LEADER 03561nam 22005894a 450 001 9910814852403321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-8135-5722-4 010 $a0-8135-3534-4 035 $a(CKB)111090529149002 035 $a(OCoLC)70731221 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10075364 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000191185 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11171443 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000191185 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10183979 035 $a(PQKB)10492482 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3032112 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3032112 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10075364 035 $a(OCoLC)54961514 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111090529149002 100 $a20030312d2003 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdacontent 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aLegitimating new religions /$fJames R. Lewis 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aNew Brunswick, N.J. $cRutgers University Press$dc2003 215 $a1 online resource (viii, 272 pages) $cillustrations 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a0-8135-3323-6 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 249-259) and index. 327 $aReligious experience and the origins of religion -- Native American prophet religions -- Jesus in India and the forging of tradition -- Science, technology, and the Space Brothers -- Anton Lavey, the Satanic Bible, and the Satanist tradition -- Heaven's Gate and the legitimation of suicide -- The authority of the long ago and the far away -- Atrocity tales as a delegitimation strategy -- Religious insanity -- The cult stereotype as an ideological resource -- Scholarship and the delegitimation of religion. 330 $aJames R. Lewis has written the first book to deal explicitly with the issue of how emerging religions legitimate themselves. He contends that a new religion has at least four different, though overlapping, areas where legitimacy is a concern: making converts, maintaining followers, shaping public opinion, and appeasing government authorities. The legitimacy that new religions seek in the public realm is primarily that of social acceptance. Mainstream society's acknowledgement of a religion as legitimate means recognizing its status as a genuine religion and thus recognizing its right to exist. Through a series of wide-ranging case studies Lewis explores the diversification of legitimation strategies of new religions as well as the tactics that their critics use to de-legitimate such groups. Cases include the Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, Native American prophet religions, spiritualism, the Church of Christ-Scientist, Scientology, Church of Satan, Heaven's Gate, Unitarianism, Hindu reform movements, and Soka Gakkai, a new Buddhist sect. Since many of the issues raised with respect to newer religions can be extended to the legitimation strategies deployed by established religions, this book sheds an intriguing new light on classic questions about the origin of all religions. 606 $aCults$xPsychology 606 $aPsychology, Religious 606 $aAuthority$xReligious aspects 615 0$aCults$xPsychology. 615 0$aPsychology, Religious. 615 0$aAuthority$xReligious aspects. 676 $a200/.9/04 700 $aLewis$b James R$0897626 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910814852403321 996 $aLegitimating new religions$93926291 997 $aUNINA