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New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities

by Christopher Partridge (Editor), J. Gordon Melton (Foreword)

4.3 5 ratings

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From Christian Science and the Jehovah's Witnesses to Soka Gakkai, Wicca, and Falun Gong, the last century and a half has seen an unprecedented growth of new religious movements, sects, and alternative spiritualities.
New Religions offers an authoritative and lavishly illustrated guide to more than two hundred of these wildly varied groups and movements. The volume is organized according to an entirely new method of classification, which associates movements, sects, and spiritualities with the religious traditions from which they arose. Rastafarianism, for example, is shown to have its roots in Christianity, while Bahai is an offshoot of Islam. Included are both long-established groups like the Seventh-Day Adventists and the Hutterites and more recent movements like Santeria, the Unification Church, and ISKCON (the "Hare Krishnas"). In addition to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Indian Religions, and the Religions of East Asia, sections are devoted to movements and groups inspired by Indigenous and Pagan Traditions, and by Western Esoteric and New Age Traditions. Particularly fascinating is the discussion of the religious offspring of Modern Western Culture, including Scientology, UFO-based groups (such as the Raelians), and even the worship of celebrities like Elvis and Princess Diana. Each entry clearly and concisely explains the history, beliefs and practices, and status in the world today of the movement or group in question. Special entries highlight broad topics such as New Religions in China as well as intriguing subjects such as Cargo Cults, Martial Arts, Astrology, and Feng Shui.
Written by specialists, New Religions is a fascinating and colorful guide to the bewildering array of religious and spiritual options available to the modern seeker.

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ISBN-10

0195220420
ISBN-13

978-0195220421
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

May 6, 2004
Language

English
Dimensions

8.8 x 1.5 x 6.6 inches
Print length

448 pages
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Partridge, Senior Lecturer in theology and contemporary religion at Chester College, England, has compiled an encyclopedic work covering more than 200 religious movements. He defines a "new religion" as "a religion, sect or alternative spirituality that emerged or rose to prominence during the 20th century," which allows the inclusion of groups like Freemasonry and the Baha'i Faith, with roots in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sixty-three scholars, each with impressive academic credentials, contribute to the book, which organizes groups by the major religious tradition in which the movement is founded. Included are studies of Christian groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science, Muslim groups such as the Nation of Islam and the Sufi Community and various controversial bodiesHeaven's Gate, the Branch Davidians and others. Partridge deliberately selected contributors whose work centers in religion and philosophy but who have no personal connection to the group under consideration. Treatment of each movement is characterized by both brevity and fairness. The various writers provide brief historical and doctrinal sketches, avoiding value judgments and criticism. Larger articles called "features" treat broader themes (e.g. "Celtic Christian Spirituality" or "Chinese New Religions"), providing helpful background for the shorter entries and helping the reader to understand each sect within a larger historical context. Dozens of illustrations, many of them in color, and a thorough index add to the book's usability. Intended for a general audience, this volume is a welcome addition to the available literature.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Partridge, Senior Lecturer in theology and contemporary religion at Chester College, England, has compiled an encyclopedic work covering more than 200 religious movements...Treatment of each movement is characterized by both brevity and fairness. The various writers provide brief historical and doctrinal sketches, avoiding value judgments and criticism. Larger articles called "features" treat broader themes...providing helpful background for the shorter entries and helping the reader to understand each sect within a larger historical context. Dozens of illustrations, many of them in color, and a thorough index add to the book's usability. Intended for a general audience, this volume is a welcome addition to the available literature."--Publishers Weekly

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (May 6, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195220420
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195220421
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.8 x 1.5 x 6.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #123 in Comparative Religion (Books)
- #305 in Constitutional Law (Books)
- #1,665 in General Constitutional Law

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Bob Dillin

Wonderful reference book

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2014

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This is a wonderful, well organized and comprehensive encyclopedia of everything that could conceivably be construed as a new religious movement. Its very wide ranging and includes mini-chapters on every thing from martial arts, celebrity worship, rastafarianism, the Osho movement, Branch Davidians and Feng Shui. If you want to do in depth research this is not the book for you. But if you'd like to have a beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of alternative spirituality this is a great volume to have on your book shelf.

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H. Foxworthy

Great for general reference

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2008

Verified Purchase

Use this like you would an encyclopedia, not a book to sit down and read. The huge number of religions is great; just about everything imaginable is in there. Each group is explained in a summary in one column to three pages in length, using easy to understand language, hitting the highlights and main points in a factual, non-judgmental way. The only drawback are the pictures as they are a little dated.

I had to buy it as a textbook for a college class but I'll be keeping it around when the class is done because of the user-friendly format.

3 people found this helpful

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James Kenney

Poorly organized, badly indexed, and arranged by topic rather than religion

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2015

I bought this book because I am interested in what many people call "cults", but which I consider a manifestation of the degree of spiritual rot in global culture. Certainly there are many who are happy with their choice of religion, and might consider that sentence an insult; such is not my intent. If you're happy with your religion, that's great. But like it or not, we live in a global culture in which a high percentage of people are dissatisfied with their lives. This dissatisfaction often leads people to adopt a new religion, many of which are New Religions in the sense of this book.
Unfortunately, the book is poorly organized, badly indexed, and arranged by topic rather than religion. If it were an encyclopedia, as other reviewers maintain, it would be arranged alphabetically and would be much easier to use. It would also contain more detail. Previous comments on a negative review requested specific examples, so I will provide one: when I decided to review this book, I tried to find "Heaven's Gate", a group of which 37 members committed suicide in 1997 as comet Hale-Bopp passed close to the Earth. I followed that event closely through the newspapers at the time, so I know a fair amount about it; more, it turns out, than is covered in this book. Plus, it took me quite a while to find the information due to the odd way the book is designed, and the misleading index, which stated the group was mentioned on pages it wasn't.
In addition the book seems to have a disguised contempt for the whole phenomenon of New Religions. I agree with the prior reviewer, who got bashed for saying that a serious researcher should find better sources than this book. There are no footnotes, and the bibliography is only one page.

3 people found this helpful

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Rakibe

A very inaccurate and ethnocentric book; avoid if your an academic researcher.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2004

As with any kind of encyclopedia you will find a brief amount of info on a particular topic, and one hopes that the info there is both truthful and objective since your usually using a book like this for a report on something or maybe just for some advice. Since I worked for two years in a library I can say from direct experience that encyclopedias are like the internet. They are often just recycled information taken from other books or articles containing half truths. Reading this book gave me the impression of just this and that the researchers had done little if any actual reading of the sacred texts of any of these groups. I find the above reviewers comment that this books was used for a college class amazing and unbelievable! And so, while a lot of it may be true a small percentage is very inaccurate due to the authors inability to grasp the psychological depth of each system. In fact, because I read a lot of sacred texts, a lot of the so called research of this book appears more like newspaper reporting. Like, Think I'll call the local Hare Krisha center up and ask em to give me brief description of what their all about. You could just do that yourself without the personal filters of these authors and probably get a clearer picture. I actually did call some of these places they mentioned and asked them about this book and its information and each center I called reported information that was completely inconsistent with the information presented in this book. I was sort of shocked that the authors had so little respect and integrity for these groups. As an academic writer my impression of this book as a useful source of information is that it was written by people who's only real concern was to have their names published in a book in order to help give them more credibility so as to be considered authorities on religion. I would never recommend this book to any students or teachers because it contains both an incredible amount of misinformation and ethnocentrism and also very little insight into the psychological aspects of many of these groups and systems, which to me is very disrespectful.
To wrap it up, If like you McDonald's you'll love this book.
This is the McGuide to new religions. As long as you don't mind that their may be just a little filler in your meat, and that your just eating fast food you'll be ok.
A very good book however for Christians who think all other religions are cults, atheists who see all religions as cults and people in general who believe they are so much smarter than all these other people who join newer religions.

13 people found this helpful

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