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Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History
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Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History Paperback - 2001

by Philip Jenkins

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Reader reviews for Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History

From the publisher

In Mystics and Messiahs--the first full account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history--Philip Jenkins shows that, contrary to popular belief, cults were by no means an invention of the 1960s. In fact, most of the frightening images and stereotypes surrounding fringe religious movements are traceable to the mid-nineteenth century when Mormons, Freemasons, and even Catholics were denounced for supposed ritualistic violence, fraud, and sexual depravity. But America has also been the home of an often hysterical anti-cult backlash. Jenkins offers an insightful new analysis of why cults arouse such fear and hatred both in the secular world and in mainstream churches, many of which were themselves originally regarded as cults. He argues that an accurate historical perspective is urgently needed if we are to avoid the kind of catastrophic confrontation that occurred in Waco or the ruinous prosecution of imagined Satanic cults that swept the country in the 1980s.

Without ignoring genuine instances of aberrant behavior, Mystics and Messiahs goes beyond the vast edifice of myth, distortion, and hype to reveal the true characteristics of religious fringe movements and why they inspire such fierce antagonism.

First line

In the 1920s, like today, the American media relished a scandal that mixed religion with sexual depravity and crime, and the newspapers found rich pickings in the story of Benjamin Purnell, the head of an odd messianic sect.

Details

  • Title Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History
  • Author Philip Jenkins
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition New Ed
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Oxford University Press, New York
  • Publication date 2001-11-15
  • ISBN 9780195145960 / 0195145968
  • Weight 0.95 lbs (0.43 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.36 x 6.26 x 0.85 in (23.77 x 15.90 x 2.16 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 19th Century
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Religious Orientation: New Age
  • Category Religion - Commentaries / Reference
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 99028732
  • Dewey Decimal Code 200.973

About the author

Philip Jenkins, one of the world's leading religion scholars joined Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion as Distinguished Professor of History and Co-Director for the Program on Historical Studies of Religion.

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Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History

Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History

by Philip Jenkins

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Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History

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Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History

by Jenkins, Philip

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Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History

by Jenkins, Philip

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MYSTICS AND MESSIAHS - Cults and New Religions in American History

MYSTICS AND MESSIAHS - Cults and New Religions in American History

by Jenkins, Philip

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New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Book. Very Good+. Soft cover. First Printing - First Thus. 8vo. (vii) 294 pp. Trade paperback format. Lightly rubbed on the corners with a flat uncreased spine; no interior markings. The Chapters are: Overrun with Messiahs; False Prophets and Deluded Subjects: The Nineteenth Century; Anti-Christian Cults: The Christian Sects 1890 - 1930; The First New Age; Black Gods; The Cult Racket: Anticult Campaigns 1920 - 1940; The Purge of the Forties; The New Boom 1960 - 1980; Cult Wars 1969 - 1985; Devil Cults and Doomsday Cults 1980 - 2000; and Teeming with Faith; followed by notes and an index..
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