A thorough and spirited account of new and alternative religions in the U.S., including a discussion of specific groups, issues, themes, and other topics of interest
VOLUME I: HISTORY AND CONTROVERSIES Introduction New Religious Movements in American History Leadership in New Religious Movements Affiliation and Disaffiliation Careers in New Religious Movements New Religious Movements and the Law New Religious Movements and Globalization Critiquing Cults: An Historical Perspective Evangelical Christian Countercult Movement New Religious Movements and Violence Gender in New and Alternative Religions Children in New Religious Movements: The Mormon Experience Same-Sex Eroticism and Gender Fluidity in New and Alternative Religions Millennial Destiny: A History of Millennialism in America VOLUME II: JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS Introduction The Shakers The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Adventist Tradition Jehovahs Witnesses Christian Science Peoples Temple: A Typical Cult? The Children of God / The Family The Branch Davidians Christian Identity: An American Millennial Mythology Judaism and Christianity Unite!: The Unique Culture of Messianic Judaism VOLUME III: METAPHYSICAL, NEW AGE, NEOPAGAN MOVEMENTS Introduction Swedenborgianism Spiritualism The Theosophical Society The American New Thought Movement North American Esotericism ECKANKAR The New Age: A Twentieth Century Movement Contemporary Shamanism The Worship of the Goddess in Feminist Spirituality in the United States Wicca, Witchcraft, and Modern Paganism Learning about Paganism Ritual and Neopaganism VOLUME IV: ASIAN TRADITIONS Introduction The Vedanta Society The Hare Krishna Movement: Beginnings, Change, and Transformation Soka Gakkai: A Human Revolution From Guru Maharaj Ji to Prem Rawat: Paradigm shifts over the Period of Forty Years as a Master (1966-2006) Adidam Buddhism in America Tibetan Buddhism in the United States The Unification Church/Movement in the United States The Bah's of the United States VOLUME V: AFRICAN DIASPORA TRADITIONS AND OTHER AMERICAN INNOVATIONS Introduction Part I The Nation of Islam Alternatives to Religion in African American Islamic Communities I: The Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths Alternatives to Religion in African American Islamic Communities II: The Ansaaru Allah Community/Nuwaubian Nation of Moors Black Israelites aka Black Jews aka Black Hebrews: Black Israelism, Black Judaism, Judaic Christianity Santera Rastafarianism Vodou in the United States: The Case of New Orleans Part II Satanism and the Church of Satan The Church of Scientology Heavens Gate UFO(s and) Religion New and Alternative Nature Religions in America
Eugene V. Gallagher is the Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College. He is the author of Divine Man or Magician? Celsus and Origen on Jesus (1980), Expectation and Experience: Explaining Religious Conversion (1990), The New Religious Movements Experience in America (2004), and, with James D. Tabor, Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America (1995) as well as articles on ancient Mediterranean religions and contemporary new religious movements.
W. Michael Ashcraft is Associate Professor of Religion at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. He is the author of The Dawn of the New Cycle: Point Loma Theosophists and American Culture (2002) and co-editor with Dereck Daschke of New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader (2005).
"Edited by Gallagher and Ashcraft, this work consists of five
volumes with topics ranging from New Religious Movements in
Colonial America in volume 1 to UFOs and Religion near the end of
volume 5. Contributions are by various scholarly authors with
chapters averaging 15-20 pages. Extensive notes follow each entry,
along with suggestions for further reading....Recommended.
Lower-/upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." -
Choice
"Altogether, a solid and readable course in alternative religions
suitable for high school and college students and particularly
laudable for its inclusive stance on alternative faiths. Best
purchased for circulating collections." - Library Journal
"This scholarly five-volume introduction to religions in America
provides readers with histories of traditional American religious
groups as well as analytical perspectives on new and alternative
religions that many conventional treatments have either stereotyped
or misrepresented....Achieving its purpose of rectifying much of
the misinformation of the past that has condemned many of America's
alternative faiths, these clearly written entries provide the
general public with accurate, comprehensive, authoratative, and
accessible accounts of traditional religious groups and many of the
new and alternative religious movements in American society....This
set includes an ample index and a selected but comprehensive
bibliography. The clarity of these entries makes them intelligible
to a wider audience and are recommended for both the high school
and college levels, as well as to the general public, including
public libraries and churches." - American Reference Books
Annual
"[A]n impressive set....The authors provide rich historical
background and also address specific issues with clarity that
renders the volume very informative....The entire set is highly
recommended for all libraries and scholars looking for handy
reference to New Religious Movements in America." - Religious
Studies Review
"This is a fascinating study of societal reactions to new religious
movements, including the secular anti-cult movement and the
religious conter-cult movement." - Multicultural Review
"The editors have assembled an impressive array of scholars and
religious experts to provide thoughtful, well documented
essays....[t]he authors provide lucid analyses that will be of
great service to undergraduate and graduate students alike as they
try to understand unfamiliar religions....[t]his set belongs in
every academic library that supports coursework in American society
or modern religion." - Catholic Library World
"The set is an impressive achievement that will aid both scholar
and layman in navigating the often nebulous territory of
nonmainstream religion in the US....[A]shcraft and Eugene V.
Gallagher have managed to compile what will be the standard
reference on the subject for years to come....Introduction to New
and Alternative Religions in America is a great set." -
Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
"Ashcraft and Gallagher have assembled a fascinating and thorough
resource on the many new and alternative religions to be found in
the U.S. Each of the five volumes is devoted to a separate theme
(and contains its own index), and contains lengthy articles on
between 8 and 12 topics. The initial volume delves into history and
controversies, with many religions discussed under such topics as
globalization, the law, evangelical Christian countercult
movements, and new religious movements and violence. The subsequent
volumes contain articles on religious movements, with volumes on
Asian traditions; African diaspora traditions and other American
innovations; metaphysical, New Age, and neopagan movements; and
Jewish and Christian traditions. The articles discuss each movement
in depth, describing its history, philosophy, leaders, religious
practice, controversies and issues, publications, and related
themes. Each article is signed, annotated, and concludes with a
bibliography." - Reference & Research Book News
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