Exploring New Religions (Issues In Contemporary Religion) [Paperback]

George D. Chryssides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0826459595 | ISBN-13: 978-0826459596

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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)

About the Author

George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow in Contemporary Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (November 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826459595
• ISBN-13: 978-0826459596
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #616,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THOSE SCARY CULTS AGAIN, August 9, 2008

By 

Severin Olson (Hyattsville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exploring New Religions (Issues in Contemporary Religion) (Paperback)

Many of the prominent 'cults' or new religious movements are discussed here. Chapters cover offshoot developments from the major religions and include well known groups such as the Mormons, Jehovas Witnesses and Hare Krishna. One chapter covers the 'death cults', and the last looks at the anti-cult movement.

I very much enjoyed reading this book, and think others with similar interests will like it as well. It gives us an in depth look at the cults and is one of the few works to examine the issue in a detached, methodical way. Most books are written either to attack or defend particular groups in question. Chryssides desires only to learn about them. This is close to a five star book.

Well, almost. The author suffers from a typical academic inability to make judgements, even in the easiest cases. No group can be condemned. Of course we understand that one must be open minded to the claims and arguments of these cults, and not believe everything said about them, but matters are taken to an absurd extreme here. Time and again crimes are excused and immoral practices played down. The worst examples are found in the section on the death cult Jonestown. Chryssides goes as far as to suggest that the sect was driven to mass suicide by a hostile and racist world. What nonsense! I suppose if he was writing about the Japanese cult responsible for the underground gas attack in 1995, he would say they were only seeking to reduce subway crowding. True enough, we shouldn't be too quick to attack new religions in our midst. But they shouldn't all be let off the hook either.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Objective and Informative, September 4, 2000

By 

S A Rivers (Port Soif, Vale, Guernsey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exploring New Religions (Issues in Contemporary Religion) (Hardcover)

It would be easy for anyone embarking on a exploration into new religious movements to be swayed by the sensationalist media reporting that many of these groups have been subjected to. This book, however, deals with a host of faiths and belief systems in a subjective and unbiased way, however bizarre they appear to be. Even Jim Jones gets a fair hearing!

A great source of information for anyone interested in NRM's which wets the appetite for further study.