Synopses & Reviews
Misunderstanding Cults provides a uniquely balanced contribution to what has become a highly polarized area of study. Working towards a moderate third path in the heated debate over new religious movements or cults, this collection includes contributions from both scholars who have been characterized as anticult and those characterized as cult-apologists. The study incorporates multiple viewpoints as well as a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, with the stated goal of depolarizing the discussion over alternative religious movements. A prominent section within the book focuses explicitly on the issue of scholarly objectivity and the danger of partisanship in the study of cults.
The collection also includes contributions on the controversial and much misunderstood topic of brainwashing, as well as discussions of cult violence, children brought up in unconventional religious movements, and the conflicts between alternative religious movements and their critics. Unique in its breadth, this is the first study of new religious movements to address the main points of controversy within the field while attempting to find a middle ground between opposing camps of scholarship.
Synopsis
Unique in its breadth, this is the first study of new religious movements to address the main points of controversy within the field while attempting to find a middle ground between opposing camps of scholarship.
Table of Contents
'O truant muse': collaborationism and research integrity / Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi -- Balance and fairness in the study of alternative religions / Thomas Robbins -- Caught up in the cult wars: confessions of a Canadian researcher / Susan J. Palmer -- Pitfalls in the sociological study of cults / Janja Lalich -- Towards a demystified and disinterested scientific theory of brainwashing / Benjamin Zablocki -- Tactical ambiguity and brainwashing formulations: science or pseudo science / Dick Anthony -- A tale of two theories: brainwashing and conversion in competing political narratives / David Bromley -- Brainwashing programs in the family/children of God and scientology / Stephen A. Kent -- Raising Lazarus: a methodological critique of Stephen Kent's Revival of the brainwashing model / Lorne L. Dawson -- Compelling evidence: a rejoinder to Lorne Dawson's chapter / Stephen A. Kent -- Child-rearing issues in totalist groups / Amy Siskind -- Contested narratives: a case study of the conflict between a new religious movement and its critics / Julius H. Rubin -- The roots of religious violence in America / Jeffrey Kaplan.