Legitimating new religions / James R. Lewis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewis, James R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cults--Psychology.

Cults.

Psychology, Religious.

Authority--Religious aspects.

Authority.

Physical Description:

viii, 272 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2003]

Summary:

James R. Lewis has written the first book to deal explicitly with the issue of how emerging religions legitimate themselves. The legitimacy that new religions seek in the public realm is primarily that of social acceptance. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies, Lewis explores legitimation strategies as well as the tactics that critics use to de-legitimate such groups. Cases include the Raelian Movement, Native American prophet religions, spiritualism, the Church of Christ-Scientist, Scientology, Church of Satan, Heaven's Gate, Unitarianism, Hindu reform movements, and Soka Gakkai, a new Buddhist sect.

Contents:

Part I : legitimating new religions

Religious experience and the origins of religion

Native American prophet religions

Jesus in India and the forging of tradition

Science, technology and the Space Brothers

Anton Lavey, the Satanic Bible, and the Satanist tradition

Heaven's Gate and the legitimation of suicide

The authority of the long ago and the far away

Part II : legitimating repression

Atrocity tales as a de-legitimation strategy

Religious insanity

The cult stereotype as an ideological resource

Scholarship and the de-legitimation of religion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0813533244

OCLC:

51892655