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Scientology
Scientology is arguably the most persistently controversial of all contemporary New Religious Movements. James R. Lewis has assembled an unusually comprehensive anthology, incorporating a wide range of different approaches. In this book, a group of well-known scholars of New Religious Movements offers an extensive and evenhanded overview and analysis of all of these aspects of Scientology, including the controversies to which it continues to give rise.
Violence and New Religious Movements
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.
Cults
"Cults provides a wealth of information about many different new (and older) religions from around the world, and about the history of these groups and movements over the past two centuries. This should be on the shelf of anyone interested in newer religious phenomena." - James T. Richardson, University of Nevada at Reno "Written by one of the world's leading authorities on new religious movements, Cults can be thoroughly recommended to students and scholars, but its lucidity makes it thoroughly accessible to the general reader and anyone who needs to become informed about the 'cult scene'". - George Chryssides, University of Birmingham "A 'go to' reference for academics, professionals and t...
Controversial New Religions
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 so...
Legitimating New Religions
James R. Lewis has written the first book to deal explicitly with the issue of how emerging religions legitimate themselves. He contends that a new religion has at least four different, though overlapping, areas where legitimacy is a concern: making converts, maintaining followers, shaping public opinion, and appeasing government authorities. The legitimacy that new religions seek in the public realm is primarily that of social acceptance. Mainstream society's acknowledgement of a religion as legitimate means recognizing its status as a genuine religion and thus recognizing its right to exist. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies Lewis explores the diversification of legitimation st...
Cults
Cults examines the history and current status of cults across the United States, Europe, and East Asia. Focusing on the principal controversial religions and movements that have attracted major media attention, the book also includes profiles of hundreds of minority religions, from Jesus People and Rastafarians to voodoo practitioners and the human-cloning Raelians. All the issues central to the practice and the fear of cults are examined - apocalypticism, deprogramming, social isolation, cults and the media, the use and threat of violence, child custody, libel, tax evasion, solicitation, and the techniques of persuasion and conviction - as are the many charismatic cult leaders. Cults presents a comprehensive and authoritative reference, offering a balanced view of the controversy surrounding these new religious movements, assessing the movements themselves as well as the legal and governmental responses to them, including attempts to quantify membership.
Cults in America
This volume examines the controversy surrounding the alternative and controversial religious movements sometimes referred to as cults. Featuring a chronology that documents the milestones in the evolution of alternative religions, this book also contains informative sketches of alternative religious groups in the United States today. Readers will find an overview that discusses the cult controversy; descriptions of important court cases, legislation, and other documents; and a directory of organizations. A comprehensive listing of print and electronic sources completes a volume that will prove beneficial to general readers, students, parents, psychologists, and policymakers.
Cults
With overviews of the principal cult groups, personalities, and issues, this second edition offers an up-to-date, concise, yet thorough coverage of this fascinating and controversial topic. Over half of U.S. religions have formed since 1960, but the term "cult" applies only to a few high-demand religious groups. In the 1990s, a series of violent incidents involving alternative religious groups reactivated the controversy in the United States, Europe, and East Asia. High-profile terrorist violence such as the September 11 attacks has prompted interest in the issue of religion and violence, which in turn has stimulated new work on the cult issue. This volume surveys the cult controversies from the early 1970s to the present. Included is an in-depth look at brainwashing and the issue of alternative religions and violence. The principal controversial religions, movements, and individuals that have made the headlines are also examined. - Excerpts from reports issued by European governments on dangerous sects - Comprehensive index of cult issues, groups, and personalities, as well as a map of the United States showing distribution of nontraditional religions
The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
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.
