The study of New Religious Movements (NRMs) is one of the fastest-growing areas of religious studies. This Handbook covers the current state of the field and breaks new ground. Its contributors are drawn equally from sociology and religious studies and include both established scholars and "rising stars" in the field. The core chapters deal with such central issues as conversion, the brainwashing debate, millennialism, and modernization. Another section deals with NRM subfields such as neopaganism, satanism, and UFO religions. The final section considers NRMs in global perspective.
Readership: Scholars and students of new religious movements.
Edited by James R. Lewis, Associate Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin
Introduction 1: J. Gordon Melton: An Introduction to New Religions MODERNIZATION AND NEW RELIGIONS 2: Christopher Partridge: Alternative Spiritualities, New Religions and the Re-enchantment of the West 3: Lorne Dawson: The Socio-Cultural Significance of Modern New Religious Movements 4: Mikael Rothstein: Science and Religion in the New Religions 5: Douglas E. Cowan and Jeffrey K. Hadden: Virtually Religions: New Religious Movements and the World Wide Web SOCIAL CONFLICT 6: David G. Bromley: Violence adn New Religious Movements 7: James T. Richardson: Legal Dimensions of New Religions 8: Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley, and Susan E. Darnell Campaign: The North American Anti-Cult Movement: Vicissitudes pf Success and Failure 9: Massimo Introvigne: Something Peculiar About France: Anti-Cult Campaigns in Western Europe and French Religious Exceptionalism 10: Philip Jenkins: Satanism and Ritual Abuse 11: Dick Anthony and Thomas Robbins: Conversion and "Brainwashing" in New Religious Movements 12: Daivd G. Bromley: Leaving the Fold: Disaffiliation in New Religious Movements SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS 13 Psychology and the New Religious Movements: John A. Saliba: 14: Richard Landes: Millennialism 15: Diana Tumminia and R. George Kirkpatrick: Mythic Dimensions of New Religious Movements: Function, Reality Construction, and Process 16: Susan J. Palmer: Women in New Religious Movements 17: Charlotte E. Hardman: Children in New Religious Movements NEO-PAGANS, UFOS, AND OTHER HETERODOXIES 18: Andreas Gruenschloss: Waiting for the "Big Beam": UFO and "Ufological" Themes in NRMs 19: Olav Hammer: Esotericism in New Religious Movements 20: Steven J. Sutcliffe: The Dynamics of Alternative Spirituality: Seekers, Networks and "New Age" 21: Michael Pye: New Religions in East Asia 22: Shelley Rabinovitch and Sian Reid: Witches, Wiccans and Neo-Pagans: A Reivew of Current Academic Treatments of Neo-Paganism
