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Written by established scholars as well as younger experts in their field, this updated and revised second edition of Controversial New Religions offers a scholarly, dispassionate look at the new religious groups that have generated the most attention in the media and general public.
List of contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I: Western Religious Traditions
- 1. A Family for the 21st Century
- James Chancellor
- 2. The Unification Church
- Sarah Lewis
- 3. The Controversies About Peoples Temple and Jonestown
- Rebecca Moore
- 4. The Branch Davidians
- Gene Gallagher
- 5. Charismatic Controversies in the Jesus People, Calvary Chapel, and Vineyard Movements
- Jane Skjoldli
- 6. Kabbalah Centre: Marketing and Meaning
- Jody Myers
- 7. Controversial Afro-American Muslim Organizations
- Göran Larsson
- Part II: Asian and Asian-Inspired Traditions
- 8. The Earth School: The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
- James R. Lewis
- 9. Contested Genealogies and Cross-cultural Dynamics in the Hare Krishna Movement
- Malcolm Haddon
- 10. Transcendental Meditation, the Art of Living Foundation and Public Relations:
- From Psychedelic Romanticism to Science and Schism
- Inga Tøllefsen
- 11. Controversy, Cultural Influence, and the Osho/Rajneesh Movement
- Marion S. Goldman
- 12. Aum Shinrikyo and the Aum Incident: A Critical Introduction
- Martin Repp
- 13. Falun Gong: A Narrative of Pending Apocalypse, Shape-shifting Aliens and Relentless Persecution
- Helen Farley
- Part III: Western Esoteric and New Age Groups
- 14. Scientology: The Making of a Religion
- Kjersti Hellesøy
- 15. The Church Universal and Triumphant: Controversy, Change, and Continuance
- Jocelyn DeHass
- 16. The Order of the Solar Temple
- Henrik Bogdan
- 17. New Age Spiritualities
- Siv Ellen Kraft
- 18. Contemporary Paganism
- Manon Hedenborg White
- 19. Popularity of--and Controversy in--Contemporary Shamanism
- Anne Kalvig
- Part IV: Other Groups and Movements
- 20. "Come on up, and I will show thee": Heaven's Gate as a Post-modern Group
- George D. Chryssides
- 21. "Those Who Came from the Sky": Ancient Astronauts and Creationism in the Raëlian Religion
- Erik Östling
- 22. Wolf Age Pagans
- Mattias Gardell
- 23. Carnal, Chthonian, Complicated: The Matter of Modern Satanism
- Jesper Aagaard Petersen
- Index
About the author
James R. Lewis is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tromsø. He co-edits three books series and is the general editor for the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review and the Journal of Religion and Violence
Jesper Aa. Petersen is Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, specializing in Religious Education and Religious Studies. He is the editor of several anthologies, most recently The Devil's Party: Satanism in Modernity(OUP, 2013) with Per Faxneld.
Summary
Written by established scholars as well as younger experts in their field, this updated and revised second edition of Controversial New Religions offers a scholarly, dispassionate look at the new religious groups that have generated the most attention in the media and general public.
Additional text
Very often sequels are disappointing, but the second edition of Controversial New Religions offers another round of solid and fascinating scholarship on religions on the brink of-and sometimes beyond-the mainstream. Introducing a number of younger scholars, this volume, furthermore, shows how research into new and emergent religions has become a well-established and increasingly important field in the academic study of religion. Editors Lewis and Petersen should be commended for their ongoing contributions to this development.
