Alternative belief systems

The shocking truth about some of the most disturbing, criminal cults that have ever existed.

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE**A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR*'A bona fide historical classic' Sunday Times'Simply one of the best history books I have ever read' BBC HistoryIn the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen.

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A highly readable, fascinating book that jerks the debate on religion versus atheism right out of its crusted rut into the light of serious intellectual scrutiny' ObserverA meditation on the importance of atheism in the modern world - and its inadequacies and contradictions - by one of Britain's leading philosophers'When you explore older atheisms, you will find some of your firmest convictions - secular or religious - are highly questionable.

On October 19, 1876 a group of leading French citizens, both men and women included, joined together to form an unusual group, The Society of Mutual Autopsy, with the aim of proving that souls do not exist.

This is the first major response to the challenge of neuroscience to religion.

What exactly is torture?

This fascinating volume delves into the history of witchcraft and demonology.

An innovative look at some of the latest research on the intersection of spirituality and business.

Why do some Western women choose to join Christian and Islamic revivalist movements in the present day?

In response to some of the current explanations of mystic phenomena, this book proposes an interpretive framework for understanding mysticism.

This book puts spirit back at the heart of spirituality.

Cattoi and McDaniel present a selection of articles on the role of the body and the spiritual senses - our transfigured channels of sensory perceptions - in the context of spiritual practice.

There appears to be a hierarchy of cultures with the West perceiving the East as inferior, so much so that it is referred to simply as 'the Other'.

A summary of the most important issues, approaches and models in the field of spirituality in business, economics and society.

Spirits without Borders is an ethnographic study of the transnational and multicultural expansion of Vietnam's Mother Goddess Religion and its spirit possession ritual.

Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.

This comparative study graphs the feminist theological trajectory of the religious writings of four eclectic, but similar, women: Hannah More, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Baker Eddy.

Many have used the term 'tragic' to refer to African American religious and cultural experience.

Draws on mid-seventeenth to nineteenth-century slave narratives to describe oppression in the lives of enslaved African women.

By re-examining the central themes of Reformation theology, Chung clearly and carefully describes the fundamental shape of Reformation thinking and introduces the reader to what was and is at stake in the Reformation's insistence on the centrality of the Gospel.

This book explores the life and ideas of the enigmatic twentieth century philosopher, mystic, and teacher of esoteric dances George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, performing a hermeneutic textual analysis of all his writings to illuminate the place of hypnosis in his teaching.

Thoughtful essays to revive dialogue about atheism beyond belief.

From 1400 through 1700, the number of reports of demonic possessions among European women was extraordinarily high.

From the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms.

Who are the familiar spirits of classical culture and what is their relationship to Christian demons?

Before invasion, Turtle Island-or North America-was home to vibrant cultures that shared long-standing philosophical precepts.

This volume is the first comprehensive examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive iconoclasts.

This edited volume examines the realizations between theological considerations and natural law theorizing, from Plato to Spinoza.

As recent headlines reveal, conflicts and debates around the world increasingly involve secularism.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a controversial school of Russian religious and scientific thinkers emerged, united in the conviction that humanity was entering a new stage of evolution and must assume a new, active, managerial role in the cosmos.

What can atheists tell us about religious life?

What is the relationship between religion and multi-player online roleplaying games?

The number of nonreligious people has increased dramatically over the past several decades, yet scholarship on the nonreligious is severely lacking.

In Mystics and Messiahs--the first full account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history--Philip Jenkins shows that, contrary to popular belief, cults were by no means an invention of the 1960s.

During his 2009 inaugural speech, President Obama described the United States as a nation of "e;Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and nonbelievers.

While scholars, media, and the public may be aware of a few extraordinary government raids on religious communities, such as the U.

Some argue that atheism must be false, since without God, no values are possible, and thus "e;everything is permitted.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a controversial school of Russian religious and scientific thinkers emerged, united in the conviction that humanity was entering a new stage of evolution and must assume a new, active, managerial role in the cosmos.

Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America.

Teaching Spirits offers a thematic approach to Native American religious traditions.

In its day, spiritualism brought hundreds of thousands of Americans to seance tables and trance lectures.

The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East.

This fascinating book explores the concept of slow living, offering a philosophical and psychological exploration of the need for a slower pace of life.

Western esotericism has now emerged as an academic study in its own right, combining spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating the humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order.

In the first edition of the Bancroft Prize-winning Entertaining Satan, John Putnam Demos presented an entirely new perspective on American witchcraft.

Few events in American history are as well remembered as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Alternative religious groups have had a profound influence on American history-they have challenged the old and opened up new ways of thinking about healing, modes of meaning, religious texts and liturgies, the social and political order, and the relationships between religion and race, class, gender, and region.

In the ancient Greco-Roman world, it was common practice to curse or bind an enemy or rival by writing an incantation on a tablet and dedicating it to a god or spirit.

During his 2009 inaugural speech, President Obama described the United States as a nation of "e;Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and nonbelievers.

While scholars, media, and the public may be aware of a few extraordinary government raids on religious communities, such as the U.