Religious leadership in new religions theoretical and empirical trajectories

Abstract

The introduction to this special issue on religious leadership in new religions discusses questions arising from existing published theoretical and empirical research into religious leadership. Theoretical contributions are made in articles by five authors, James T. Richardson, David G. Bromley, Liselotte Frisk, Susan J. Palmer, and Milda Alisauskiene. The articles by Frisk, Palmer, and Alisauskiene discuss original empirical data disclosing features of women's religious leadership in new religions and the influence of social context and power relations to it. This special issue of Nova Religio on "Religious Leadership in New Religions: Theoretical and Empirical Trajectories" is dedicated to our colleague, Swedish scholar of new religions, Liselotte Frisk (11 March 1959-29 October 2020).