Stephen Hunt 
New Religions and Spiritualities 

Since the 1960s a fresh wave of new religions and what has come to be termed “spiritualities“ have been evident on a global scale. This volume in The Library of Essays on Sexuality and Religion focuses on these “new“ religions and their often contentious attitudes towards human sexuality. Part 1, through previously-published articles, provides instances of affirming orientations of the “new“ religions towards sexuality. This entails scrutinising examples of innovative religion from a historical perspective, as well as those of a more contemporary nature. Part 2 examines, with pertinent illustrations, the controversial character of “new“ religions in their “cultist“ forms and matters of sexual control and abuse. Part 3 considers sexuality as articulated through paganism, the occult and esotericism in the postmodern setting. Part 4 examines both hetero- and non-hetero- expressions of sexuality through the so-called “New Spiritualities“, Quasi-religions and the more “hidden“ forms of religiosity.