On the Essence of New Religious Movements

The present article is an attempt to provide a new and comprehensive definition for “new religious movements” based on the previous definitions. The assumption is that the requirements of such a definitions have their own limitations; however, the author has managed to propose two different definitions based on his investigation of the two previous approaches to define “new religious movements”; that is, “definitions by analyzing the purports” and “definitions by referring to instances”. The author demonstrates that the first approach provides an exact definition of a certain religious movement as an instance and the second provides a general and universal definition by focusing on the common elements of new religious movements. The conclusion is that the first approach lackscomprehensiveness as a prerequisite for its application to all sects. The second approach should be preferred as it manages to overcome the limitations of the first approach.