Exploring New Religions

Description

An objective, well-researched history of contemporary new religions and cults.New religious movements - popularly known as cults - arouse strong public opinion and most books on the subject are polemical, giving hostile reaction rather than informed exploration. Exploring New Religions provides an account of a wide variety of new religions, focusing on their origins, beliefs and practices, which are set out in a dispassionate way, leaving readers to form their own value judgements. George Chryssides provides important analysis of the killer cults-the Jonestown People's Temple, Waco, the Solar Temple and Heaven's Gate-examining the factors that made their followers willing to die for their cause. Older groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter-day Saints (Mormons) are discussed, and Chryssides traces the development of a variety of strands of spirituality, ranging from New Thought, Spiritualism and Theosophy. Subsequent chapters include the Baha'i, the Family (formerly Children of God), the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), the Jesus Army, the Rastafarians, the Church of Scientology, Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the Unification Church ('the Moonies'). Lower profile groups are also discussed including: EST (Erhard Seminar Training), the New Kadampa Tradition, Brahma Kumaris, Sai Baba, Subud and the Western Buddhist Order. A study of the New Age phenomenon, and an account of societal responses to new religions at religious, societal and political levels is also included.

George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow at York St John University and the University of Birmingham, and was formerly Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton.

"General readers, sixth-formers and first-year university students might value it as a ground-clearing exercise prior to more detailed sociological or theological analyses." Reviewed in Theology, September/October 2000 "This book will be invaluable in the study of NRM's [New Religious Movements], providing a wealth of data and description, alerting readers to significant approaches and issues. It is a valuable addition to the series Issues in Contemporary Religion and works admirably in that context." Reviews in Religion and Theology 8.1 (February 2001) "There is much to commend this work. On two accounts it excels. Firstly, as a text book, it is clear and methodical without being hard work or boring. It should establish itself as a leader in the field for a long time. Secondly, for evangelicals it offers a fresh and helpful balance to the excesses of the counter-culture movement. Chryssides never goes beyond the evidence, and is always careful to treat other religions with sensitivity from a position of knowledge, rather than ignorance." --Reviewed in Themelios 25.3 (June 2000) "This volume will prove useful for introductory courses in the sociology of religion and on courses dealing with relatively new religious movements in general. It is packed with basic information on the founders and contexts of the emergence of groups and outlines basic teachings and practices of each." Journal of Contemporary Religion, 16.1 (2001)