Cults, New Religions and Religious Creativity (Routledge Revivals) [Paperback]

The twentieth century has been marked by an unprecedented outburst of religious activity on a world-wide scale, and in particular by a mushrooming of numerous religious movements. This work, first published in 1987, takes a fresh approach to the understanding of this phenomenon, an approach which takes into account new concepts of human nature and of religion.1. The problem of new religious movements  2. Religion and sociology  3. Parapyschology and the sociology of religion  4. Human nature  5. Church - sect and cult  6. Cults and social movements  7. Religious creativity  8. Charisma and organization  9. Membership - recruitment and retention  10. The rise of new religious movements  11. The functions of new religious movements  12. The social problem of new religions  13. World-wide creativity  14. Return to the source