciousness during the session in order to correct the" rude " words of the spirit (which, by the way, largely contradicts the classical vision of the medium, formed in the XIX century, as a kind of "typewriter" for transmitting messages). A medium is not considered professional if he practices only the "psychic" aspects of mediumship, that is, he can only convey the words of spirits, the content of which can be quite abstract. On the contrary, the medium also needs to find out information that obviously cannot be known to him and thanks to which those who come to the session can verify the authenticity of his mediumship (for example, a description of the appearance and favorite things of the spirit). Finally, the medium should not give advice to the person who comes to the session on how to behave in a particular situation, so that they are not suspected of psychological manipulation or therapy.9 It is characteristic in this respect that the collection did not ignore the manipulative practices used by some "mediums" in order to convince the public of the truth of the messages transmitted to them from the spirit world. 10
7. Rocha, C. "John of God and the Cas de Dom Inacio: Westerners at a Brazilian Spiritual Hospital", in Ibid., vol. I, pp. 207 - 220.

8. Biscop, P. "The Anomalous Anthropologist: Insider Fieldwork in a Canadian Spiritualist Church", in Ibid, vol. I, pp. 181 - 193.

9. Wilson, D.G. "Accessing knowledge: Shamanic Awareness, Apprentice-Participation, and the Rituals of Spiritualist Mediumship", in Ibid, vol. I, pp. 27 - 28.

10. Roe, C.A., Roxburgh, E.C. "An Overview of Cold Reading Strategies",

page 333
And the second feature of the publication: on its pages there is a place for practicing parapsychologists who study the so-called "paranormal" phenomena, which often manifest themselves in spiritualistic sessions. Modern experiments conducted in spiritualistic circles show that "psychic research" remains in demand by a small but active group of researchers around the world11.

Providing a place for mediums and parapsychologists indicates the scientific openness of the editor, who sought to show the phenomenon under study from all sides, without being confined to the traditional approach to the problem of distinguishing scientific and extra-scientific knowledge.

It is worth noting that the quality of the texts presented in the collection varies from article to article. Some articles are a retelling of well-known facts, others are based on insufficient evidence, others suffer from a lack of empirical material, and finally, as the editor of the collection himself admits, some authors duplicate each other's material. In addition, despite the theoretical breadth of the analysis, some aspects of the consideration of spiritualism, including those traditional for historiography, are not presented in the collection. For example, the collection could be decorated with generalizing articles on the history of spiritualism in the United States, Germany, Russia and other countries; an article could appear that analyzes the interpretation of spiritualistic practice and ideology as a consequence of the "Victorian crisis of faith"; more attention could be paid to the place of "spiritualistic" practice in the history of science; at least one article could be devoted analysis of the scientific historiography of spiritualism. However, it is difficult to judge the editor here - not all ideal concepts are implemented, if from the beginning to the end we are not the authors and performers of them.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized once again that the reviewed collection is unique in terms of the volume of empirical and theoretical material covered. The next step would be to prepare a historiographical work devoted to the history of studying spiritualism as a cultural and historical phenomenon. The book under review indicates the main directions of future historiographical work - and this is its main advantage, redeeming the shortcomings noted above.

in Ibid, vol. II, pp. 177 - 204.

11. Schwartz, G. E. "Contemporary Experimental and Self-Science Research with Genuine Mediums", in Ibid, vol. II, pp. 159 - 176.

page 334

Permanent link to this publication: