Оглавление
Pamela J.D. Dewey. Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: 2011 Edition
Field Guide. to the. Wild World of Religion
Foreword
Chapter 1. The Tame World of Religion
Back to the Fifties
Simpler times, Limited Choices
Back to the Future
The quiet before the storm
The Advent of the Wild World of Religion
The Wild World on the Airwaves
Chapter 2. Habitats of the Wild World
Other Alternate Realities
American Spiritual Subcultures
Chapter 3. A Shocking Future Arrives
Where were you in ‘62?
Brave New High-Tech World
Do-it-yourself Church
Chapter 4. Oh, What a Tangled World Wide Web. Online Religion
The Internet: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Religious Research on the Worldwide Web
Secular Cult-Watch Websites
Religious Cult-Watch Websites
Ex-Member Cult-Watch Websites
Christian Apologetics Cult-Watch Websites
“Spiritual Abuse” Cult-Watch Websites
Another Perspective
A Closer Look
Chapter 5. Troubling Trends
Trend One: Religious Homogenization
Trend Two: Increasingly bold claims of the miraculous
Trend Three: Greed and Gullibility
Trend Four: The Walmart-izing of the local church scene
Trend Five: One-Doctrine Wonders
Trend Six: One-man Wonders
Trend Seven: Spiritual Abuse and Deception in the Name of God
Chapter 6. The True Believer Revisited: Characteristics of Potentially Harmful Religious Groups. Personal from the author
Proving the Exception
Signs of trouble
Chapter 7. Prescription for Intervention
Useful documentation
Chapter 8. On Safari in the Wild World
End Times Prophecy Movement
Word Faith Movement
Healing Ministries Movement
Hebrew Roots Movement
Chapter 9. End Times Prophecy Movement. The Claims
The Allure
Concerns
Prophecy and Apocalypse
Examination
Evaluation
Personal note from the Author
Bibliography
Chapter 10. When Prophecy Fails
Cognitive Dissonance
Personal from the Author
End Times Fever
Bibliography
Chapter 11. Aunt Pam’s Prophetic Recipes
Cooking up a Prophetic Scenario
Fruits and Nuts and More
Chapter 12. The Word Faith Movement. The Claims
The Allure
Concerns
Nuggets of Truth
Chapter 13. Healing Ministries Movement
The Claims
Theologies of healing
The Allure
Concerns
Bibliography
Chapter 14. Hebrew Roots Movement
The Claims
The Allure
Hebrew Roots Appeal to Sabbatarians
Hebrew Roots Appeal to Non-Sabbatarians
Personal from the Author. A Search for Jewish Roots
Concerns
Nuggets of Truth
Examination
Evaluation
A Caution to moderate Hebrew Roots ministries
LINK
Chapter 15. Religious Lingo Lexicon
Chapter 16. Cult, Occult, New Age—What’s the Difference?
Cult: A Loaded Word. A Cult is a …
Another View
Three Common Uses of cult
Cult and Occult. The Occult is the … Collection of Beliefs and Practices …
New Age
Chapter 17. Pentecostal and Charismatic: What’s the Difference? The origin of the word Pentecost
What does the word Pentecostal mean in current common usage?
What does the word charismatic mean in general?
What does the word Charismatic imply in current common usage in religious circles?
What similarities and differences are there in the common implications of the words Pentecostal and Charismatic in current common usage?
Are there other variations on the meaning of the word Charismatic as it is used by some in general conversation?
Chapter 18. Who’s Who Digest of the Wild World of Religion
About the Who’s Who Digest
Chapter 19. Afterword: Personal from the Author
Flashback
A New Convert
Deeper in
Life on the Inside
Nuggets of gold
When Prophecy Fails
A Breath of fresh air
Crisis
Jonestown
Onward
Chapter 20. Web Resources and Books for Further Research
Websites
Books
Отрывок из книги
The American religious scene in 1955 was a very tame and predictable world. It matched the tame, predictable world of women’s clothing, where most women going out shopping wore a dress with coordinating gloves, hat, and shoes. And it matched the tame, predictable world of children’s toys, where almost every young girl yearned for a baby doll that said Ma-Ma, and almost every boy needed a coonskin cap. Choices of fashions, toys, preachers, and churches were limited and domesticated.
Fifty years later, the tame, predictable world of 1950s fashions and toys is long gone. Women go shopping in everything from sweatshirts and jeans to tube tops and short shorts. And both boys and girls want the latest Sponge Bob Square Pants video game. The same kind of transformation has gone on in the world of religion. It is no longer tame and predictable either.
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Paralleling the One-doctrine Wonders is the emergence of a significant number of “One-man Wonders.” These are individuals (primarily men, but a few women are in the category) who have attained a status of guru among their followers. Each one, within his/her own circle of supporters, is viewed as, at the very least, the most significant teacher on Earth today. And he or she may be viewed, at most, as a unique end-time apostle or prophet, one who has “restored truths lost since the first century.”
This sort of religious figure has been with us since the first century. But, other than a few notable exceptions such as Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, and Ellen G. White, alleged “prophetess” of the Seventh Day Adventist movement, such gurus have had a very limited impact in the past. It is the 21st century’s explosion of communication capabilities that has allowed modern religious figures to quickly gather a following over wide areas far from their home base. And it is this very long distance factor that allows followers to maintain illusions about their hero that might well be easily shattered if they were in personal contact with him. Most communication between teacher and student in this situation flows only one way, through a barrage of newsletters, recordings, radio and TV programs, financial support solicitations, and more. The student can try to communicate in the opposite direction, but any letters or phone calls from supporters will likely be answered by some low-level functionary in the guru’s ministry.
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