Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New Religious Movements) [Hardcover]

James D. Chancellor (Author), William Sims Bainbridge (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Children of God (now called "The Family") was the most controversial offshoot of the 1960s Jesus People movement, resulting in reams of negative publicity and mobilizing the nation's first formal anticult organization. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Chancellor has created what is perhaps the most sympathetic book about The Family, using the methodology of oral history to allow the movement's faithful participants to speak for themselves. His full interviews with more than 200 Family members have been edited and arranged according to themes such as conversion, beliefs, sexual practices, mission strategies, the sacrifices of membership and the next generation. Many of their statements will prove controversial; some members are still committed to the principles behind "The Law of Love," the group's sexual ministry program that had members initiating intercourse with nonmembers to draw them into God's love and into the movement. The practice has since been discarded and is punishable by excommunication (as is the practice of sex between adults and children, once the most controversial aspect of the Family). Chancellor's book makes a valuable counter-ethnography to the stories of those who have left the movement, including Heaven's Harlots, Miriam Williams's fascinating memoir of her 15 years in the group's upper echelons. While Williams's autobiography is absorbing, it follows the traditional genre of the expos?, while Chancellor's oral history of present-day members is something entirely new. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815606451
• ISBN-13: 978-0815606451
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,080,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A distorted view of The Family, March 11, 2005

By 

Perry (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New Religious Movements) (Hardcover)

Anyone reading this book must be careful not to accept at face value the conclusions Chancellor reaches about this extreme, fundamentalist, high-demand group. The methodology he used in writing this book is flawed, and so the picture he paints of this dubious new religious movement/cult is very distorted. The Family practices a doctrine referred to as "deceivers yet true," which they use to deceive outsiders as to their true nature and intentions, including scholars like Chancellor. Even the editors of this website have accepted Chancellor's claims in the book that The Family has changed for the better.

I strongly urge any reader of this book to do their own investigation of The Family on the internet, and not just blindly accept what Chancellor says about it. They will be shocked to learn the true nature of The Family, and it is not as Chancellor makes it appear.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Distorted?, January 6, 2006

By 

S. Fuller - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New Religious Movements) (Hardcover)

This is mainly a comment on previous remarks on the book. I think it is helpful to know that Dr. Chancellor poured over six years of his life in unprecedented close contact with followers of the Children of God from all over the world. When he was done with his research, the manuscript was reviewed by Peter Amsterdam himself, second in leadership of the movement. Amsterdam found only two factual errors, which were corrected, despite the clear portrayal of the movement's self-admitted embarassing practices.

From Dr. Chancellor's own mouth, he does not in anyway support their practices. By stating that they have made improvements simply means just that. It is not the same as supporting them.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First hand knowledge leads to top notch insight, January 28, 2006

By 

Chris Gore (Beggs, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New Religious Movements) (Hardcover)

Dr. Chancellor has done something that most do not especially when investing an entity that most people refer to as a "cult". By spending more time with the group than anyone else in academia, Chancellor is able to offer insights that would otherwise be distant observations. How a group views themselves offers added detail that the normal objective theological observation does not. Chancellor is right when he said recently that he was not the nations leading cults expert, but that he is the leading authority on the Children of God.