The Handbook of UFO Religions, edited by scholar of new religions Benjamin E. Zeller, offers the most expansive and detailed study of the persistent, popular, and global phenomenon of religious engagements with ideas about extraterrestrial life.

The spectre of the UFO, as popularized by shows such as The X-Files, has brought an astonishing slant to the face of modern religious practice. But what motivates the fantastical and sometimes sinister beliefs of UFO worshippers? UFO Religions critically examines some of the fascinating issues surrounding UFO worship - abduction narratives, UFO-based interpretations of other religions, the growth of pseudo-sciences purporting to explain UFOs, and the responses of the core scientific community to such claims. Focusing on contemporary global UFO groups including the Raelian Movement, Heaven's Gate, Unarius and the Ansaaru Allah Community, it gives a clear profile of modern UFO controversies and beliefs.

Lines laid across the plain near the Peruvian site of Nazca have been explained as ancient roads or features of a long-forgotten religious calendar. So why did Erich von Daniken interpret these markings as the contours of a huge galactic spaceport? In his assessment of the uncanny and frequently eerie world of UFO-logy, Gregory L Reece travels deep into a mindset which believes that the gods of mythology were really visitors from the stars. Venturing into the Mojave Desert to watch the night skies for flying saucers; exploring Nevada's top-secret installation 'Area 51'; and visiting Roswell, famous site of a supposed saucer crash in 1947, the author's quest for the truth brings him more than he bargained for. He has his atomic structure recharged in a machine supposedly designed by extraterrestrial technology, encounters a whole galaxy of alien life-forms, and meets those who claim themselves to have been abducted by UFOs. Along the way, he tries to make sense both of the sinister 'Men in Black' and of lethal 'Tall Whites', deadly aliens who liquidate human beings without mercy. What is it about flying saucer culture that speaks to people with an apparently religious intensity and fervour? For those looking for the answers, "UFO Religion" is the definitive guide and handbook to one of the most extraordinary and compelling cults of our times.

Early Judaism and early Christianity emerged during the Hellenistic and early Roman imperial era. They were, naturally, confronted with the Hellenistic and the Roman religion. The question therefore arose as to whether Jews or Christians were free to participate in religious activities alien to the religious heritage of their own. In his articles, Karl-Gustav Sandelin presents documentary material showing that this problem was a burning issue within Judaism from the beginning of the Hellenistic period until the end of the first century C.E. Several Jewish individuals converted to the Hellenistic or the Roman religion. Such behavior was also discussed and generally condemned, for example by the Books of Maccabees and authors such as Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. A similar problem is to be found in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, especially in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the Revelation of John.

Science and Religion: Interpersonal Dialogue, Discussion and Debate is a unique handbook for college students and adults interested in exploring the persuasive and rhetorical strategies surrounding todays fashionable topics in science and religion. Offered in three accommodating sections, John Ross presents valuable chapters on Humans, Communication, and Language; the Importance and Meaning of Interpersonal Dialogue; and a very timely chapter entitled Avenues of Dialogue: Dissimilarity, Discord and Alliance. Part II explores captivating issues surrounding Faith, the After-Life, Apologetics, and Atheistic Scientism. There is also an innovative section on the human brain, higher intelligence, and even on the questionable phenomena of neuroethology, UFO cults, and the disputable God Helmet. The final chapters explore contemporary miracles, creation accounts, astrobiology, and the current challenges surrounding SETI in its quest for extraterrestrial life. Ross eloquently addresses the possibilities of alien life and the resulting consequences and challenges it brings for Biblicists in the world of Christian fundamentalism. The book also includes a synopsis of the major world religions and a final section entitled Group Presentation Models in Science and Religion. This handbook is unique in that it smartly combines principles of communication, rhetoric, and public speaking with contemporary issues in science, theology, and religion.

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. In this all-new volume, James R. Lewis and Inga B. Tøllefsen bring together established and rising scholars to address an expanded range of topics, covering traditional religious studies topics such as "scripture," "charisma," and "ritual," while also applying new theoretical approaches to NRM topics. Other chapters cover understudied topics in the field, such as the developmental patterns of NRMs and subcultural considerations in the study of NRMs. The first part of this book examines NRMs from a social-scientific perspective, particularly that of sociology. In the second section, the primary factors that have put the study of NRMs on the map, controversy and conflict, are considered. The third section investigates common themes within the field of NRMs, while the fourth examines the approaches that religious studies researchers have taken to NRMs. As NRM Studies has grown, subfields such as Esotericism, New Age Studies, and neo-Pagan Studies have grown as distinct and individual areas of study, and the final section of the book investigates these emergent fields.

Religion and Outer Space examines religion in and on the final frontier. This book offers a first-of-its-kind roadmap for thinking about complex encounters of religion and outer space. A multidisciplinary group of scholarly experts takes up some of the most intriguing scientific, spiritual, trade/commercial, and even military dimensions of the complex entanglements of religion and outer space. Attending to the historical reality that the interconnections between religion and the heavens are as old as religions themselves, the volume starts with an examination of "outer space" elements in the most sacred writings of the world’s religions. It then explores some of the religious questions inevitable in this encounter, analyzing cultural constructions (both literary and actual) of religion and outer space. It ends with examinations of the role of religion in the very real and very present business of space exploration. What might motivate the spread of religion (or at least fantasies of religion in its myriad possibilities) into new interior and exterior dimensions of the cosmos? Only the future will tell. Religion and Outer Space is essential reading for students and academics with an interest in religion and space, religion and science, space exploration, religion and science fiction, popular culture, and religion in America.

This book is meant to define and elaborate the concept of Religion. Various theories regarding the origin of Religion has been stated. Utilitarian aspect of religion is highlighted so as to create harmony among people belonging to different religions. The Non-Religious viewpoint and criticism of religion has also been given importance. It's an attempt to inform and make people aware of the phenomena of religion and irreligion both while highlighting the positive aspects of both non religious humanist worldview and religious ideologies.

Seventh-Day Adventists, Melanesian cargo cults, David Koresh's Branch Davidians, and the Raelian UFO religion would seem to have little in common. What these groups share, however, is a millennial orientation-the audacious human hope for a collective salvation, which may be either heavenly or earthly. The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism offers readers an in-depth look at both the theoretical underpinnings of the study of millennialism and its many manifestations across history and cultures.

Jesus' promise that "the end" draws near has spawned an expectation of that grand event across various religious groups. This volume examines the abiding social issues that surround the continued presence of apocalyptic anticipation by setting them in historical, present-day, and future manifestations. Approaching this fervent expectation from a broad perspective, Gribben and Newport explore the contemporary movements with insightful analysis that provokes discussion and even self-reflection.