New Religious Groups

Abstract

Victorian London proved fertile soil for new religious groups. In the context of political, economic, and social unrest and the biblicism of the Evangelical revival and Romanticism, Christian millenarian groups seeking a perfected society emerged, or were transplanted from the United States. American revivalist and holiness movements inspired the Salvation Army. Small radical secularist, positivist, and ethical groups, while rejecting Christianity, adopted religious models for their activities. Some members of the intelligentsia adopted agnosticism or materialism. None of these groups offered a popular alternative to Christianity or Judaism or attracted significant numbers of adherents. Nor were they able to sustain themselves much beyond their charismatic founders. Scientific and technological discoveries during the period aroused interest in the possibility of other unseen dimensions leading to the great popularity of spiritualism, and, influenced by growing awareness of Eastern religions, to the emergence of Theosophy and Occultism.