Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader

by Lorne L. Dawson (Editor)

What is a cult? Why do they emerge? Who joins them? And why do tragedies such as Waco and Jonestown occur? This reader brings together the voices of historians, sociologists, and psychologists of religion to address these key questions about new religious movements.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Sociology, Anthropology

310 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2003

Reviews

[Logan Streondj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of a large variety of aspects of New Religious Movements and the workings of the Anti Cult Movement, including detailed analysis of some of the most high profile cases.

I like the entrepreneur model of religion where a religion offers compensators to people to help them with various problems in exchange for money or devotion.

I also liked how it mentioned ten aspects that are likely essential to success of future religious movements:

According to this book on new religious movements here are ten factors necessary for long term success of an NRM: "1 They retain cultural continuity with the conventional faiths of the societies within which they seek converts.
2 Their doctrines are non-empirical. 3 They maintain a medium level of tension with their surrounding environment – are strict, but not too strict.
4 They have legitimate leaders with ade- quate authority to be effective.
(4a) Adequate authority requires clear doctrinal justifications for an effective and legitimate leadership.
(4b) Authority is regarded as more
legitimate and gains in effectiveness to the degree that members perceive them- selves as participants in the system of authority.
5 They can generate a highly motivated, volunteer, religious labour force, includ- ing many willing to proselytize.
268NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND THE FUTURE 6 They maintain a level of fertility sufficient to at least offset member mortality. 7 They compete against weak, local con- ventional religious organizations within a relatively unregulated religious economy. 8 They sustain strong internal attachments, while remaining an open social network, able to maintain and form ties to
outsiders.
9 They continue to maintain sufficient ten- sion with their environment – remain suf- ficiently strict.
10 They socialize the young sufficiently well as to minimize both defection and the appeal of reduced strictness.'

[Desirée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it as course literature for a university course. Some parts were great but most dragged on and wasn't, to be fair, neither interesting nor useful.

[Amy Lawton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have two main complaints:

1.) The formatting stinks. This book needs to be revised and republished, and not just because the collection of topics is somewhat lacking; a book about cults should not at any point refer to them as "cluts." That's just silly.

2.) Regarding the collection of topics: While I understand that "brainwashing" has been a controversy in the sociology of religion, dedicating two chapters -- a "yes, brainwashing is a thing" and a "no, it isn't" chapter -- to a debunked topic is a waste of space. You can't "teach the controversy" when the controversy has been settled.

[Roger Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slightly dated but still helpful introduction to the topic. It is a little over-saturated with liberal American perspectives without being self aware of them or the cultural frames that inform methodologies. It is helpful in addressing the ideological stagnation and knee-jerk reactions media and people give to cults and new religious movements. It is badly in need of copy-editing if it ever sees a new edition.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

... edited by Lorne Dawson