Alternative belief systems

The study of New Religious Movements (NRMs) is one of the fastest-growing areas of religious studies, and since the release of the first edition of The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements in 2003, the field has continued to expand and break new ground.

History is littered with evidence of humanity's fascination with drugs and the pursuit of altered states.

History is littered with evidence of humanity's fascination with drugs and the pursuit of altered states.

Alchemists are generally held to be the quirky forefathers of science, blending occultism with metaphysical pursuits.

The cognitive science of religion has made a persuasive case for the view that a number of different psychological systems are involved in the construction and transmission of notions of extranatural agency such as deities and spirits.

The Mandaeans are a Gnostic sect that arose in the middle east around the same time as Christianity.

Imagine yourself sitting on the cool damp earth, surrounded by deep night sky and fields full of fireflies, anticipating the ritual of initiation that you are about to undergo.

Since the emergence of religious studies and the social sciences as academic disciplines, the concept of "e;magic"e; has played a major role in defining religion and in mediating the relation of religion to science.

In this penetrating and provocative assessment of the current state of religion and its effects on society at large, Philip J.

Satanism is a complex phenomenon that has often been the source of controversy across social and rhetorical contexts.

If we are to believe sensationalist media coverage, Satanism is, at its most benign, the purview of people who dress in black, adorn themselves with skull and pentagram paraphernalia, and listen to heavy metal.

If we are to believe sensationalist media coverage, Satanism is, at its most benign, the purview of people who dress in black, adorn themselves with skull and pentagram paraphernalia, and listen to heavy metal.

Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets provides an ethnographic study of varmakkalai, or "e;the art of the vital spots,"e; a South Indian esoteric tradition that combines medical practice and martial arts.

In his sixth satire, Juvenal speculates about how Roman wives busy themselves while their husbands are away, namely, by entertaining a revolving door of exotic visitors who include a eunuch of the eastern goddess Bellona, an impersonator of Egyptian Anubis, a Judean priestess, and Chaldean astrologers.

Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets provides an ethnographic study of varmakkalai, or "e;the art of the vital spots,"e; a South Indian esoteric tradition that combines medical practice and martial arts.

The concept of evolution is widely considered to be a foundational building block in atheist thought.

The concept of evolution is widely considered to be a foundational building block in atheist thought.

Children born and raised on the religious fringe are a distinctive yet largely unstudied social phenomenon.

Daughters of Hecate unites for the first time research on the problem of gender and magic in three ancient Mediterranean societies: early Judaism, Christianity, and Graeco-Roman culture.

Worshippers of the Gods tells how the Latin writers who witnessed the political and social rise of Christianity rethought the role of traditional religion in the empire and city of Rome.

Worshippers of the Gods tells how the Latin writers who witnessed the political and social rise of Christianity rethought the role of traditional religion in the empire and city of Rome.

The relationship between early Mormons and the United States was marked by anxiety and hostility, heightened over the course of the nineteenth century by the assassination of Mormon leaders, the Saints' exile from Missouri and Illinois, the military occupation of the Utah territory, and the national crusade against those who practiced plural marriage.

The relationship between early Mormons and the United States was marked by anxiety and hostility, heightened over the course of the nineteenth century by the assassination of Mormon leaders, the Saints' exile from Missouri and Illinois, the military occupation of the Utah territory, and the national crusade against those who practiced plural marriage.

In recent years, stories of religious universities and institutions grappling with their slave-owning past have made headlines in the news.

In recent years, stories of religious universities and institutions grappling with their slave-owning past have made headlines in the news.

Who is God?

Who is God?

In the conventional dichotomy of chaste, pure Madonna and libidinous whore, the former has usually been viewed as the ideal form of femininity.

In the conventional dichotomy of chaste, pure Madonna and libidinous whore, the former has usually been viewed as the ideal form of femininity.

The Armenian-born mystic, philosopher, and spiritual teacher G.

The Armenian-born mystic, philosopher, and spiritual teacher G.

In this vivid account, Kryiacos C Markides introduces to us the rich and intricate world of Daskalso, The Magus of Strovolos.

Witchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods.

Written in Berlin in 1934, Invitation to a Beheading contains all the surprise, excitement and magical intensity of a work created in two brief weeks of sustained inspiration.

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This is a rare piece of empirical research, which reveals the workings of a spiritual order, its leadership, as well as their approaches, methods and tools.

This book explores the deeper meaning of sports.

Religion, Secularism, and the Spiritual Paths of Virginia Woolf offers an expansive interdisciplinary study of spirituality in Virginia Woolf's writing, drawing on theology, psychology, geography, history, gender and sexuality studies, and other critical fields.

This book explores the role that religion plays in the lives of imprisoned homicide offenders.

« Le Cahier gnostique » est une nouvelle analyse de plusieurs textes classiques à travers la recherche de plusieurs niveaux cachés de signification.

Wall Street Journals Five Best Books About CultsThe true story of cult leader Cyrus Teed and his hollow earth theoryFor five days in December 1908 the body of Cyrus Teed lay in a bathtub at a beach house just south of Fort Myers, Florida.

The book goes beyond theory to offer tools and suggestions for developing emerging leaders.

This book reveals how, when, where, and why vitalism and its relationship to new scientific theories, philosophies and concepts of energy became seminal from the fin de siecle until the Second World War for such Modernists as Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hugo Ball, Juliette Bisson, Eva Carriere, Salvador Dali, Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Edvard Munch, Picasso, Yves Tanguy, Gino Severini and John Cage.

Engelszahlen: Wie Sie mit den himmlischen Wegweisern persönliche Begleitung im Alltag erleben und zu spirituellem Wachstum gelangenBestimmte Ziffernfolgen begegnen Ihnen immer wieder und Sie fragen sich, was das bedeutet?

The book delves deeply into the concept of hidden power that exists within each of us but often goes untapped.

Traces the life of Maurice Nicoll, who left a successful career as a psychiatrist in 1922 to study with G.