Misunderstanding Cults

Author : Benjamin Zablocki,Thomas Robbins
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 860 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2001-12-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781487598440

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Misunderstanding Cults by Benjamin Zablocki,Thomas Robbins Pdf

Misunderstanding Cults provides a uniquely balanced contribution to what has become a highly polarized area of study. Working towards a moderate "third path" in the heated debate over new religious movements or cults, this collection includes contributions from both scholars who have been characterized as "anticult" and those characterized as "cult-apologists." The study incorporates multiple viewpoints as well as a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, with the stated goal of depolarizing the discussion over alternative religious movements. A prominent section within the book focuses explicitly on the issue of scholarly objectivity and the danger of partisanship in the study of cults. The collection also includes contributions on the controversial and much misunderstood topic of brainwashing, as well as discussions of cult violence, children brought up in unconventional religious movements, and the conflicts between alternative religious movements and their critics. Unique in its breadth, this is the first study of new religious movements to address the main points of controversy within the field while attempting to find a middle ground between opposing camps of scholarship.

Author : Eugene V. Gallagher
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2016-07-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781317156673

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'Cult Wars' in Historical Perspective by Eugene V. Gallagher Pdf

'Cult Wars' in Historical Perspective provides a broad characterization of the shifting religious contours over the past several decades. Offering an assessment of several important topics in the study of new religions, this book explores developments in well-known groups such as the Unification movement, The Family International (Children of God), the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and the Church of Scientology. Bringing together both insiders and outsiders from various academic disciplines and personal perspectives, this book takes account of the ways in which the cult question is defined and addressed in different countries. It offers a vivid depiction of how the cult wars or cult controversies of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries first took shape; the transformation of deeply entrenched positions on cults and sects as at least some members of new groups, cult watchers, and academics entered into serious and sustained conversations about topics of mutual concern; the shifting foci and concerns of the general public, law enforcement and the courts, and academics in various countries; and the complex histories of individual groups in which many dramatic transformations have occurred despite their comparatively short life spans.

Author : Mike Kropveld,Marie-Andrée Pelland,Info-Cult (Organization)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Sects
ISBN : 2980825816

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The Cult Phenomenon by Mike Kropveld,Marie-Andrée Pelland,Info-Cult (Organization) Pdf

Author : Jeffrey Kaplan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135316266

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Millennial Violence by Jeffrey Kaplan Pdf

This volume encompasses an array of material exploring the millennium phenomenon and the violent excitement it provokes. Consisting of three core parts, the book combines pertinent documents with insightful commentary and discussion.

Author : Linda R. Quennec
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2024-06-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781040042571

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Depth Psychology, Cult Survivors, and the Role of the Daimon by Linda R. Quennec Pdf

This book explores the possibilities that exist for navigating out of and away from multiple levels of oppression through memoir-based research. It considers how those raised in oppressive, high-demand communities, colloquially referred to as “cults,” can emancipate themselves from controls and expectations inculcated from early childhood and examines processes surrounding the psychological reclamation of self. Exploring and metaphorically tending to an orienting psychological dynamic that the ancient Greeks related to as “the daimon” and using the perspectives of Jungian and post-Jungian depth psychology, the author investigates how subjects can reclaim agency and avoid excessive control over their thoughts, attention, and life’s intentions. They suggest that depth psychologically oriented modes can be used to this attunement and explore this notion through a study of memoirs of individuals who were raised in “cults.” Suggesting a more aligned approach to working with varying levels of psychological constraint and utilizing a phenomenological hermeneutic study, it will appeal to scholars and professionals in depth psychology and other psychological orientations, as well as individuals who are interested in more deeply understanding the psychological mechanisms involved in leaving a high-demand group or other oppressive situations.

Author : Douglas E. Cowan,David G. Bromley
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2015-04-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781118723494

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Cults and New Religions by Douglas E. Cowan,David G. Bromley Pdf

This unparalleled introduction to cults and new religiousmovements has been completely up-dated and expanded to reflect thelatest developments; each chapter reviews the origins, leaders,beliefs, rituals and practices of a NRM, highlighting the specificcontroversies surrounding each group. A fully updated, revised and expanded edition of anunparalleled introduction to cults and new religious movements Profiles a number of the most visible, significant, andcontroversial new religious movements, presenting eachgroup’s history, doctrines, rituals, leadership, andorganization Offers a discussion of the major controversies in which newreligious movements have been involved, using each profiled groupto illustrate the nature of one of those controversies Covers debates including what constitutes an authenticreligion, the validity of claims of brainwashing techniques, theimplications of experimentation with unconventional sexualpractices, and the deeply rooted cultural fears that cultsengender New sections include methods of studying new religions in eachchapter as well as presentations on ‘groups towatch’

Author : Janja A. Lalich
Publisher : University of California Press
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780520384026

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Bounded Choice by Janja A. Lalich Pdf

Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate "monks" awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives—and sometimes their very lives—to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven's Gate and at the Democratic Workers Party, a radical political group of the 1970s and 1980s, Janja Lalich gives us a rare insider's look at these two cults and advances a new theoretical framework that will reshape our understanding of those who join such groups. Lalich's fascinating discussion includes her in-depth interviews with cult devotees as well as reflections gained from her own experience as a high-ranking member of the Democratic Workers Party. Incorporating classical sociological concepts such as "charisma" and "commitment" with more recent work on the social psychology of influence and control, she develops a new approach for understanding how charismatic cult leaders are able to dominate their devotees. She shows how members are led into a state of "bounded choice," in which they make seemingly irrational decisions within a context that makes perfect sense to them and is, in fact, consistent with their highest aspirations. In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, this important book also addresses our pressing need to know more about the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause.

Author : Janja Lalich,Karla McLaren
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 299 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2017-09-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781315295077

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Escaping Utopia by Janja Lalich,Karla McLaren Pdf

We think of cults as bizarre, inexplicable, or otherworldly places that only strange people inhabit, but cults and other abusive and high-demand groups (and relationships) are actually quite commonplace. In fact, the behaviors, social pressures, and authoritarian structures that create cults exist to a greater or lesser extent in every human relationship and every human group. In the first in-depth research of its kind, the author interviewed sixty-five people who were born in or grew up in thirty-nine different cultic groups spanning more than a dozen countries. What’s especially interesting about these individuals is that they each left the cult on their own, without outside help or internal support. In Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over, the authors craft Lalich’s original and groundbreaking research into an accessible and engaging book, the first of its kind focusing on this particular population.

Author : Phillip Charles Lucas,Thomas Robbins
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 382 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2004-06-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781135889012

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New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century by Phillip Charles Lucas,Thomas Robbins Pdf

New Religious Movements in the 21st Century is the first volume to examine the urgent and important issues facing new religions in their political, legal and religious contexts in global perspective. With essays from prominent NRM scholars and usefully organized into four regional areas covering Western Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe, and North and South America, as well as a concluding section on the major themes of globalization and terrorist violence, this book provides invaluable insight into the challenges facing religion in the twenty-first century. An introduction by Tom Robbins provides an overview of the major issues and themes discussed in the book.

Author : Morgen Witzel
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2019-12-06
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781351666497

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A History of Leadership by Morgen Witzel Pdf

The evolution of leadership into a widely accepted concept occurred without any shared understanding and acceptance of its meaning and relevance in contemporary society. Why do some people become leaders? What is the source and legitimacy of leadership power? This book journeys into the heart of the relationship between leaders and followers, the social space and the arena where both contest and collaboration take place and leadership itself is played out. In the book, Morgen Witzel moves beyond traditional traits and skills framing, offering a fresh, historical analysis that involves many different actors with different motives and needs. By analysing the evolution of power relationships, the book analyses the interactions around how power is used and control is bargained for to illuminate the centrepiece of leadership. A wide-ranging history of a slippery subject, this book provides students, scholars and reflective practitioners with an empirical, historical base on which to test their own ideas and experiences.

Author : Benjamin E. Zeller
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2014-10-31
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781479803811

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Heaven's Gate by Benjamin E. Zeller Pdf

In March 1997, thirty-nine people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, ritually terminated their lives. To outsiders, it was a mass suicide. To insiders, it was a graduation. The author explores the question of why the members of Heaven's Gate committed ritual suicides, and examines the origin and evolution of the religion, its appeal, and practices.

Author : W. Michael Ashcraft
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 426 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2018-02-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781351670838

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A Historical Introduction to the Study of New Religious Movements by W. Michael Ashcraft Pdf

The American public’s perception of New Religious Movements (NRMs) as fundamentally harmful cults stems from the "anticult" movement of the 1970s, which gave a sometimes hysterical and often distorted image of NRMs to the media. At the same time, academics pioneered a new field, studying these same NRMs from sociological and historical perspectives. They offered an interpretation that ran counter to that of the anticult movement. For these scholars in the new field of NRM studies, NRMs were legitimate religions deserving of those freedoms granted to established religions. Those scholars in NRM studies continued to evolve methods and theories to study NRMs. This book tells their story. Each chapter begins with a biography of a key person involved in studying NRMs. The narrative unfolds chronologically, beginning with late nineteenth- and early-twentieth century perceptions of religions alternative to the mainstream. Then the focus shifts to those early efforts, in the 1960s and 1970s, to comprehend the growing phenomena of cults or NRMs using the tools of academic disciplines. The book’s midpoint is a chapter that looks closely at the scholarship of the anticult movement, and from there moves forward in time to the present, highlighting themes in the study of NRMs like violence, gender, and reflexive ethnography. No other book has used the scholars of NRMs as the focus for a study in this way. The material in this volume is, therefore, a fascinating viewpoint from which to explore the origins of this vibrant academic community, as well as analyse the practice of Religious Studies more generally.

Author : John A. Saliba
Publisher : AltaMira Press
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2004-09-08
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780585483108

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Understanding New Religious Movements by John A. Saliba Pdf

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.

Author : Lewis R. Rambo,Charles E. Farhadian
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 828 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2014-03-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780199713547

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The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion by Lewis R. Rambo,Charles E. Farhadian Pdf

The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.

Author : James R. Lewis,Inga B. Tollefsen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 545 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780190466176

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The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements by James R. Lewis,Inga B. Tollefsen Pdf

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.