As Hugh Urban observes early on in Secrecy: Silence, Power, and Religion, the idea that secrecy naturally arises from the “mystery at the heart of all religions” (3) has become a commonplace in religious studies. As a theoretical construct, however, it doesn’t take us very far. Indeed, Urban isn’t particularly interested in revealing secrets (the “mystery”), but in how secrecy can function as “a crucial part in the construction of religious authority” (4) regardless of what’s being kept secret. In other words, he is interested not in secrets, but in how secrecy is employed “as a kind of strategy—specifically, a strategy for acquiring, enhancing, preserving, and/or protecting power” (10, italics in the original) whether physical or symbolic.
To this end, Urban has developed a typology of strategies that he applies to six new religious movements conspicuous...
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