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. In fact, most of the frightening images and stereotypes surrounding fringe religious movements are traceable to the mid-nineteenth century when Mormons, Freemasons, and even Catholics were denounced for supposed ritualistic violence, fraud, and sexual depravity. But America has also been the home of an often hysterical anti-cult backlash. Jenkins offers an insightful new analysis of why cults...
In Mystics and Messiahs--the first full account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history--Philip Jenkins shows that, contrary to popular beli...
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. In fact, most of the frightening images and stereotypes surrounding fringe religious movements are traceable to the mid-nineteenth century when Mormons, Freemasons, and even Catholics were denounced for supposed ritualistic violence, fraud, and sexual depravity. But America has also been the home of an often hysterical anti-cult backlash. Jenkins offers an insightful new analysis of why cults...
In Mystics and Messiahs--the first full account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history--Philip Jenkins shows that, contrary to popular beli...
This incisive critique thoroughly and convincingly debunks the claims that recently discovered texts such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and even the Dead Sea Scrolls undermine the historical validity of the New Testament. Jenkins places the recent controversies surrounding the hidden gospels in a broad historical context and argues that, far from being revolutionary, such attempts to find an alternative Christianity date back at least to the Enlightenment. By employing the appropriate scholarly and historical methodologies, he demonstrates that the texts purported to...
This incisive critique thoroughly and convincingly debunks the claims that recently discovered texts such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary,...
In books such as Mystics and Messiahs, Hidden Gospels, and The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins has established himself as a leading commentator on religion and society. Now, in Dream Catchers, Jenkins offers a brilliant account of the changing mainstream attitudes towards Native American spirituality, once seen as degraded spectacle, now hailed as New Age salvation. Jenkins charts this remarkable change by highlighting the complex history of white American attitudes towards Native religions, considering everything from the 19th-century American obsession with "Hebrew Indians" and Lost...
In books such as Mystics and Messiahs, Hidden Gospels, and The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins has established himself as a leading commentator on re...
Named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today, Philip Jenkins's phenomenally successful The Next Christendom permanently changed the way people think about the future of Christianity. In that volume, Jenkins called the world's attention to the little noticed fact that Christianity's center of gravity was moving inexorably southward, to the point that Africa may soon be home to the world's largest Christian populations. Now, in this brilliant sequel, Jenkins takes a much closer look at Christianity in the global South, revealing what it is like, and what it means for the future. ...
Named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today, Philip Jenkins's phenomenally successful The Next Christendom permanently changed the way pe...
In the last decade, serial murder has become a source of major concern for law enforcement agencies, while the serial killer has attracted widespread interest as a villain in popular culture. There is no doubt, however, that popular fears and stereotypes have vastly exaggerated the actual scale of multiple homicide activity. In assessing the concern and the interest, Jenkins has produced an innovative synthesis of approaches to social problem construction. It includes an historical and social-scientific estimate of the objective scale of serial murder; a rhetorical analysis of the...
In the last decade, serial murder has become a source of major concern for law enforcement agencies, while the serial killer has attracted widespr...
In assessing the concern that popular fears and stereotypes have exaggerated the actual scale of multiple homicides, Jenkins has produced an innovative synthesis of approaches to social problem construction that includes an historical and social-scientifi c estimate of the objective scale of serial murder; a rhetorical analysis of the construction of the phenomenom in public debate; and a cultural studies-oriented analysis of the portrayal of serial murder in contemporary media.
In assessing the concern that popular fears and stereotypes have exaggerated the actual scale of multiple homicides, Jenkins has produced an innovativ...
As in the study of any social problem, to understand terrorism we must understand how certain interest groups and bureaucratic agencies present their particular views of terrorist phenomena, and how they strive and try to establish these as the ones that come to be accepted as obviously correct. We also need to consider their audiences. Why do the media accept or reject certain views of terrorism? Why does the public accept one kind of rhetorical presentation rather than another? How aYe popular attitudes shaped and reshaped by the images and stereotypes offered in the mass media, and in...
As in the study of any social problem, to understand terrorism we must understand how certain interest groups and bureaucratic agencies present the...
This study provides an extensive survey of the economic activities of the gentry, their role as entrepreneurs and as popularisers of the metropolitan culture of Georgian London. It describes how during the eighteenth century, local elites from remote corners of Britain were amalgamated into one new ruling class, a body distinguished by common attitudes, social outlook, living standards and educational patterns. The author provides a synthesis of social, economic and political changes in the years prior to industrialisation. Political changes are studied in detail, and the changing role of...
This study provides an extensive survey of the economic activities of the gentry, their role as entrepreneurs and as popularisers of the metropolitan ...
One of the most significant industrial states in the country, with a powerful radical tradition, Pennsylvania was, by the early 1950s, the scene of some of the fiercest anti-Communist activism in the United States. Philip Jenkins examines the political and social impact of the Cold War across the state, tracing the Red Scare's reverberations in party politics, the labor movement, ethnic organizations, schools and universities, and religious organizations.
Among Jenkins's most provocative findings is the revelation that, although their absolute numbers were not large, Communists were...
One of the most significant industrial states in the country, with a powerful radical tradition, Pennsylvania was, by the early 1950s, the scene of so...
