Paul Lauchlan Faux Heelas is a British sociologist and anthropologist. He is noted for work inthe field of spirituality, religion and modernity, with special reference to 'New Age' spiritualities of life. Recent publications and current research explore 'the sacred' and 'the secular'; transgressions of the secular ; 'life force', CAM, and 'spiritual humanism'. Heelas was educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford and Exeter College, Oxford. He served as Professor in Religion and Modernity, Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University, and as Senior Research Professor in the Sociology of Contemporary Spirituality, Department of Sociology, CROCUS research group, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He spent over three years devoted to field research: Nepal, London, Brazil, India, Pakistan and lived in Nepal, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Uganda, and Pakistan for over six years. Heelas has helped found two journals: the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford and Cultural Values . He is also a member of Advisory Board of "Open Theology".
Major research projects
Study of Exegesis and Programmes Ltd
The Kendal Project
The Burnley Project
Publications
A trilogy of volumes exploring 'alternative', inner-life spiritualities
1996 The New Age Movement. The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Blackwell.
2005 Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead, with Benjamin Seel, Bronislaw Szerszynski and Karin Tusting, The Spiritual Revolution. Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. Blackwell.
2008 Spiritualities of Life. New Age Romanticism and Consumptive Capitalism. Blackwell.
2012 Paul Heelas Spirituality in the Modern World. Within Religious Tradition and Beyond. 4-Volume Set; three introductory essays by Heelas: 'On Making Some Sense of Spirituality', 'On Some Major Issues', 'On Some Significant Themes'. Routledge.
Cultural selves (spirituality/religion)
1981 Paul Heelas and Andrew Lock, Indigenous Psychologies. The Anthropology of the Self. Academic Press.
Spirituality/religion; culture/society
1992 Paul Heelas and Paul Morris, The Values of the Enterprise Culture. The Moral Debate. Routledge.
1996 Paul Heelas, Scott Lash and Paul Morris, Detraditionalization. Critical Reflections on Authority and Identity. Blackwell.
1998 Paul Heelas, with the assistance of David Martin and Paul Morris, Religion, Modernity and Postmodernity. Blackwell.
2000 Linda Woodhead and Paul Heelas, Religion in Modern Times. An Interpretive Anthology. Blackwell.
