Overview

New religious movements both read the Bible in creative ways and produce their own texts that aspire to scriptural status. From the creation stories in Genesis and the Ten Commandments to the life of Jesus and the apocalypse, they develop their self-understandings through reading and writing scripture.

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9781349493067

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"""Eugene V. Gallagher, as a scholar of New Testament, early Christianity, as well as new religions, has written an accessible and clear treatment of scripture interpretations, composition of new scriptures, and canon formation in new religious movements. He highlights the 'prophetic paradigm, ' which often produces new scriptures or new interpretations of old scriptures. New religions scholars will find the chapters on a variety of new scriptures relevant for use in their courses and research. All students of the development, history, and interpretation of scriptures will benefit from reading Dr. Gallagher's elegant analysis."" - Catherine Wessinger, Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, Loyola University New Orleans, USA.""It is often assumed that cults, or new religious movements, are by definition radically different in every way from mainstream religions and society. By dwelling at the underexamined intersection of the study of new religious movements and scriptures, Eugene Gallagher opens a space for defamiliarizing such entrenched assumptions about both ""new"" and ""old"" religions. Reading and Writing Scripture in New Religious Movements explores a host of critical questions--such as how, and on what terms, humans decide what texts are to be marked out as sacred, as well as what the utility and consequences of doing so might be for identity and community formation. This book is rare in that it is at once a model of scholarly engagement and deep pedagogical sensibility, and I welcome the challenges and contributions it promises to make to the study of religion."" - Davina C. Lopez, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College, USA."

Eugene V. Gallagher, as a scholar of New Testament, early Christianity, as well as new religions, has written an accessible and clear treatment of scripture interpretations, composition of new scriptures, and canon formation in new religious movements. He highlights the 'prophetic paradigm, ' which often produces new scriptures or new interpretations of old scriptures. New religions scholars will find the chapters on a variety of new scriptures relevant for use in their courses and research. All students of the development, history, and interpretation of scriptures will benefit from reading Dr. Gallagher's elegant analysis. - Catherine Wessinger, Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, Loyola University New Orleans, USA. It is often assumed that cults, or new religious movements, are by definition radically different in every way from mainstream religions and society. By dwelling at the underexamined intersection of the study of new religious movements and scriptures, Eugene Gallagher opens a space for defamiliarizing such entrenched assumptions about both new and old religions. Reading and Writing Scripture in New Religious Movements explores a host of critical questions--such as how, and on what terms, humans decide what texts are to be marked out as sacred, as well as what the utility and consequences of doing so might be for identity and community formation. This book is rare in that it is at once a model of scholarly engagement and deep pedagogical sensibility, and I welcome the challenges and contributions it promises to make to the study of religion. - Davina C. Lopez, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College, USA.

Author Information

Eugene V. Gallagher is the Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College. He is the co-author of Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America and other books and articles on new religions. He serves as co-general editor of Nova Religio and associate editor of Teaching Theology and Religion.

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