Customer Reviews

The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy Order of MANS From New Age to Orthodoxy (Religion in North America)

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I was very impressed with this thorough and objective account of the journey of the Holy Order of MANS from its inception to its eventual conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. I was a sister in the original Holy Order of MANS in the late seventies. My experiences, both inner and outer, were profound and still deeply shape my life today. The objective facts and subjective interviews so thoroughly and carefully documented in Lucas' book have helped me make sense of my feelings and experiences both during and after my time in and around this religion.

In addition, Lucas also draws many examples from other religious movements, illustrating the many and typical similarites between all new relligions of this type. For those studying the characteristics of new religions, I believe this descriptive journey through the experiences of one will help in understanding the many.

In addition, I found this book to be lively and intelligent, never dull. Although carefully footnoted and documented, it remains engaging from start to finish.

Let us put this book into a proper persective. This is not _the_ definitive history of the Holy Oder of MANS, but one man's doctoral dissertation based on selective interviews, the author's gleanings of the interviewees' 15 to 40 year old memories. There is much that is inaccurate, coming from hearsay that someone recalled hearing.

The Order had/has a fascinating history and no one else has stepped up to tackle the massive task to document it in it's true fullness and richness. I was a member in multiple capacities from 1969 to 1975, with a brief stint in 1982. I know/knew a fair number of those who were interviewed and many that were not. It has been estimated that the Order touched 10,000 people, to one degree or another.

All in all, this is a book worth reading. Just keep in mind what this text is: the author's doctoral dissertation and an oral history with all the shortcomings thereof.

Father Paul Blighton taught, and the Order transmitted "The Middle Path." Timeless, reaching from ancient wisdom into the coming age; universal and applicable to all.
An outside observer might conclude that the Order's teachings incorporated a combination of ideas, but this was not what Order students experienced in their training. We came into a most powerful, integrated experience of Christ in all facets of Being. No frills were added to entertain; only universal truth to transform.
The Light emphasized in all of the Order's teachings, is the Light of Illumination, the Christ Light. It can be seen by one who is being mystically transformed by it, and is not merely symbolic. The stated purpose of the Order was to reach as many souls as possible with the transforming Light of Christ.

I was associated with the HOOM through the Christian Community movement that they spawned. I was a charter member of one of the communities for 9 years from June of '75 though June of '83. This book helped me to put my experiences with the Order into context. I was totally immersed in the teachings and the life. It was during the heyday of my hippie years ('68 through '83, all totalled) and the Order was composed almost exclusively from hippies...it was the ultimate hippie/New Age/mystic trip. To be associated with the Order was to be connected with the spiritual heart of hippiedom throughout the country, because it's influence saturated so much of the country. The memories are bitter-sweet. Bitter because we were all deceived by New Age teachings, but sweet because of all of the wonderful people who touched my life so profoundly. This book can give you the facts and history of the Order, but you had to be involved to partake of the heart and soul of it. There will always be a lovely ache in my heart when I think of those years.

Please don't use my name or where I live.(a reader is fine) These people still scare the hell out of me. I could not have gotten through this book, if it's subject wasn't about my life. I was a member of a Christian Community for ten years. This book is way too into socialogical studies for my taste, but it was interesting to find the middle of the story. Someone should write a book about the the individuals this organization really destroyed. Everyone of these stories is about a real infinitely precious human being, a real family, a real life. Here is a man who had real power--spiritual whatever(what was it and where did it come from?)--and created an organization giving spiritual power to street people and sent them out to prey on other people as a way of life. Someone should write the story from the people who are still hiding out who watched their lives destroyed emotionally, spiritually, financially. The people at the top of the heap are generally the people with the highest body count. How they did this and why and where it came from is something I live with everyday. This book is nowhere near the diffinitive answer but it does prove the old adage absolute power corrupts absolutely. Please someone write another book!