In terms of public opinion, new religious movements are considered controversial for a variety of reasons. Their social organization often runs counter to popular expectations by experimenting with communal living, alternative leadership roles, unusual economic dispositions, and new political and ethical values. As a result the general public views new religions with a mixture of curiosity, amusement, and anxiety, sustained by lavish media emphasis on oddness and tragedy rather than familiarity and lived experience. This updated and revised second edition of Controversial New Religions offers a scholarly, dispassionate look at those groups that have generated the most attention, including some very well-known classical groups like The Family, Unification Church, Scientology, and Jim Jones's People's Temple; some relative newcomers such as the Kabbalah Centre, the Order of the Solar Temple, Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, and the Falun Gong; and some interesting cases like contemporary Satanism, the Raelians, Black nationalism, and various Pagan groups. Each essay combines an overview of the history and beliefs of each organization or movement with original and insightful analysis. By presenting decades of scholarly work on new religious movements written in an accessible form by established scholars as well as younger experts in the field, this book will be an invaluable resource for all those who seek a view of new religions that is deeper than what can be found in sensationalistic media stories.

About the Author
James R. Lewis is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tromso. He co-edits three books series and is the general editor for the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review and the Journal of Religion and Violence Jesper Aa. Petersen is Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, specializing in Religious Education and Religious Studies. He is the editor of several anthologies, most recently The Devil's Party: Satanism in Modernity(OUP, 2013) with Per Faxneld.

Reviews
balanced and intriguing * Jonathan Benthall, The Times Literary Supplement *
Very often sequels are disappointing, but the second edition of Controversial New Religions offers another round of solid and fascinating scholarship on religions on the brink of-and sometimes beyond-the mainstream. Introducing a number of younger scholars, this volume, furthermore, shows how research into new and emergent religions has become a well-established and increasingly important field in the academic study of religion. Editors Lewis and Petersen should be commended for their ongoing contributions to this development. * Mikael Rothstein, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer of Comparative Religion, University of Southern Denmark; Visiting Professor, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199315314
Author James R. Lewis
Format Paperback
Page Count 496
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 644g
Dimensions(mm) 156mm * 243mm * 33mm