In New Political Religions, or an Analysis of Modern Terrorism, Barry Cooper applies the insights of Eric Voegelin
to the phenomenon of modern terrorism. Cooper points out that the chief omission from most contemporary studies
of terrorism is an analysis of the "spiritual motivation" that is central to the actions of terrorists
today. When spiritual elements are discussed in conventional literature, they are grouped under the opaque term
religion. A more conceptually adequate approach is provided by Voegelin's political science and, in particular,
by his Schellingian term pneumopathology-a disease of the spirit.