On Octotber 5th, at 5pm, the Center for Study of New Religions (CESNUR), and the publishing house FoRB.PRESS, will be presenting the conference “Gnosticism and New Religions: The case of L. Ron Hubbard”
Scholars of new religious movements such as Wouter Hanegraaff and Giovanni Filoramo have long investigated whether it may be appropriate to describe some of these movements as “neo-Gnostic”.
A case in point is Scientology. While Hugh Urban and others have argued that there is a “hidden” Gnosticism in the ideas of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the three presenters in this session have all defended, in different ways, the idea that Hubbard’s Gnosticism is open and explicit.
Among the speakers there are Massimo Introvigne, director of the CESNUR, Fr. Aldo Natale Terrin from the Saint Guistina Pontificial Institute, and Eric Roux, Vice-President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology, and will be moderated by Rosita Soryte from the European Federation on Freedom of Belief.
