Eileen Barker is a sociologist of religion at the London School of Economics and a leading academic authority on new religious movements, and this HMSO volume is her scholarly introduction to the field, written for a general but informed readership. Its strength is that Barker's own research is built on direct fieldwork with movements including the Unification Church, giving the overview a grounding in primary contact with the groups it discusses rather than secondhand description alone. Its limit is that it is a general introduction to the category of new religious movements as such, so a claim about the specific internal doctrine of one particular movement, Christian Science or Scientology for instance, needs a source focused on that movement rather than this survey.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Published by HMSO, the UK government's official publisher, as Eileen Barker's introduction to new religious movements; Barker is a recognized specialist scholar of the field, so this commissioned publication is treated as top tier scholarship despite its non-academic imprint. NotesEileen Barker's scholarly introduction to the study of new religious movements, by a leading sociologist of religion in the field. Use for established facts about the general category of new religious movements and named examples such as Christian Science, Scientology and the Unification Church; an academic overview, not a source specific to any one movement's internal doctrine.
Citation
AuthorEileen Barker
PublisherHMSO
Publication Year1989
URLhttps://openlibrary.org/books/OL17993842M/New_religious_movements
Source Typebook
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Christian Science directly: "doctrine of one particular movement, Christian Science or Scientology for instance, needs a source focused on that movement rather than this survey."
London, Cities This source names London directly: "is a sociologist of religion at the London School of Economics and a leading academic authority on new religious movements, and this HMSO volume is her scholarly introduction to the field, written..."
Claims Backed By This Source (50 claims)
This source backs 50 claims across the atlas. As facts: 32 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 7 holds, 1 connected. Plus 9 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 14 claims: 11 well-attested, 1 connected, 2 general references.
- New Religious Movements, 13 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 2 general references.
- Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Subcategories, 4 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Historical Figures, 3 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Years, 3 claims: 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Categories, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Denominations, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.