UFO religions / edited by Christopher Partridge.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Partridge, Christopher H. (Christopher Hugh), 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Unidentified flying objects--Religious aspects.

Unidentified flying objects.

Physical Description:

xvi, 383 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2003.

Summary:

March 1997, the bodies of 39 members of Heaven's Gate were discovered in a mansion outside San Diego. All had committed suicide, convinced that the passing of the Hale-Bopp comet signalled the arrival of aliens, who had come to transport them from their earthly bodies to the Kingdom of Heaven. In December 2002, the Raelian Church, who want to build an Embassy for extraterrestrials in Jerusalem, announced that they had finally realised another of it's goals: 'Clonaid', a Raelian organisation, had successfully cloned the first human baby. The popular fascination with UFOs, extraterrestrials, and alien abductions, enhanced by high-profile films, shows and books, such as Independance Day, The X-Files, and Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods?, has been accompanied by an equally fascinating, sometimes apocalyptic manifestation of the modern spiritual quest. UFO Religions analyses the religions and spiritualities which incorporate UFOs, extraterrestrial life and alien contact as core beliefs. The volume brings together an international group of scholars to consider the cultural and religious ideas within UFO religion, the incorporation of ufological elements within non-UFO religions, spiritual aspects of alien abduction narratives, and interpretations of UFO belief from the perspectives of psychology, sociology and religious studies.

Contents:

1 Understanding UFO religions and abduction spiritualities / Christopher Partridge 3

Part II Observing religions

2 Scientific creationism: a study of the Raelian Church / George D. Chryssides 45

3 When the archangel died: from revelation to routinisation of charisma in Unarius / Diana Tumminia 62

4 Opening a channel to the stars: the origins and development of the Aetherius Society / Simon G. Smith 84

5 Legitimating Suicide: Heaven's Gate and New Age ideology / James R. Lewis 103

6 The URANTIA book / Sarah Lewis 129

7 The United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors / Theodore Gabriel 149

8 From extraterrestrials to ultraterrestrials: the evolution of the concept of Ashtar / Christopher Helland 162

9 UFO faith and ufological discourses in Germany / Andreas Grunschloss 179

10 The Finnish UFO tradition, 1947-94 / Jaakko Narva 194

Part III Understanding narratives

11 UFO religions and cargo cults / Garry W. Trompf 221

12 Alien doubts: reading abduction narratives post-apocalyptically / Jodi Dean 239

13 UFO beliefs as syncretistic components / Mikael Rothstein 256

14 Apocalyptic and millenarian aspects of American UFOism / Daniel Wojcik 274

15 Attitudes towards religion and science in the UFO movement in the United States / Brenda Denzler 301

16 Jung on UFOs / Robert A. Segal 314

17 The psychology of UFO phenomena / John A. Saliba 329.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 346-368) and index.

ISBN:

0415263239

0415263247

OCLC:

51342721