Table of Contents
Preface
Caveat
Introduction: Finding a Middle Ground in a Polarized Scholarly Arena
Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins
PART ONE: HOW OBJECTIVE ARE THE SCHOLARS?
- 'O Truant Muse': Collaborationist!! and Research Integrity
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi - Balance and Fairness in the Study of Alternative Religions
Thomas Robbins - Caught Up in the Cult Wars: Confessions of a Canadian Researcher
Susan ]. Palmer - Pitfalls in the Sociological Study of Cults
Janja Lalich
PART TWO: HOW CONSTRAINED ARE THE PARTICIPANTS?
- Towards a Demystified and Disinterested Scientific Theory of Brainwashing
Benjamin Zablocki - Tactical Ambiguity and Brainwashing Formulations: Science or Pseudo Science
Dick Anthony - A Tale of Two Theories: Brainwashing and Conversion as Competing Political Narratives
David Bromley - Brainwashing Programs in The Family/Children of God and Scientology
Stephen A. Kent - Raising Lazarus: A Methodological Critique of Stephen Kent's Revival of the Brainwashing Model
Lome L. Dawson - Compelling Evidence: A Rejoinder to Lome Dawson's Chapter
Stephen A. Kent
PART THREE: HOW CONCERNED SHOULD SOCIETY BE?
- Child-Rearing Issues in Totalist Groups
Amy Siskind - Contested Narratives: A Case Shady of the Conflict Between a New Religious Movement and Its Critics
Julius H. Rubin - The Roots of Religious Violence in America
Jeffrey Kaplan
Appendix
Contributors