" Excellent study which moves back and forth between theory and empirical observations. It
looks at religious groups from several different theoretical positions as well as raises a�…

T he past several years have brought us an on going, public, sometimes heated debate in
this country about the character, functions, efficacy, and significance of (so-called)" faith�…

The question is posed as to what is the sociocultural significance of the proliferation in
recent decades of exotic and sometimes controversial" cults." The analytical perspective�…

This thesis tests a theory synthesized from Durkeim''s The Elementary Forms of the
Religious Life (1965) and Weber''s Economy and Society (1978). This theory combines�…

The foregoing chapters give evidence of the great variety of new religious movements that
have appeared in recent years. These movements have obviously provided meaningful�…

LEWIS, James R. The Enicyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and Newv Religions. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 1 998. 595pp. $149.95 (h). Tlhe shocking mass suicide of the Heaven's�…

Insofar as observable relationships among these phe-nomena exist, they promise to provide
an empirical founda-tion for identifying and analyzing related and unrelated sets of belief�…

The development of a concept of “cult” useful for empirical research has lagged behind the
refinement of terms used to analyze other forms of religious organization. Utilizing�…

One of the more controversial and yet little examined aspects of the current" new" religions,
such as the Unification Church and the Hare Krishnas, is their common strategy of public�…

Intellectuals have long been attempting to fathom the need of Homo Sapiens to believe in a
religious deity (18, 20, 37). Established religions have grown wealthy, powerful, with�…