The Odyssey of a New Religion

The Odyssey of a New Religion PDF

Author: Phillip Charles Lucas

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1995-02-22

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0253114071

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"... solid scholarship.... [It] will not only serve as a model for those studying the New Religious Movements of the late twentieth century, but will offer help to mainline and other religious institutions who are struggling with problems of identity and change in our complex society today." -- Church History "... a thoroughly enjoyable book that would fit well into a graduate readings seminar on new religious movements....The book deserves a wide reading." -- Nova Religio "Lucas's study provides a model of how best to combine the methodologies and analyses of the history of religions and sociology. He has provided the groundwork for continued tracking of developments in this new religious movement for comparative purposes." -- Journal of the American Academy of Religion "... a carefully researched and well-written history of one of the important new religious movements to appear in the United States during the 1960s... the volume can be heartily recommended to all students of American religion." -- American Historical Review "Lucas has written one of the best informed studies of the evolution of a metaphysical cult into mainline eastern orthodoxy."Â -- The Reader's Review "This is an important book for libraries with holdings in American religion." -- Choice "... a fascinating narrative... a rich feast for the investigator of the subculture of esoteric religion... " -- American Studies International "... especially welcome. It offers an in-depth, meticulously documented history of a church, the Holy Order of MANS, that arose from the Christian esoteric mystery tradition and then metamorphosed into a traditionalist Orthodox Christian sect. This unlikely tale has more twists and turns than a whodunit... this volume is that rarest of finds: an academic book that is a delight to read." -- Gnosis Magazine Traces the journey of a new religious movement from its start as a monastic-style New Age order to its transformation into the more conventional Christ the Savior Brotherhood, an Eastern Orthodox sect. A remarkable story of social and spiritual change in contemporary America.

Understanding New Religious Movements

Understanding New Religious Movements PDF

Author: John A. Saliba

Publisher: AltaMira Press

Published: 2004-09-08

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 0585483108

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Discussions of any religion can easily raise passions. But arguments tend to become even more heated when the religion under discussion is characterized as new. Divisions around the study of new religious movements (NRMs), or cults, or nontraditional or alternative or emergent religions are so acute that there is even controversy over what to call them. John Saliba strives to bring balance to these discussions by offering perspectives on new religions from different academic perspectives: history, psychology, sociology, law, theology, and counseling. This approach provides rich descriptions of a broad range of movements while demonstrating how the differing aims of the disciplines can create much of the controversy around NRMs. The new second edition has been updated and revised throughout and includes a new foreword by noted historian of religion, J. Gordon Melton. For classes in religion or the social sciences, or for interested individuals, Understanding New Religious Movements offers the most objective introduction possible.

Perspectives on New Religious Movements

Perspectives on New Religious Movements PDF

Author: John A. Saliba

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-10-06

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1474281001

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This book provides a dispassionate analysis of new religious movements, charting their growth and examining them from a variety of perspectives – sociological, psychological, legal and theological. Saliba then questions whether or not membership harms those who join these new movements and assesses the charge that they 'brainwash' their adherents.

The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements

The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements PDF

Author: James R Lewis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-07-17

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 0195369645

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The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements both covers the current state of the field and breaks new ground. Its contributors, drawn form both sociology and religious studies, are leading figures in the study of NRMs.

Violence and New Religious Movements

Violence and New Religious Movements PDF

Author: James R. Lewis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-04-06

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 0199735638

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The relationship between new religious movements (NRMs) and violence has long been a topic of intense public interest--an interest heavily fueled by multiple incidents of mass violence involving certain groups. Some of these incidents have made international headlines. When New Religious Movements make the news, it's usually because of some violent episode. Some of the most famous NRMs are known much more for the violent way they came to an end than for anything else. Violence and New Religious Movements offers a comprehensive examination of violence by-and against-new religious movements. The book begins with theoretical essays on the relationship between violence and NRMs and then moves on to examine particular groups. There are essays on the "Big Five"--the most well-known cases of violent incidents involving NRMs: Jonestown, Waco, Solar Temple, the Aum Shunrikyo subway attack, and the Heaven's Gate suicides. But the book also provides a richer survey by examining a host of lesser-known groups. This volume is the culmination of decades of research by scholars of New Religious Movements.

Exploring New Religions

Exploring New Religions PDF

Author: George D. Chryssides

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1999-12-01

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0826438903

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An objective, well-researched history of contemporary new religions and cults.New religious movements - popularly known as cults - arouse strong public opinion and most books on the subject are polemical, giving hostile reaction rather than informed exploration. Exploring New Religions provides an account of a wide variety of new religions, focusing on their origins, beliefs and practices, which are set out in a dispassionate way, leaving readers to form their own value judgements. George Chryssides provides important analysis of the killer cults-the Jonestown People's Temple, Waco, the Solar Temple and Heaven's Gate-examining the factors that made their followers willing to die for their cause. Older groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter-day Saints (Mormons) are discussed, and Chryssides traces the development of a variety of strands of spirituality, ranging from New Thought, Spiritualism and Theosophy. Subsequent chapters include the Baha'i, the Family (formerly Children of God), the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), the Jesus Army, the Rastafarians, the Church of Scientology, Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the Unification Church ('the Moonies'). Lower profile groups are also discussed including: EST (Erhard Seminar Training), the New Kadampa Tradition, Brahma Kumaris, Sai Baba, Subud and the Western Buddhist Order. A study of the New Age phenomenon, and an account of societal responses to new religions at religious, societal and political levels is also included.

Controversial New Religions

Controversial New Religions PDF

Author: James R. Lewis

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 0199315310

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In terms of public opinion, new religious movements are considered controversial for a variety of reasons. Their social organization often runs counter to popular expectations by experimenting with communal living, alternative leadership roles, unusual economic dispositions, and new political and ethical values. As a result the general public views new religions with a mixture of curiosity, amusement, and anxiety, sustained by lavish media emphasis on oddness and tragedy rather than familiarity and lived experience. This updated and revised second edition of Controversial New Religions offers a scholarly, dispassionate look at those groups that have generated the most attention, including some very well-known classical groups like The Family, Unification Church, Scientology, and Jim Jones's People's Temple; some relative newcomers such as the Kabbalah Centre, the Order of the Solar Temple, Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, and the Falun Gong; and some interesting cases like contemporary Satanism, the Raelians, Black nationalism, and various Pagan groups. Each essay combines an overview of the history and beliefs of each organization or movement with original and insightful analysis. By presenting decades of scholarly work on new religious movements written in an accessible form by established scholars as well as younger experts in the field, this book will be an invaluable resource for all those who seek a view of new religions that is deeper than what can be found in sensationalistic media stories.

The Odyssey of New Religious Movements

The Odyssey of New Religious Movements PDF

Author: John T. Biermans

Publisher: Lewiston, N.Y. ; Queenston, Ont. : E. Mellen Press

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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Presenting the thesis that all new, conversion-oriented religious movements which call their members to a radical change of life normally receive persecution, this study includes reference to contemporary researchers in the sociology of religion as A. Shupe, E. Barker, and J. Richardson, in order to identify and contextualize the main lines of attack upon one such new religion - the Unification movement.