Chapter 14 Suggested Readings, Weblinks, and Other Media

Readings

Dawson, Lorne L. Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2004.

Lewis, James R., ed. Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001.

Miller, Timothy, ed. America’s Alternative Religions. New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.

Wilson, Bryan, and Jamie Cresswell, eds. New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. London, England: Routledge, 2001.

Weblinks

The Center for Studies on New Religions—www.cesnur.org 

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions—www.novareligio.org 

Documentary Films

Children of God (1988), ABC News (MTI Film and Video), 30 min. videocassette.

Cults: Heaven’s Gate and Branch Davidians (1996), A&E Television Networks (New Video Group).

Different Paths: Shamanism, Cults and Religion on Demand (1998), Princeton, NJ. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 57 min., streaming video.

New Religious Movements (1999), Insight Media, 60 min., videocassette.

Popular Films

The Razor’s Edge (1946), dir. Edmund Golding. Adapted from a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, it portrays the spiritual journey of a veteran of World War I in search of life’s meaning.

Holy Smoke! (1999), dir. Jane Campion. A controversial melodrama centering on cults and deprogrammers.

Jesus of Montreal (1989), dir. Denys Arcand. An ironic reenactment of the Passion Play set in contemporary Montreal.

Going Clear (2015), dir. Alex Gibney. A controversial expose of Scientology based on Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book of the same name.

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