Comprehending Cults, Second Edition, provides a sociological interpretation of the phenomenon of new religious movements. While the author does not offer an apologia for cults--in either a religious or a sociological sense--he does attempt to replace suspicion and misinformation with a greater
knowledge of the facts (as best we know them) and a measure of sympathetic understanding.
Completely revised and updated in this second edition, the book examines all aspects of cults, while striving to delineate the very real limits of our knowledge. In addition to dealing with the troublesome aspects of the subject, including issues of violence, sexuality, and brainwashing, the author
also considers the possibility that new religious movements are a source of spiritual satisfaction to their members. Offering up-to-date social science research about contemporary religious cults, Comprehending Cults, Second Edition, is ideal for undergraduate sociology of religion and new religious
movements courses.
This collection enables readers to gain a clear understanding of the phenomenon of new religious movements in modern culture and to replace prejudice and speculation with reliable insights into the nature of cult activity.
D. hlotet, “Identity Crisis,” in Encyclopedia ofPsycho/ogy, ed. by Raymond Corsini, vol. 2, p. 203. 41. See, for instance, W. W. Meisner, ... For a discus— sion on Shaws view see Richard hl. Waugaman, “Religion—The Last Taboo,” ...
... Comprehending Cults, 7. 5. Marc Galanter, Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), 5–7. 6. Dawson, Comprehending Cults, 5. 7. This is not to dispute accurately reported incidences of indoctrination ...
In the face of a scientific view of the universe which many saw becoming more and more mechanistic and “dead,” those attuned to the alternative tradition wanted to reassert its underlying sense of the profound interaction of mind and ...
The volume includes original documents from groups such as the Unification Church, Theosophy, Branch Davidians, Wicca, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Santeria, and Seventh Day Adventists, as well as many others.
Oxford: Clarendon Press. Festinger, Leon 1957 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Gluckman, Max 1965 Politics. Law, and Ritual in Tribal Societies. Oxford: Blackwell. Haugen, E., H.H. Dixon, ...
Catherine Beyer, “John Travolta,” alt.religion.about.com, 2010, http://altreligion .about.com/od/artandculture/ig/Scientologist-Celebrities/John-Travolta.htm; Roger Friedman, “Actor Jason Beghe,” Foxnews.com, April 16, 2008, ...
'Sexuality and the Maturation of The Family. In Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating The Family / Children of God, edited by James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, 71–95. Stanford, Calif.: Center for Academic Publications.
Robert Silverberg, introduction to Hubbard, Ole Doc Methuselah (Los Angeles: Bridge Publications, 1992), xii. 38. Pendle, Strange Angel, 253. 39. Hubbard, Fear (Los Angeles: Bridge Publications, 1991), 141–42. 40.
The volume includes original documents from groups such as the Unification Church, Theosophy, Branch Davidians, Wicca, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Santeria, and Seventh Day Adventists, as well as many others.