Customer Reviews

The Gods Have Landed (SUNY Series in Religious Studies)

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I like this book because it is more objective perspective, not from the UFO true believers camp. Although from an academic viewpoint, most of the reading is interesting and would make a good resource book for any library. Its illustrations help put a face on the many types of flying saucer organizations. It contains an extensive bibliography, as well as an early history of the Heaven's Gate phenomenon (before they committed suicide). Fascinating chapters on Unarius and the Raelians. Lots of information all in one place, even a few statistics.

I read this book about seven years ago and I still remember it as one of the most enjoyable books of the many I've read. Each chapter takes a look at a different cult that has/had sprung up out of some excitement over the possibility of aliens. The analysis is qualitative and not overly theoretical (nor mildly journalistic).

James R. Lewis has edited/published many books about "alternative" religions (e.g., The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions), and has even edited a more recent and detailed work on UFO religions (The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of UFO Religions).

Nevertheless, this earlier (1995) book is well worth reading, for those of us with an interest in the "religious"/spiritual side of the UFO phenomenon. There are ten chapters, written by persons as noteworthy as J. Gordon Melton, on subjects such as "Contactees: A Survey," "Religous Dimensions of the UFO Abductee Experience," "Religious Dimensions of the UFO Abductee Experience," as well as separate chapters on Unarius, the Raelian Movement, Heaven's Gate, etc.

There is also a HUGE Bibliography on the "Flying Saucer Contactee Movement 1950-1994."

This should certainly not be one's ONLY book on the subject, but it is a volume well worth reading for persons intersted in "UFO religions."