Violence, Conspiracies, and New Religions

This volume, dedicated to the late James Lewis, covers a range of topics on violence and conspiracies amongst New Religious Movements (NRMs). Lewis was a prodigious scholar, being the author or editor of 50 books and author or co-author of more than 128 articles and reference book entries, as well as journals focusing on religious violence. The variety of papers in this volume are a tribute to the wide influence James had in the study of NRMs, and especially their use of violence and manipulation in the control of their followers. He staunchly repudiated simple aspersions of “brainwashing” for members of NRMs, as well as exaggerations of a leader’s charisma to explain mass casualty events and maintained a wide-eyed skepticism about proclaimed motives of these NRMs.