The A to Z of New Age Movements by
The decline of institutionalized religion in the increasingly secularized West has been offset by the contemporary spiritual development understood in the form of emerging New Age movements. This reference presents the potpourri of spiritual and psycho-physical therapeutic practices associated with this affirmation of the individual's spiritual freedom, the expectation of a future golden age, the emphasis on self-development, and the holistic pluralism that sets the dominant pulse for innovative spirituality in the twenty-first century. The A to Z of New Age Movements furnishes profiles and explanations of New Age spokespeople and leaders, of a range of human potential and self-help practices, of countercultural spiritual developments, and of different groups and organizations that identify as New Age. The dictionary consists of over 240 individual entries along with an introduction that describes the historical foundations of the New Age orientation and its relation with contemporary Western paganism. It also presents the sociological dimension of New Age expression, as well as the kinds of criticism with which the New Age identity must contend. There is both a New Age Chronology and a bibliography also included.
The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements by
"New religions emerge as distinct entities in the religious landscape when innovations are introduced by a charismatic leader or a schismatic group leaves its parent organization. New religious movements (NRMs) often present novel doctrines and advocate unfamiliar modes of behavior, and have therefore often been perceived as controversial. NRMs have, however, in recent years come to be treated in the same way as established religions, that is, as complex cultural phenomena involving myths, rituals and canonical texts. This Companion discusses key features of NRMs from a systematic, comparative perspective, summarizing results of forty years of research. The volume addresses NRMs that have caught media attention, including movements such as Scientology, New Age, the Neopagans, the Sai Baba movement and Jihadist movements active in a post-9/11 context. An essential resource for students of religious studies, the history of religion, sociology, anthropology and the psychology of religion"-- Provided by publisher.
Handbook of New Age by
The New Age Handbook is a comprehensive survey of alternative spiritualities: their history, their global impact, their cultural influence and how they are understood by scholars.
Historical Dictionary of New Age Movements by 
New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements by
"New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements is a comprehensive and user-friendly book devoted to the study of alternative spiritual currents in modern America. The book covers a wide range of new religions from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, including the Native American Church, Mormonism, Spiritualism, Scientology, the Nation of Islam, Rastafari, ISKCON, Wicca, the Church of Satan, Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, and the Raëlians. Each chapter focuses on one key issue or debate that raises larger issues in the study of religion and American culture more broadly, such as the legality of peyote in the Native American Church, the role of women and feminism in Wicca, the role of hip hop and reggae music in the spread of the Nation of Islam and Rastafari, and the debate over human cloning in the Raëlian movement. The book also addresses key theoretical and methodological problems in the study of new religions: Why has there been such a tremendous proliferation of new spiritual forms in the past 150 years, even amid our increasingly rational, scientific, technological, and 'secular' society? Why has the United States become the heartland for the explosion of new religious movements? How do we deal with complex legal debates such as the use of peyote by the Native American Church, the use of marijuana by Rastafarians, or the practice of plural marriage by some Mormon communities? And how do we navigate issues of religious freedom and privacy in a new age of religious violence, terrorism, and government surveillance?"--Provided by publisher.
New Age and Neopagan Religions in America by
Few aspects of American military history have been as vigorously debated as Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan. In this carefully crafted volume, Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use these weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II.Kort opens with a summary of the debate over Hiroshima as it has evolved since 1945. He then provides a historical overview of thye events in question, beginning with the decision and program to build the atomic bomb. Detailing the sequence of events leading to Japan's surrender, he revisits the decisive battles of the Pacific War and the motivations of American and Japanese leaders. Finally, Kort examines ten key issues in the discussion of Hiroshima and guides readers to relevant primary source documents, scholarly books, and articles.
Another Gospel : Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement by
Crystals, shamans, guided imagery, healing meditation -- why have these New Age ideas been so eagerly accepted by so many North Americans? Why were Mormonism, Christian Science, and Baha'i so warmly welcomed earlier? Ruth A. Tucker's Another Gospel: Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement explains how these and other alternative religious movements appear to meet people's needs. Tucker's overview illumines the personalities whose alleged revelations spawned historical heresies in all the major cults in the United States. She highlights important controversies within each movement as it aims for religious respectability. Her visits to cult centers and interviews with key members and scholars yield fascinating details, such as why Mormons prohibit hot drinks and how Charles Fillmore, Unity Church founder, rewrote Psalm 23: 'The Lord is my banker; my credit is good . . .' Another Gospel pinpoints how the doctrines and practices of a dozen contemporary groups, as well as the New Age Movement, deviate from orthodox Christianity. It shows how to reach out to cult members. For example, 'It's a myth that Jehovah's Witnesses know their Bible well, are argumentative, and never leave their religion.' Appendices describe lesser-known cults (Swedenborgianism, Rosicrucianism, etc.) and provide, where available, cults' statements of belief.
Dark Secrets of the New Age by
In the pages of this revealing book, the secret "Plan" of the New Age Movement is exposed for the first time in startling detail. Basing the book on an in-depth investigation of the Movement, author Texe Marrs includes over 600 actual quotes from New Age leaders which unveil their "Plan" for establishing a New Age Messiah to lead a One-World Religion and a global government. As part of the "Plan," the Movement intends to wage a total spiritual war against Christian believers. Their ultimate goal? To eliminate every vestige of Christianity. This is the most complete and well-documented book ever published about the New Age Movement. It shows exactly what is now being done by the New Age leadership to gain influence in every facet of society, from the entertainment industry to public schools and government. Marrs details specifically the New Age Plan to win over the next generation by flooding the media--TV cartoon shows, movies, comic books, libraries, etc.--with material that promotes New Age religious thinking and doctrine. Finally, Marrs shows how New Age ideas have already begun to infiltrate and undermine Christian churches from within.
Inside the New Age Nightmare by
Experience a mysterious and often bizarre world, as Randall N. Baer exposes the New Age Movement and presents many startling insights that have never been revealed before
New Age Bible Versions by
G.A. Riplinger objectively and methodically documents the hidden alliance between new versions and the New Age Movement's one world religion. If you only read one book on the version issue, this is the book! It is so powerful -- the devil despises it. This international bestselling book is the result of an exhaustive six year collation of new Bible versions, their underlying Greek manuscripts, editions, and editors. It objectively and methodically documents the hidden alliance between new versions and the New Age Movement's one world religion. - Publisher.
A New Vision of Reality by
The author invites us to look afresh at Christianity in the context of modern physics on the one hand and Eastern mysticism on the other.
Perspectives on the New Age by
This book begins with a comprehensive historical section that places the New Age within the context of its predecessor movements. It then focuses on specialized aspects of this subculture, from essays on the convergence of New Age spirituality with women’s spirituality, to an essay on how Evangelical Christians have responded to the movement. The book also examines the international impact of the New Age.
A Popular Dictionary of Paganism by
This dictionary provides a readily available collection of source material for a subject which has recently become of considerable public and academic interest. It provides a point of reference for key words and concepts which have previously been available only in short glossaries, footnotes, or within a body of text. It deals with concepts shared by all Pagans, and also with those concepts unique to a particular Pagan tradition.
The Seduction of Christianity by
Argues that the future of Christianity is challenged by religious cults, self-help philosophies, and the new age movement.
See the Gods Fall : Four Rivals to Christianity by
Four of the most challenging rivals to Christianity (Mormonism, Secular Humanism, Baha'ism, and The New Age Movement) are measured by the standards found in Christianity. This honest and forthright examination of these religions will strengthen your faith and confidence in the truths of Christianity.
Texe Marrs Book of New Age Cults and Religions by
Across America and the world, dangerous New Age cults and religious groups are growing in strength and numbers. TEXE MARRS BOOK OF NEW AGE CULTS AND RELIGIONS is the first reliable authoritative guide to the New Age cults and religions infecting and threatening our society. This outstanding work carefully analyzes these groups revealing substantial, detailed information to convincingly answer the questions most asked. It clearly contrasts the false-sometimes bizarre-and unorthodox teachings and practices of the New Cults with Living Truths contained in the Holy Bible.
The Occult in Nineteenth-Century America by 
The Occult Mind by
Offering a radical new approach to the nature and value of occult thought, Lehrich's brilliantly conceived and executed book posits magic as a mode of theory that is intrinsically subversive of normative conceptions of reason and truth. In elucidating the deep parallels between occult thought and academic discourse, Lehrich demonstrates that sixteenth-century occult philosophy often touched on issues that have become central to philosophical discourse only in the past fifty years.
Spirit Matters by
Spirit Matters explores the heterodox and unorthodox religions and spiritualities that arose in Victorian Britain as a result of the faltering of Christian faith in the face of modernity, the rise of the truth-telling authority of science, and the first full exposure of the West to non-Christian religions. J. Jeffrey Franklin investigates the diversity of ways that spiritual seekers struggled to maintain faith or to create new faiths by reconciling elements of the Judeo-Christian heritage with Spiritualism, Buddhism, occultism, and scientific naturalism. Spirit Matters covers a range of scenarios from the Victorian hearth and the state-Church altar to the frontiers of empire in Buddhist countries and Egyptian crypts. Franklin reveals how this diversity of elements provided the materials for the formation of new hybrid religions and the emergence in the 20th century of New Age spiritualities. Franklin investigates a broad spectrum of experiences through a series of representative case studies that together trace the development of unorthodox religious and spiritual discourses. The ideas and events discussed by Franklin through these case studies were considered outside the domain of orthodox religion yet still religious or spiritual rather than atheistic or materialistic. Among the works—obscure and canonical—he analyzes are Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Zanoni and A Strange Story; Forest Life in Ceylon, by William Knighton; Anthony Trollope’s The Vicar of Bullhampton; Anna Leonowens’s The English Governess at the Siamese Court; Literature and Dogma, by Matthew Arnold; and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Witchcraft, Power and Politics by
This is an extraordinary account of witchcraft and witch-hunting in the modern world. A powerful ethnographic study of witch-hunting in 1980s South Africa - a period of rapid social change - this book demonstrates the extent to which witchcraft must be seen, not as a residue of 'traditional' culture but as part of a complex social drama which is deeply embedded in contemporary political and economic processes. *BR**BR*Isak Niehaus provides the context for this fascinating study of witchcraft practices. He shows how witchcraft was politicised against the backdrop of the apartheid state, the liberation struggle and the establishment of the first post-apartheid regime, which all affected conceptions of witchcraft. Niehaus demonstrates how the ANC and other political groups used witchcraft beliefs to further their own agenda. He explores the increasingly conservative role of the chiefs and the Christian church. In the process, he reveals the fraught nature of intergenerational and gender relations. *BR**BR*The result is a truly insightful and theoretically engaged account of a much-studied but frequently misunderstood practice.
Angels of Deceit by
This book examines the teachers and leaders behind the cults, their extrabiblical revelations and interpretations. Using graphic information, powerful insights, and compelling personal drama, this intensive probe of false prophets and their followers will alert readers to the growing danger of spiritual deception
Cults, World Religions and the Occult by
In Cults, World Religions and the Occult-a revised and expanded version of the best-selling Cults, World Religions and You-Ken Boa explains: The history of each religious movement, the distinctive teachings of each, how their followers live, and how you can respond to these spiritual counterfeits with biblical truth and compassion.
Demon Lovers by
"On 20 September 1587 Walpurga Hausmannin of Dillingen in southern Germany was burned at the stake as a witch. Although she had confessed to committing a long list of maleficia (deeds of harmful magic), including killing forty-one infants and two mothers in labor, her evil career allegedly began with just one heinous act - sex with a demon. Fornication with demons was a major theme of her trial record, which detailed an almost continuous orgy of sexual excess with her diabolical paramour Federlin "in many diverse places, ... even in the street by night."" "As Walter Stephens demonstrates in Demon Lovers, it was not Hausmannin or other so-called witches who were obsessive about sex with demons - instead, a number of devout Christians, including trained theologians, displayed an uncanny preoccupation with the topic during the centuries of the "witch craze." Why? To find out, Stephens conducts a detailed investigation of the first and most influential treatises on witchcraft (written between 1430 and 1530), including the infamous Malleus maleficarum (Hammer of Witches)." "Far from being credulous fools or mindless misogynists, early writers on witchcraft emerge in Stephens's account as rational but reluctant skeptics, trying desperately to resolve contradictions in Christian thought on God, spirits, and the sacraments that had bedeviled theologians for centuries. Proof of the physical existence of demons - for instance, through evidence of their intercourse with mortal witches - would provide strong evidence for the reality of the supernatural, the truth of the Bible, and the existence of God. Early modern witchcraft theory reflected a crisis of belief - a crisis that continues to be expressed today in popular debates over angels, satanic ritual child abuse, and alien abduction."--Jacket.
The Kingdom of the Occult by
This book takes Dr. Walter Martin's comprehensive knowledge and his dynamic teaching style and forges a strong weapon against the world of the Occult-a weapon of the same scope and power as his phenomenal thirty-five year bestseller, The Kingdom of the Cults (over 875,000 sold).
On the Margin of the Visible : Sociology, the Esoteric, and the Occult by Pagans, Priests, and Prophets by 
