The Politics of Religious Apostasy

Infobox Book
name = The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Book Cover
author = David G. Bromley (ed.)
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Religion in the Age of Transformation
subject = Apostasy, Anti-cult movement
genre = Sociology of religion
publisher = Praeger Publishers, (now part of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.)
release_date = 1998
english_release_date =
media_type = Hardcover
pages = 256
isbn = ISBN 0-275-95508-7
oclc = 37608170
preceded_by =
followed_by =

The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements , edited by David G. Bromley, presents studies by several sociologists of new religious movements on the role played by apostates (described as individuals that leave new religious movements to pursue opposition against their former group.) The volume examines the apostate's testimonies, their motivations, the narratives they construct to discredit their former movements, and their impact on the public controversy between such movements and society.

Contents

; Introduction
* Sociological Perspectives on Apostasy: An Overview by David G. Bromley
* A Comparative Approach to Organizational Exit
* "The Social Construction of Contested Exit Roles: Defectors, Whistleblowers, and Apostates", by David G. Bromley; The Apostate Role and Career
* "In Defense of Self: Apostasy as Spoiled Identity", by Armand L. Mauss
* "The Politics of Marginal Heresy", by Eileen Barker
* "Exploring the Varieties of Apostate Roles", by Stuart A. Wright
* "Apostates Who Never Were: The Social Construction of Absque Facto Apostate Narratives", by Daniel Carson Johnson; The Organizational Context of Apostasy
* "Apostasy, Apocalypse, and Religious Violence: An Exploratory Comparison of Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple", by John R. Hall and Philip Schuyler
* "Apostates, Defectors, Law and Social Control", by James T. Richardson
* "Apostates and Their Role in the Construction of Grievance Claims Against the Northeast Kingdom/Messianic Communities", by Susan J. Palmer
* "The Changing Apostate Role in the Evolution of the North American Anti-cult Movement", by Anson Shupe; Methodological Issues in the Study of Apostasy
* "Carriers of Tales: On Assessing Credibility of Apostate and Other Outsider Accounts of Religious Practices", by Lewis F. Carter

Reception

The Social Science Journal refers to the book as a "superb effort to examine in depth the complexity and significance of the apostate role, and to illuminate the processes through which subversive evil is socially constructed. Taken together, the authors contribute a diverse array of theory, data and substantive insights that add to our knowledge of the inner-workings of new religious movements. I recommend this book for classes in organizations, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, group dynamics and related subjectss" ['The Social Science Journal", Elsevier; web cite |url=http://www.greenwood.com/books/printFlyer.aspx?sku=C5508|title=The Politics of Religious Apostasy|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group]

The book was reviewed in the American Journal of Sociology, that found this work to be a "remarkably unified collection of high-quality essays by many leading sociologists of new religious movements." [William Sims Bainbridge, "The American Journal of Sociology", Vol. 105, No. 1 (Jul., 1999), pp. 261-262]

Michael Langone argues that some will accept uncritically the positive reports of current members without calling such reports, for example, "benevolence tales" or "personal growth tales". He asserts that only the critical reports of ex-members are called "tales", which he considers to be a term that clearly implies falsehood or fiction. He states that it wasn't until 1996 that a researcher conducted a study [Zablocki 1996 Zablocki, Benjamin, "Reliability and validity of apostate accounts in the study of religious communities". Paper presented at the Association for the Sociology of Religion in New York City, Saturday, August 17, 1996.] to assess the extent to which so called "atrocity tales" might be based on fact. [Langone, Michael, "The Two "Camps" of Cultic Studies: Time for a Dialogue", "Cults and Society", Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001 [http://www.culticstudiesreview.org/csr_articles/langone_michael_full.htm] ]

Further reading

* Richardson, James, T., Introvigne, Massimo cite journal |url=http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0021-8294.00046 |title="Brainwashing" Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on "Cults" and "Sects", Journal for Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 40 Issue 2|pages= pp.143–168 |format= |doi=10.1111/0021-8294.00046 |year=2001 |author=Richardson, James T. |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=40
* Introvigne, Massimo, " cite journal |url=http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/nr.1999.3.1.83 |title='Defectors, Ordinary Leave-takers, and Apostates: A Quantitative Study of Former Members of New Acropolis in France, October 1999, Vol. 3, No. 1|pages= pp. 83–99 |doi=10.1525/nr.1999.3.1.83|work= |year=2001 |author=Richardson, James T. |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=40

References