Entheogens: Psychedelic religion in the United States, part two

Since the 1980s, scholarship on psychedelics and religion has grown, reflecting shifting political, legal, and sociocultural attitudes. This article traces the historiography of psychedelic religion from the 1980s to recent work, showing how the association of psychoactive substances with religiosity has evolved. The analysis highlights how psychedelic churches have expanded and how researchers and users routinely describe psychedelic experiences as religious, spiritual, or mystical. The study underscores the changing capital—political, legal, and sociocultural—attached to these substances and their religious uses.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Scholars across the academic spectrum have written about the renewed interest in psychedelics that is commonly called the Psychedelic Renaissance (PR). Psychedelic religion is a major component of the PR, as psychedelic churches are growing exponentially and as people who consume and who research psychedelics routinely contend that these substances induce or occasion religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences. Scholars have noticed the growing association of psychoactive substances and religiosity, and they have addressed this association from a variety of academic fields, methods, and methodologies. Part one of this article (“Entheogens: Psychedelic religion in the United States, Part One”) explored the historiography of associations of psychoactive substances and religiosity in the United States from the 1800s to the 1980s. Part two of this article continues the historiographical analysis of this literature beginning in the 1980s and ends with recent scholarship. Collectively, this analysis highlights the evolving political, legal, and sociocultural capital associated with psychoactive substances and religion.