Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (Heritage) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802081886 ISBN 13: 9780802081889

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2001

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Authors

Benjamin Zablocki is a professor in the Sociology Department at Rutgers University.

Thomas Robbins is an independent scholar and lives in Rochester, Minnesota.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802081886
• ISBN 13: 9780802081889
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 538
• Editor: Zablocki Benjamin, Robbins Thomas