The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Ufo Religions [Hardcover]

James R. Lewis (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

An expert in new religions, Professor James Lewis has here brought together twenty insightful articles that cover the many variations of UFO-based religions. What the contributors demonstrate is that there are persistent and salient themes underlying the diversity of beliefs centred on the UFO phenomenon. Hearkening back to theosophy, many groups have interpreted UFO sightings and alleged contacts as attempts by alien ambassadors from a more advanced civilization to bring spiritual enlightenment to Earth, where humanity is seen to be floundering in ignorance. The extraterrestrial message is usually channelled through a charismatic human leader, who then mobilises a group around this New Age 'revelation'.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an absolute must for anyone interested in religious aspects of the UFO enigma." -- UFO-Aktuellt, January 2004

"...the definitive work of UFO religions from the point of view of religious studies scholarship..." -- Nova Religio, November 2004

About the Author

James R. Lewis, a world-recognized authority on nontraditional religions, teaches religious studies at the University of Wisconsin, and is the author or editor of over 20 books, including ODD GODS; DOOMSDAY PROPHECIES, and the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CULTS, SECTS, AND NEW RELIGIONS.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 530 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573929646
• ISBN-13: 978-1573929646
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,979,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing set of scholarly discourses, August 11, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Ufo Religions (Hardcover)

The modern UFO era only began in 1947 when one man's observation of strange objects in the sky led to the latest flying saucer theories; yet centuries of mystery preceded the event. James R. Lewis edits Encyclopedic Sourcebook Of UFO Religions to document the societies, religions and belief systems surrounding such sightings, with articles on such diverse groups as Heaven's Gate, Aetherius Society, and more revealing the belief systems which have built religions out of UFO concepts. An intriguing set of scholarly discourses evolves in Encyclopedic Sourcebook Of UFO Religions.

5.0 out of 5 stars James R. Lewis has done it again, November 29, 2005

By 

Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Ufo Religions (Hardcover)

Scholarly books which objectively and thoroughly deal with the UFO phenomenon and all its various elements are, fortunately, multiplying. And, the last few years have seen a steady rise in the books published dealing with the religious, anthropological, and sociological aspects. The God have Landed (1995, also edited by Lewis) brought together several outstanding scholars and their analyses and studies of religious elements within the UFO movement in general and the extraterrestrial hypothesis in particular.

The latest book from Lewis can be regarded as a sequel to the one published in 1995. The Encyclopedic Sourcebook examines many different new religious movements that were founded after its leader or leaders, in other words the contactees, received extraterrestrial messages through physical contact or telepathy and channelling. Since the book (actually an anthology) is examining new religious movements and their ideas, the content is free from descriptions of various famous UFO sightings (which have been dealt with in numerous other books, anyway). Theories about explanations or solutions to what the UFO phenomenon really is, are also absent, and so are new sightings and new revelations.

Instead, the human factor is what's being focused on, discussions about why people believe what the believe, and the positive as well as negative factors that might surface when traditional religion is being replaced by saviors from outer space.

The anthology, a massive piece with more than 500 pages, is divided into six different sections. The first section offers an overview of various religious interpretations of the UFO phenomenon, and how the flying saucer myth with its benevolent extraterrestrials came into existence, primarily in the United Stated during the latter half of the 20th century.

Section two describers two UFO religions from the 1950s that are still in existence; The Aetherius Society and Unarius Academy of Science.

Next section is devoted to movements founded in the 1970s; The Raëlian Movement and Heaven's Gate. The former is the most prominent UFO religion in contemporary society and the latter created headlines all over the world when its members and last remaining founder committed mass suicide in San Diego, California, in 1997.

After that section, the reader is offered an exposition over movements that were founded more recently; Chan Tao and the internet based The Ground Crew.

The following section is lacking direct analyses of movements, and is instead focused on how people in general view the extraterrestrial hypothesis, how contemporary religions would react to the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and how a future meeting with a cosmic intelligence would affect the Earth.

The final section is a long appendix with material gathered from some of the movements. The Gods have Landed ended with an extensive bibliography of contactee literature from 1950 to 1994 by J. Gordon Melton, but a similar or updated list cannot be found in The Encyclopedic Sourcebook. However, since literature produced by the movements themselves rarely or never can be found in traditional bookstores, the final section gives the reader a possibility to hear from the believers themselves, and not just from the scientists who have studied them.

And speaking of the scientists, all contributors are well-known and quite respected, which makes the reading both interesting and memorable indeed. But, the book is very academic, and thus very demanding. On numerous occasions the reader must be aware of anthropological, sociological, or religious scholarship in order to fully understand what's going on, the language can be quite a challenge, and several sections are not easy to grasp for the everyday reader. On more then one occasion the text feels somewhat repetitive, which on the other hand can be suspected from an anthology dealing with such a specific topic.

Still, if one is able to cope with the academic English, lots and lots of goodies are to be found. The essays by Susan Palmer and Michael Rothstein about the Raëlians are very interesting. Charles A. Ziegler offers great insight into how widespread the belief in extraterrestrial intelligence is, Robert Elwood does a great job philosophizing about what would happen the day Contact was firmly established, and Hilary Evans has a splendid contribution with an essay made of easy-to-understand language and interesting approach.

John A. Saliba's essay about Unarius, on the other hand, is both boring and redundant, and the entire section four does not live up to the standard set by the other essays in the anthology.

Overall, The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions is a breath of fresh air of reasoning and interesting scholarly analyses of new religious movements which all in one way or the other uses the UFO phenomenon in their ideologies and promises about a better world for us all. It's quite expensive, but if you're able to afford it you'll get a piece of scholarship well worth a place of honor in your bookshelf.

5.0 out of 5 stars James R. Lewis has done it again, November 23, 2005

By 

Stefan Isaksson (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Ufo Religions (Hardcover)

Scholarly books which objectively and thoroughly deal with the UFO phenomenon and all its various elements are, fortunately, multiplying. And, the last few years have seen a steady rise in the books published dealing with the religious, anthropological, and sociological aspects. The God have Landed (1995, also edited by Lewis) brought together several outstanding scholars and their analyses and studies of religious elements within the UFO movement in general and the extraterrestrial hypothesis in particular.

The latest book from Lewis can be regarded as a sequel to the one published in 1995. The Encyclopedic Sourcebook examines many different new religious movements that were founded after its leader or leaders, in other words the contactees, received extraterrestrial messages through physical contact or telepathy and channelling. Since the book (actually an anthology) is examining new religious movements and their ideas, the content is free from descriptions of various famous UFO sightings (which have been dealt with in numerous other books, anyway). Theories about explanations or solutions to what the UFO phenomenon really is, are also absent, and so are new sightings and new revelations.

Instead, the human factor is what's being focused on, discussions about why people believe what the believe, and the positive as well as negative factors that might surface when traditional religion is being replaced by saviors from outer space.

The anthology, a massive piece with more than 500 pages, is divided into six different sections. The first section offers an overview of various religious interpretations of the UFO phenomenon, and how the flying saucer myth with its benevolent extraterrestrials came into existence, primarily in the United Stated during the latter half of the 20th century.

Section two describers two UFO religions from the 1950s that are still in existence; The Aetherius Society and Unarius Academy of Science.

Next section is devoted to movements founded in the 1970s; The Raëlian Movement and Heaven's Gate. The former is the most prominent UFO religion in contemporary society and the latter created headlines all over the world when its members and last remaining founder committed mass suicide in San Diego, California, in 1997.

After that section, the reader is offered an exposition over movements that were founded more recently; Chan Tao and the internet based The Ground Crew.

The following section is lacking direct analyses of movements, and is instead focused on how people in general view the extraterrestrial hypothesis, how contemporary religions would react to the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and how a future meeting with a cosmic intelligence would affect the Earth.

The final section is a long appendix with material gathered from some of the movements. The Gods have Landed ended with an extensive bibliography of contactee literature from 1950 to 1994 by J. Gordon Melton, but a similar or updated list cannot be found in The Encyclopedic Sourcebook. However, since literature produced by the movements themselves rarely or never can be found in traditional bookstores, the final section gives the reader a possibility to hear from the believers themselves, and not just from the scientists who have studied them.

And speaking of the scientists, all contributors are well-known and quite respected, which makes the reading both interesting and memorable indeed. But, the book is very academic, and thus very demanding. On numerous occasions the reader must be aware of anthropological, sociological, or religious terms in order to fully understand what's going on, the language can be quite a challenge, and several sections are not easy to grasp for the everyday reader. On more then one occasion the text feels somewhat repetitive, which on the other hand can be suspected from an anthology dealing with such a specific topic.

Still, if one is able to cope with the academic English, lots and lots of goodies are to be found. The essays by Susan Palmer and Michael Rothstein about the Raëlians are very interesting. Charles A. Ziegler offers great insight into how widespread the belief in extraterrestrial intelligence is, Robert Elwood does a great job philosophizing about what would happen the day Contact was firmly established, and Hilary Evans has a splendid contribution with an essay made of easy-to-understand language and interesting approach.

John A. Saliba's essay about Unarius, on the other hand, is both boring and redundant, and the entire section four does not live up to the standard set by the other essays in the anthology.

Overall, The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions is a breath of fresh air of reasoning and interesting scholarly analyses of new religious movements which all in one way or the other uses the UFO phenomenon in their ideologies and promises about a better world for us all. It's not the cheapest book in the world, but if you can afford it you'll get a piece of scholarly work well worth a place of honor in your bookshelf.