The 1993 event at Mt. Carmel shocked all of America and has since spawned a plethora of books regarding the "truth" about the Branch Davidians. Memories of the Branch Davidians is the story told from the inside. The oral history of Bonnie Haldeman, the mother of Vernon Howell (David Koresh), offers an intimate, first-hand account of how a boy named Vernon Howell became David Koresh. Haldeman paints a picture of Koresh that could only be told by one who knew both his greatest strengths and his deepest faults.

There are over 600 New Religious Movements (NRMs) in Great Britain alone, and more than 2000 in the United States. A Reader in New Religious Movements provides an introduction to the main teachings of a selection of these organizations, focusing on those that are well established in the West. The contemporary and in some cases controversial NRMs covered include the Unification Church, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Family, Osho, Soka Gakkai International and the Western Buddhist Order.

Swami Abhishiktananda (1910-1973), the name adopted by Fr. Henri le Saux after his move to India in 1948, pioneered an integration of Christian and Hindu spirituality that forged a unique spiritual path and made a strong impact on interreligious dialogue.

His Majesty Requests beautifully prepares the Bride of Christ for the marriage supper to the Lamb of God using the Hebrew wedding customs portrayed in scriptures. Like flipping pages through a wedding album, this devotional illuminates the spiritual significance of these ancient traditions and how the Messiah fulfilled each one. The restoration and brilliance of these lost pictures are sure to fill the believer's heart with a renewed love for their Heavenly Bridegroom, while others will flash new insight into the teachings and ways of a Jewish Savior.

There are some Jews who believe that the Messiah has already returned. Although these Jews are considered cult members or apostates by many, Carol Harris-Shapiro-herself a rabbi-engages one community of Messianic Jews to see what their presence says about American Jewish identity, religious affiliation, and the emergence of hybrid faiths in a secular society.
When first published, "Messianic Judaism" stirred controversy throughout the country. The first book to critically examine the role of Messianic Jews in American religious life, it traces the history of this faith that that accepts Jesus as the savior from its late nineteenth-century origin in evangelical Christian missions. Reconstructionist Rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro bases this portrait on her conversations with members of a large Messianic Jewish community. "Messianic Judaism" adds significant new insights into the nature and varieties of religious experience in United States.

Of the many sects that broke from the official Russian Orthodox church in the eighteenth century, one was universally despised. Its members were peasants from the Russian heartland skilled in the arts of animal husbandry who turned their knives on themselves to become "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.' Convinced that salvation came only with the literal excision of the instruments of sin, they were known as Skoptsy (the self-castrated). Their community thrived well into the twentieth century, when it was destroyed in the Stalinist Terror.

In a major feat of historical reconstruction, Laura Engelstein tells the sect's astonishing tale. She describes the horrified reactions to the sect by outsiders, including outraged bureaucrats, physicians, and theologians. More important, she allows the Skoptsy a say in deeming the contours of their history and the meaning behind their sacrifice. Her deft handling of their letters and notebooks lends her book unusual depth and pathos, and she provides a heartbreaking account of willing exile and of religious belief so strong that its adherents accepted terrible pain and the denial of a basic human experience. Although the Skoptsy express joy at their salvation, the words of even the most fervent believers reveal the psychological suffering of life on society's margins.

No foreign tribe or exotic import, the sect drew its members from the larger pant society where marriage was expected and adulthood began with the wedding night. Set apart by the very act that guaranteed their redemption, these "lambs of God" became adept at concealing their sectarian identity as they interacted with their Orthodox neighbors. Interaction was necessary,Engelstein explains, since the survival of the Skoptsy depended upon recruitment of new members and on success in agriculture and trade.

Realizing that some prejudices have changed little over the centuries, Engelstein cautions that "we must not cast the shadow of our own distress on the story of the Skoptsy. Their physical suffering was something they willingly embraced." In Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom, she has produced a remarkable history that also illuminates the mysteries of the human heart.

Covers the story of "The Nine O'Clock Services" which received heavy publicity in 1995, following the exposure of scandals and abuses at the hands of the leader, Chris Brain. This book follows the development of the church and draws comparisons with other alternative churches.

..". 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." 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."

One of the most influential and dynamic evangelists of the twentieth century, Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) was a complex, lively, and controversial figure with a flair for the dramatic. Against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties, Sister Aimee, as she was widely known, cultivated her ministry, preaching the "old-fashioned gospel" and calling for a return to simple biblical Christianity. A religious leader who strongly identified with ordinary folk, she attracted hundreds of thousands of loyal followers throughout the United States and Canada. Edith L. Blumhofer's thorough biography is grounded in extensive research and academic scholarship, yet written for the general reader as much as the historian. Blumhofer offers unique insights into McPherson's Canadian and Salvation Army roots and her relationship with Pentecostalism and uses her experiences to test stereotypes about mainstream Protestantism and Pentecostalism. Blumhofer has also had access to resources not available to previous biographers - selected minutes of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel - and she had contact with both of McPherson's children, Roberta Semple Salter and Rolf McPherson. Dozens of photographs also help illustrate McPherson's multiple roles as missionary, radio broadcaster, editor, mother, wife, and - above all - dramatic and inspiring evangelist.

"An example of the independent press at its best" (Wilson Library Bulletin), this book "makes available the spiritual message of some of the most outstanding mystics in an accessible language" (Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University). "Reading The Spiritual Athlete makes one want to go into training immediately".--Huston Smith, author of The Religions of Man. (Joshua Press)

An extensively researched guide to understanding the teachings of major cults and how they deviate from Christianity. Especially helpful in grasping the challenge of the unorganized but pervasive New Age movement. Table of Contents 1. Mormonism 2. Jehovah's Witnesses 3. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church 4. Herbert w. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God 5. The Way International 6. Some Hinduism-based Movements 7. The New Age Movement 8. Scientology 9. Christian Science 10. Spiritualism 11. Other Current Movements

Winner of the 2014 Christianity Today Book of the Year First Place Winner of the Religion Newswriters Association's Non-fiction Religion Book of the Year The Jesus People movement was a unique combination of the hippie counterculture and evangelical Christianity. It first appeared in the famed "Summer of Love" of 1967, in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, and spread like wildfire in Southern California and beyond, to cities like Seattle, Atlanta, and Milwaukee. In 1971 the growing movement found its way into the national media spotlight and gained momentum, attracting a huge new following among evangelical church youth, who enthusiastically adopted the Jesus People persona as their own. Within a few years, however, the movement disappeared and was largely forgotten by everyone but those who had filled its ranks. God's Forever Family argues that the Jesus People movement was one of the most important American religious movements of the second half of the 20th-century. Not only do such new and burgeoning evangelical groups as Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard trace back to the Jesus People, but the movement paved the way for the huge Contemporary Christian Music industry and the rise of "Praise Music" in the nation's churches. More significantly, it revolutionized evangelicals' relationship with youth and popular culture. Larry Eskridge makes the case that the Jesus People movement not only helped create a resurgent evangelicalism but must be considered one of the formative powers that shaped American youth in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Based on extensive interviews with mostly former cult members, this book chronicles the history of the Church of God of Union Assembly from its beginning around World War I up to recent times. Founded by a charismatic, unlettered leader, C. T. Pratt, who forcefully broke away from the Holiness COG organization, the church eventually found its home base in Dalton, Georgia. It grew steadily at first and then more rapidly as the great Depression ravaged workers in the mostly rural area of north Georgia. The group set up communal living practices and spread branches of the church across the country, recruiting among the most displaced with a message of social uplift and anti-capitalism, even as its religious practices became increasingly authoritarian and exploitative. If C. T. Pratt exhibited some characteristics of a violent cult leader, his son, who took over the church as his father suffered from ill-health, took these tendencies to a new level that eventually caught the attention of secular authorities. His son, in turn, was even worse--and placed the church on the path to financial ruin. Amazingly, the church survived its three authoritarian leaders and still exists

New Religious Movements (NRMs) came into being as a distinct subfield of academic study in the 1970s in response to the explosion of non-traditional religions that took place in the waning years of the Sixties counterculture. (The designation 'New Religion' is a direct translation of a Japanese term coined for the many new religions that emerged in the wake of the Second World War, and was adopted by Western scholars in the late Sixties/early Seventies in preference to the pejorative term 'cult'.) These movements, and those termed 'sects' and 'cults', initially attracted the attention of American and European sociologists of religion because of the controversy that arose in response to their expansion. Religious Studies, which at the time was still in the process of establishing itself as a legitimate discipline distinct from Theology and traditional Biblical Studies, was only too happy to leave NRMs to Sociology. This situation gradually changed, however, so that at present at least as many scholars of NRMs come from Religious Studies backgrounds as come from the social sciences. The collection consists of four volumes which together provide a one-stop source for crucial information on-and theoretical/methodological approaches to-contemporary New Religions. The set brings together thinking on a wide variety of themes associated with NRMs (e.g. apocalypticism, typologies, conversion, gender) and major works on the NRMs that have attracted the most scholarly attention (e.g. the 'Moonies', The Family International, Osho Rajneesh). Some influential 'anti-cult' articles (normally not considered part of mainstream scholarship) have also been included as well. Sects, Cults, and New Religions is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, and is destined to be valued as a vital research resource.

The fascinating history of Zoar, from the German Separatists who settled there to the present-day historical village.In 1817, a group of German religious dis senters immigrated to Ohio. Less than two years later, in order to keep their distinctive religion and its adherents together, they formed a communal society (eine guter gemeinschaft or "community of goods"), where all shared equally. Their bold experiment thrived and continued through three generations; the Zoar Separatists are considered one of the longest-lasting communal groups in US history. Fernandez traces the Separatists' beginnings in Wurttemberg, Germany, and their disputes with authorities over religious differences, their immigration to America, and their establishment of the communal Society of Separatists of Zoar. The community's development, particularly in terms of its business activities with the outside world, demonstrates its success and influence in the 19th century. Though the Society dissolved in 1898, today its site is a significant historical attraction. Zoar is based on ample primary source material, some never before utilized by historians, and illustrated with thirty historic photographs.

On February 28, 1993, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) launched a major assault against a small religious community in central Texas. One hundred agents, armed with automatic and semi-automatic weapons, invaded the compound, purportedly to carry out a single search-and-arrest warrant. The raid went badly; four agents were killed, and by the end of the day the settlement was surrounded by armoured tanks and combat helicopters. After a 51-day standoff, the United States Justice Department approved a plan to use CS gas against those barricaded inside. Whether by accident or plan, tanks carrying the CS gas caused the compound to explode in fire, killing all 74 men, women and children inside. Could the tragedy have been prevented? Was it necessary for the BATF agents to do what they did? What could have been done differently? This text offers a wide-ranging analysis of events surrounding Waco. Contributors seek to explore all facets of the confrontation in an attempt to understand one of the most confusing government actions in American history. The book begins with the history of the Branch Davidians and the story of its leader, David Koresh. Chapters show how the Davidians came to trouble authorities, why the group was labelled a "cult," and how authorities used unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse to strengthen their case against the sect. The media's role is examined next in essays that consider the effect on coverage of lack of time and resources, the orchestration of public relations by government officials, the restricted access to the site or to evidence, and the ideologies of the journalists themselves. Several contributors then explore the relation of violence to religion, comparing Waco to Jonestown. Finally, the role played by "experts" and "consultants" in defining such conflicts is explored by two contributors who had active roles as scholarly experts during and after the siege. The legal and consitutional implications of the government's actions are also analyzed.

Centuries after the brutal slaughter of the Cathars by papally endorsed Northern French forces,and their suppression by the Inquisiton the medieval Cathars continue to exert a powerful influence on both popular culture and spiritual seekers. Yet few people know anything of the beliefs of the Cathars beyond vague notions that they believed in reincarnation, were vegetarians, were somehow Gnostic, and had some relation to Mary Magdalene. The Lost Teachings of the Cathars explores the history of this Christian dualist movement between the 12th and 14th centuries, offering a sympathetic yet critical examination of its beliefs and practices.

As well as investigating the origin of the Cathars, their relationship to the ancient Gnostics of the early centuries AD and the possibility that they survived the Inquisition in some way, the author also addresses recent renewed interest in Catharism.

Eccentric esotericists initiated a neo-Cathar revival in the Languedoc which inspired the philosopher Simone Weil. The German Otto Rahn, who has been called the real-life Indiana Jones, believed that the Cathars were protectors of the Holy Grail and received support from Heinrich Himmler. Arthur Guirdham, a psychiatrist from the West of England, became convinced that he and a circle of patients had all been Cathars in previous lives.

Tourists flock to the Languedoc to visit Cathar country. Bestsellers such as Kate Mosse's timeslip novel Labyrinth continue to fascinate readers. But what did the Cathars really believe and practice?

Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the 'dangerous' outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, She recieved a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family. The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in-and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS. Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life.

Praise for the first edition:
" This] ambitious and courageous book is a] benchmark of theology by which questions about the meaningful history of the Peoples Temple may be measured." Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Re-issued in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the mass suicides at Jonestown, this revised edition of David Chidester s pathbreaking book features a new prologue that considers the meaning of the tragedy for a post-Waco, post-9/11 world. For Chidester, Jonestown recalls the American religious commitment to redemptive sacrifice, which for Jim Jones meant saving his followers from the evils of capitalist society. "Jonestown is ancient history," writes Chidester, but it does provide us with an opportunity "to reflect upon the strangeness of familiar... promises of redemption through sacrifice.""

What spiritual or esoteric practices took place within the mysterious and often controversial Knights Templar? Whilst little is known about this aspect of the Order's history, speculation and wild rumours continue to persist. Having taken the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the members of the Templar Order were required to live the life of other monastic orders. However, their remarkable rise to a successful elite community - followed by the insidious machinations and slander that led to their spectacular fall and destruction - suggests that they were involved in something more significant than straightforward medieval religious practices. There have been many theories as to whether their 'secret' involved material wealth and special treasure. But could it have been connected to a science of initiation - the knowledge, experience and understanding of spiritual dimensions that can enlighten the pupil on an esoteric path? In The Templar Spirit Margaret Jonas penetrates these questions, examining some of the various claims and revealing something of the esoteric practices and beliefs of the Order, including influences from other religious traditions. She presents her own research into the meaning of the mysterious 'head' that the Templars were accused of worshipping, and examines the historical figures that lent their wisdom and guidance to the founding of the Order.

Robert Frykenberg's insightful study explores and enhances historical understandings of Christian communities, cultures, and institutions within the Indian world from their beginnings down to the present. As one out of several manifestations of a newly emerging World Christianity, in which Christians of a Post-Christian West are a minority, it has focused upon those trans-cultural interactions within Hindu and Muslim environments which have made Christians in this part of the world distinctive. It seeks to uncover various complexities in the proliferation of Christianity in its many forms and to examine processes by which Christian elements intermingled with indigenous cultures and which resulted in multiple identities, and also left imprints upon various cultures of India.
Thomas Christians believe that the Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 A.D./C.E., and that he left seven congregations to carry on the Mission of bringing the Gospel to India. In our day the impulse of this Mission is more alive than ever. Catholics, in three hierarchies, have become most numerous; and various Evangelicals/Protestant communities constitute the third great tradition. With the rise of Pentecostalism, a fourth great wave of Christian expansion in India has occurred. Starting with movements that began a century ago, there are now ten to fifteen times more missionaries than ever before, virtually all of them Indian. Needless to say, Christianity in India is profoundly Indian and Frykenberg provides a fascinating guide to its unique history and practice.

???How can you be Jewish and believe in Jesus???? The Telchins were a happy, close-knit Jewish family until the day their daughter called from college with a shocking revelation: She had become a Christian. Judy??'s decision prompted her father to set out to disprove the Messiahship of Jesus in order to win her back. To do so, he had to study the Bible for the first time in his life. In the face of increasingly convincing proofs that Jesus is who He claimed to be, Stan Telchin found himself confronting thousands of years??? worth of misunderstanding, hurt and prejudice from both sides. The key question that surfaced was this: How can a Jewish person embrace Jesus and Christianity without turning his back on his own people? More than thirty years after coming to know Jesus as Messiah, Stan Telchin reflects a passion to celebrate the heritage and culture of the Jewish people while seeking to unite Jews and Gentiles under the love of Messiah Jesus. Stan Telchin is a Messianic Jew who proclaims Jesus as Messiah in the United States and around the world, now under the umbrella of Jews for Jesus. He pastored a nondenominational fellowship in suburban Washington, D.C., for fourteen years. The author of three books, he and his wife, Elaine, live in Florida.

Since the early 1980s, approximately ten million people have turned to charismatic businessman-turned-preacher ""Brother Mike"" and his Catholic ""prosperity"" movement, El Shaddai DWXI Prayer Partners Foundation International, Inc. Investing in Miracles offers an in-depth look at this unique indigenous movement, characterized by its effective use of mass media and its huge, emotion-filled outdoor rallies. The book investigates the sociocultural, political, and economic contexts of El Shaddai's popularity among the Filipino urban poor and aspiring middle classes and explores its significance for its followers, which reaches well beyond promises of appliances, salary raises, jobs abroad, and healing. Katharine Wiegele argues that Shaddai's theology directly engages and affirms desires for the material signs of modernity in ways that the mainstream Philippine Roman Catholic Church and Filipino leftist movements do not. At stake for its many adherents are their place and identity within the broader society; the meaning of their experiences of poverty, suffering, and oppression; and the relevance of their very notions of God, Christian community, and Christian life. Wiegele evocatively captures the religious and everyday experiences of her informants' lives in poor squatter neighborhoods of Manila. She is particularly sensitive to El Shaddai's delicate and often contorted relationship with the Catholic Church, which accepts the movement reluctantly, fearful of losing the loyalty of millions of faithful Catholics. While anchored in the local realities of the Philippines, Investing in Miracles will be of great interest to readers elsewhere for its exploration of religious seduction and interpretation, the interface between religion and politics, and the relevance of religion for the urban disenfranchised.