Editing New religious movement (section)

=== Academic scholarship ===
{{Main|Academic study of new religious movements}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=Three basic questions have been paramount in orienting theory and research on NRMs: what are the identifying markers of NRMs that distinguish them from other types of religious groups?; what are the different types of NRMs and how do these different types relate to the established institutional order of the host society?; and what are the most important ways that NRMs respond to the sociocultural dislocation that leads to their formation?|source=— Sociologist of religion [[David G. Bromley]]{{sfn|Bromley|2012|p=14}} }}

The academic study of new religious movements is known as 'new religions studies' (NRS).{{sfnm|1a1=Bromley|1y=2004|1p=83|2a1=Bromley|2y=2012|2p=13}}
The study draws from the disciplines of [[anthropology]], [[psychiatry]], [[history]], [[psychology]], [[sociology]], [[religious studies]], and [[theology]].<ref name="Teaching bromley">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2007|title=Disciplinary Perspectives on New Religious Movements: Views of from the Humanities and Social Sciences|encyclopedia=Teaching New Religious Movements|url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.001.0001/acprof-9780195177299-chapter-3|access-date=2014-03-17|author=Sablia, John A.|pages=41–63|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.001.0001|editor=David G. Brohmley|isbn=978-0-19-978553-7|publisher=Oxford University Press|archive-date=2021-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107141740/https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177299.001.0001/acprof-9780195177299-chapter-3|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>  Barker noted that there are five sources of information on NRMs: the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organisations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.{{sfn|Barker|1989|pp=vii–ix}}

The study of new religions is unified by its topic of interest rather than by its [[methodology]], and is therefore [[interdisciplinary]] in nature.{{sfnm|1a1=Lewis|1y=2004|1p=8|2a1=Melton|2y=2004b|2p=16}} A sizeable body of scholarly literature on new religions has been published, most of it produced by [[social science|social scientists]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bromley|1y=2012|1p=13|2a1=Hammer|2a2=Rothstein|2y=2012|2p=2}} Among the disciplines that NRS utilises are anthropology, history, psychology, religious studies, and sociology.{{sfn|Bromley|2012|p=13}} Of these approaches, sociology played a particularly prominent role in the development of the field,{{sfn|Bromley|2012|p=13}} resulting in it being initially confined largely to a narrow array of sociological questions.{{sfn|Hammer|Rothstein|2012|p=5}} This came to change in later scholarship, which began to apply theories and methods initially developed for examining more mainstream religions to the study of new ones.{{sfn|Hammer|Rothstein|2012|p=5}}

Most research has been directed toward those new religions that attract public controversy. Less controversial NRMs tend to be the subject of less scholarly research.{{sfn|Melton|2004b|p=20}} It has also been noted that scholars of new religions often avoid researching certain movements that scholars from other backgrounds study. The [[feminist spirituality]] movement is usually examined by scholars of [[women's studies]], African-American new religions by scholars of [[Africana studies]], and Native American new religions by scholars of [[Native American studies]].{{sfn|Lewis|2004|p=8}}