American society is culturally diverse with a variety of religious denominations, sects, cults, and self-help groups vying for members. This volume analyzes nine of these groups, chosen both for their intrinsic interest and because they illustrate a variety of sociological concepts. The groups included in this study are: Heaven's Gate, Jesus People USA, the Love Family, The Farm, Amish Women, Scientology, El Nino Fidencio, Santeria, and Freedom Park. The contributors are social scientists with first-hand knowledge of the groups they examine.

The postmodern claim that secular science, materialism, and traditional Christianity are defunct has produced a worldview crisis for contemporary society. Into the void has stepped the New Age movement to offer a widely held and growing alternative. According to John Newport, the influence of New Age beliefs on our culture -- and even the dilution of Christianity itself -- demands that they be scrutinized in the light of the Bible.

In this urgently needed work, Newport delivers a comprehensive presentation of the New Age movement and the impact of its beliefs on contemporary culture and Christianity, while also offering an effective, biblical antidote for today's worldview crisis. Newport first surveys the historical development of the New Age worldview, from ancient times through important tendencies in nineteenth-century America to its recent Far Eastern influences. He then explores eleven key areas of the New Age worldview and contrasts each area of belief with the traditional biblical worldview.

Thoroughly discussed are New Age consciousness, spiritism and channeling, magic and witchcraft, neopaganism and Satanism, New Age ecology, the New Age movement's influence on personal healthcare, New Age teachings on business and prosperity consciousness, New Age perspectives on education and science, and much more. Throughout, Newport maintains a fair dialogue with his subject matter while showing why this dialogue ought to bring renewed commitment to what the traditional biblical worldview has to say about each of these areas.

New religious movements-or so-called "cults"-continue to attract and mystify us. While mainstream America views cults as an insidious mix of apocalyptic beliefs, science fiction, and paranoia, with new vehicles such as the World Wide Web, they are becoming even more influential as the millennium approaches. Len Oakes-a former member of such a movement-explores the phenomenon of cult leaders. He examines the psychology of charisma and proposes his own theory of the five-stage life cycle of the two types of prophets: the messianic and the charismatic.

In this third volume of the Aghora trilogy the Aghori Vimalananda uses the Bombay racetrack as a metaphor for the ultimate game of life.

Drawing upon the clinical expertise of professionals and the personalexperiences of those formerly involved in high-intensity mind-controlgroups, this book is a comprehensive guide to the cult experience.

"This important book fills a gap in our knowledge.... Highlyrecommended." -- Library Journal

..". highlyrecommended... " -- Choice

"With admirable clarity andremarkable brevity, Jackson surveys the history of the movement and raises...important issues... " -- The Journal of American History

Animportant history of the Ramakrishna movement, the very first and in many ways themost important Asian religious group to appear in the United States.

In this book, Duncan Ferguson and contributors describe the range of thought and practice within the New Age and offer balanced judgments regarding its value for societies and individuals undergoing unprecedented change. Assessing its weakness and strengths, the authors and editor say the New Age is not all good or all bad and that some of its holistic and ecological tenets may be useful in formulating a spirituality in our confusing time.

Evil? In everyday life?

When most people talk about evil, they mean "bad people," as if evil were a psychological affliction. Yet evil is a force that mankind has reckoned with since the dawn of civilization, "Shouting at the Wolf" is a revelatory work about the existence of evil and the dark side of the occult.

Author Anderson Reed says, "With the burgeoning interest in the occult, there is a tendency towards a dangerous pollyanna attitude about its reality. New Agers like to think that they may pick and choose which elements of the occult they will deal with and leave the rest alone. This is folly. When the door to the occult is opened, light and darkness spill out together. The idea that as long as we don't believe in evil it cannot harm us is disastrously wrong."

"Shouting at the Wolf" is a uniquely practical guide to:

The Varieties of Evil

How Evil Thrives

The Dangers of "Satan" Worship

Possession and Sorcery

Why Evil Provoked the Inquisition and Witch Trials

The Death Passage and Death-illnesses

Accidental Possession by the Dead

Living Sanely in the Presence of Evil

The Occultist's View of Substance Abuse

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder as an Occult Phenomenon

Using Crystals for Divination

Journeys in the Spirit World

Purifying and Protecting Your Home

Understanding Exorcism

Helping Our Loved Ones to Die Well

"Shouting at the Wolf" brings the study of evil and spiritual invasion up-to-date and makes the subject clear to everyone.

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

In this fascinating exploration of satanism, from sixth-century Persia to the present day, famed crime fiction writer Arthur Lyons describes the currents and directions of a doctrine as old as the monotheism of western man. 16 pages of photos. Advertising in New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other print media.

Essays In Occultism, Spiritism, And Demonology by Dean W. R. Harris 1919

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'An extraordinary achievement . . . gripping, grim and witty' Robert MacFarlane 'Unputdown-able ... No book could be more timely' Richard J Evans Today, the bunker has become the extreme expression of our greatest fears: from pandemics to climate change and nuclear war. And once you look, it doesn't take long to start seeing bunkers everywhere. In Bunker, acclaimed urban explorer and cultural geographer Bradley Garrett explores the global and rapidly growing movement of 'prepping' for social and environmental collapse, or 'Doomsday'. From the 'dread merchants' hustling safe spaces in the American mid-West to eco-fortresses in Thailand, from geoscrapers to armoured mobile bunkers, Bunker is a brilliant, original and never less than deeply disturbing story from the frontlines of the way we live now: an illuminating reflection on our age of disquiet and dread that brings it into new, sharp focus. The bunker, Garrett shows, is all around us: in malls, airports, gated communities, the vehicles we drive. Most of all, he shows, it's in our minds.

When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide tells the story of Brandon Davies' dismissal from Brigham Young University's NCAA playoff basketball team to illustrate the thorny intersection of religion, race, and sport at BYU and beyond. Author Darron T. Smith analyzes the athletes dismissed through BYU's honor code violations and suggests that they are disproportionately African American, which has troubling implications. He ties these dismissals to the complicated history of negative views toward African Americans in the LDS faith. These honor code dismissals elucidate the challenges facing black athletes at predominantly white institutions. Weaving together the history of the black athlete in America and the experience of blackness in Mormon theology, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide offers a timely and powerful analysis of the challenges facing African American athletes in the NCAA today.

An exploration of the shock tactics and radical teachings of "crazy-wise adepts, holy fools and rascal gurus" - the cult religious leaders who challenge our commonsense views of reality and norms of conduct. This book explores this universal dimension of spirituality in a blend of history, philosophy, theology and first-person accounts. Here are Fools for Christ, sitting naked on garbage heaps, eccentric Zen masters baffling their students with beatings and belly laughs and enigmatic spritual clowns like Gurdjieff and Aleister Crowley.

Advocating nuclear war, attempting communication with dolphins and taking an interest in the paranormal and UFOs, there is perhaps no greater (or stranger) cautionary tale for the Left than that of Posadism. Named after the Argentine Trotskyist J. Posadas, the movement's journey through the fractious and sectarian world of mid-20th century revolutionary socialism was unique. Although at times significant, Posadas' movement was ultimately a failure. As it disintegrated, it increasingly grew to resemble a bizarre cult, detached from the working class it sought to liberate. The renewed interest in Posadism today - especially for its more outlandish fixations - speaks to both a cynicism towards the past and nostalgia for the earnest belief that a better world is possible. Drawing on considerable archival research, and numerous interviews with ex- and current Posadists, I Want to Believe tells the fascinating story of this most unusual socialist movement and considers why it continues to capture the imaginations of leftists today.

At first, the Watchtower Society seemed harmless to William J. Schnell, even valuable as a way to develop his faith in God and pass it on to others. This book is Schnell's fascinating account of his involvement with the cult, which effectively enticed him in the 1920s and continues to lure countless individuals today. Readers will learn, as Schnell did, that the Jehovah's Witness religion he had joined was anything but innocent. For thirty years he was enslaved by one of the most totalitarian religions of our day, and his story of finally becoming free is riveting.
Readers will be alerted to the inner machinations, methods, and doctrines of the Watchtower Society, arming them to forewarn others and witness to their Jehovah's Witness friends, relatives, neighbors, and the stranger at the door. With more than 300,000 copies sold, "30 Years a Watchtower Slave" is truly one of the classic testimonies of freedom from a powerful cult.

A prophetic warning against the foolishness of crusades, John Gray's Black Mass challenges our belief in human progress. Our conventional view of history is wrong. It is founded on a pernicious myth of an achievable utopia that in the last century alone caused the murder of tens of millions. In Black Mass John Gray tears down the religious, political and secular beliefs that we insist are fundamental to the human project, examines the interaction of terrorism, declining world resources, environmental change, human myths of redemption and a flawed belief in Western democracy, and shows us how a misplaced faith in our ability to improve the world has actually made it far worse. 'Brilliant, frightening, devastating' John Banville, Guardian 'A brilliant polemic ... Gray's most powerful argument yet' J.G. Ballard, Guardian, Books of the Year 'Causes vertigo when it does not cause outrage' Sunday Times 'Exhilarating, invigorating' Literary Review 'Savage. Gray raises profound and valid doubts about the conventional "plot" of modern history' Financial Times 'A load of bollocks ... could hardly be more bonkers if it was crawling with lizards' Sunday Telegraph John Gray has been Professor of Politics at Oxford University, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics. His books include False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism, Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals and The Immortalization Commission: The Strange Quest to Cheat Death. His selected writings, Gray's Anatomy, was published in 2009.

Based on media reports, it appears that there has been an exponential gain in religious cults throughout the world. But who are these ersatz religions and what are they up to. This important book illuminates their activities, backgrounds and aims. This work is most informative about cults, particularly about cult intrusions on the religious scene. The infiltrations are revealed in this book through an in-depth look at major areas of religious concern (i.e. fundamentalism, fanaticism). Many procedures seen in conventional religions have been adopted by cults. The search for remedies to the cult problem finds scarce resources available. Individual case histories are presented and offer a measure of hope in breaking free from a cult. Among a number of disturbing issues the disruption engineered between the recruits and their families continues to be of paramount concern.

Do new religious movements, or "cults" as they are often known, harm those who join them, or are they a form of alternative therapy? This objective analysis examines the phenomenon of cults from a variety of perspectives: psychological, sociological, legal and theological, and deals with some of the major problems which confront those dealing with issues raised by these movements.

This collection of interdisciplinary essays explores the prime concern of Mormon Studies - the relationship between knowledge and spirituality - and how that relationship has been defined and reinterpreted over time. Beginning with an examination of the international prospects for Mormonism at the turn of the century, the volume's overarching theme, from sociological, anthropological and theological approaches, is the examination of changing Mormon identities. The contributors review the expansion of Mormonism, the emotional and social contexts of its historic and contemporary manifestations, the distinction between 'Utah' Mormons and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and issues in Mormon feminism, concluding with a valuable review of the sources and documents available for studying Mormonism.

Carly Gelsinger is an awkward and lonely thirteen-year-old when she stumbles into Pine Canyon Assemblies of God, the cracked stucco church on the outskirts of her remote small town. She assimilates, despite her apprehensions, because she is desperate to belong. Soon, she is on fire for God. She speaks in tongues, slays demons, and follows her abusive pastor’s every word―and it’s not until her life is burnt to the ground that she finds the courage to leave. Raw and illuminating,Once You Go In is a coming-of-age tale about the beauty and danger of absolute faith, and the stories people tell themselves to avoid their deepest fears.

The Sathya Sai global civil religious movement incorporates Hindu and Muslim practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influences, and "New Age"-style rituals and beliefs. Shri Sathya Sai Baba, its charismatic and controversial leader, attracts several million adherents from various national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. In a dynamic account of the Sathya Sai movement's explosive growth, "Winged Faith" argues for a rethinking of globalization and the politics of identity in a religiously plural world.

This study considers a new kind of cosmopolitanism located in an alternate understanding of difference and contestation. It considers how acts of "sacred spectating" and illusion, "moral stakeholding" and the problems of community are debated and experienced. A thrilling study of a transcultural and transurban phenomenon that questions narratives of self and being, circuits of sacred mobility, and the politics of affect, "Winged Faith" suggests new methods for discussing religion in a globalizing world and introduces readers to an easily critiqued yet not fully understood community.

The Vaisnava-sahajiya cult that arose in Bengal in the sixteenth century was an intensely emotional attempt to reconcile the sensual and the ascetic. Exploring the history and doctrine of this cult, Edward C. Dimock, Jr., examines the works of numerous poets who are the source of knowledge about this sect. Dimock examines the life of the saint Caitanya, the mad Baul singers, the doctrines of Tantrism, the origins of the figure of Radha, and the worship of Krishna. His study will appeal to students of the history of religion as well as of Indian culture. This edition includes a new Foreword by Wendy Doniger.
"This is a magnificent book--painstakingly researched and gracefully written. . . . Professor Dimock's book is one of the most rewarding and stimulating studies to appear in recent years."--G. Richard Weldon, "Journal of Asian Studies "