Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion

1989 book by Marc Galanter

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion

Book cover, Hardcover ed.

Author| Marc Galanter (MD)
Language| English
Subject| Cults, Psychology
Genre| Non-fiction
Publisher| Oxford University Press

Publication date

| May 4, 1989
Publication place| United States
Media type| Hardcover
Pages| 240
ISBN| 978-0-19-505631-0
Followed by| Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association

Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion is a non-fiction book on cults and coercive persuasion, written by Marc Galanter. The book was published in hardcover format in 1989 by Oxford University Press, and again in hardcover in 1999 in a second-edition work. The second edition was reprinted by Oxford University Press in March 2007.

## Author

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Galanter works at the New York University School of Medicine, as Professor of Psychiatry[1] and Director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.[2] He is also the editor of Cults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association.[3] In a review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, Armando Favazza described Galanter as "the psychiatric expert on cults".[4]

## Main points

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The book is based on Galanter's fifteen years studying the psychology of contemporary charismatic groups.[5] Groups discussed and examined include the Aum Shinrikyo, Hare Krishna,[4] Peoples Temple,[1] Unification Church, the Divine Light Mission, and Alcoholics Anonymous.[5] In addition to these groups, the author also examines alternative medicine and spiritual recovery movements, and their similarities to charismatic groups and their leaders.[4] Galanter analyzes recruitment tactics of the groups, indoctrination techniques, and legal aspects involved with conservatorship and deprogramming.[5] A directory is provided for those seeking help after being involved in groups similar to those discussed in the work.[5]

The book analyzes these groups and methodologies from a scientific viewpoint, as well as providing first-person accounts of religious conversion, and in certain cases subsequent apostasy.[1] Galanter utilizes systems theory to illustrate how cult functions are similar to a social organism, with increasing conformity managed by the manipulation of psychological distress.[2] The material is worded in a scholarly format, and yet is accessible to the non-academic reader as well.[6]

## Reception

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In his review of the book in The New York Times, Mark Silk writes that Galanter kept his "clinician's detachment" throughout the work in his assessment of the psychological health of members of charismatic groups, but also states that the book's failing is its single-minded, social-scientific approach to the subject.[2] M. L. S. Nixon of Library Journal stated that Galanter's work was more "neutral and open" than Cults and Consequences by Rachel Andres and James R. Lane, but recommends both books.[5] Publishers Weekly described the book as a "comprehensive analysis of cult power".[1] Gwen Salama of School Library Journal noted that Galanter compared cult groups for psychological characteristics, without passing judgement on the individual groups analyzed.[6]

In his review in The American Journal of Psychiatry, physician Armando Favazza heartily recommended the book to all of his colleagues, noting that it provides insights into both group dynamics and family functioning.[4] Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion was also reviewed in Contemporary Sociology by Benjamin Zablocki,[7] and in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion by Thomas Robbins.[8]

The book was required reading in the Cornell University sociology course, "Communes, Cults, and Charisma",[9] as well as the University of Pennsylvania course, "Religious Violence and Cults".[10] Galanter's characteristics of charismatic groups from Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion are cited in the article on "Cults", in the Encyclopedia of Psychology.[11]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Publishers Weekly. Reed Business Information, Inc. 1989. pp. Review, Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion.
2. ^ a b c Silk, Mark (June 18, 1989). "OUTSIDERS WELCOME". The New York Times. pp. 2 Pgs.
3. ^ Malinoski, Peter M. (2002). "Seeking Accurate Information: Part I A Sketch of Currently Available Popular and Professional Books on Cultic and Related Groups". Cultic Studies Review. 1 (1): Professional Columns: Psychology. Archived from the original on 2007-03-02.
4. ^ a b c d Favazza, Armando (June 2002). "Book Forum: Religion and Philosophy - Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion, 2nd ed". The American Journal of Psychiatry. 159 (6): 1074–1075. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.6.1074.
5. ^ a b c d e Nixon, M.L.S., C. Robert (1989). Library Journal. Lafayette, Indiana: Reed Business Information, Inc. pp. Review, Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion.
6. ^ a b Salama, Gwen (1989). School Library Journal. Houston, Texas: Reed Business Information, Inc. pp. Review, Cults: Faith Healing and Coercion.
7. ^ Zablocki, Benjamin (March 1990). "Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion. by Marc Galanter". Contemporary Sociology. 19 (2): 260–261. doi:10.2307/2072606. JSTOR 2072606.
8. ^ Robbins, Thomas (December 1989). "Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion by Marc Galanter". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 28 (4): 546–547. doi:10.2307/1386592. JSTOR 1386592.
9. ^ Kitts, James. "Communes, Cults, and Charisma". Cornell University Department of Sociology. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
10. ^ Dunning, Stephen (Fall 2005). "RELS 006: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE AND CULTS" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
11. ^ Kazdin, Alan E. (ed.), "Cults", Encyclopedia of Psychology, March 2000, ISBN 1-55798-187-6, American Psychological Association, retrieved 11-05-2007.

## External links

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* "Cults", Encyclopedia of Psychology

Reviews

* Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion, 2nd ed., The American Journal of Psychiatry, 2002
* OUTSIDERS WELCOME, The New York Times, 1989

* v
* t
* e

Opposition to new religious movements

Concepts|

* Anti-cult movement
* Christian countercult movement
* Cult
* Deprogramming
* Doomsday cult
* Freedom of religion
* Heresy
* Heterodox teaching
* Mind control
* New religious movement

Secular groups|

* APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control
* Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons
* Cult Awareness Network
* Cult Information Centre
* Cultists Anonymous
* International Cultic Studies Association
* The Family Survival Trust
* Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
* National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
* People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion

Secular individuals|

* Jean-Marie Abgrall
* John Gordon Clark
* Steve Eichel
* Martin Faiers
* Leon Festinger
* Carol Giambalvo
* Steven Hassan
* Ian Haworth
* Galen Kelly
* Stephen A. Kent
* Masaki Kito
* Janja Lalich
* Michael Langone
* Saul V. Levine
* Casey McCann
* Jesse S. Miller
* Sayuri Ogawa
* Ted Patrick
* Tsutsumi Sakamoto
* Rick Ross
* Chris Shelton
* Margaret Singer
* Eito Suzuki
* Alain Vivien
* Cyril Vosper
* Louis Jolyon West
* Lawrence Wollersheim

Religious groups|

* Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
* Christian Research Institute
* Dialog Center International
* Dialogue Ireland
* Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
* Institute for Religious Research
* Personal Freedom Outreach
* Midwest Christian Outreach
* New England Institute of Religious Research
* Reachout Trust
* Spiritual Counterfeits Project
* Watchman Fellowship
* Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center

Religious individuals|

* Johannes Aagaard
* Graham Baldwin
* Robert M. Bowman Jr.
* Harold Busséll
* Gérard Dagon
* Maurice Davis
* Alexander Dvorkin
* Ronald Enroth
* Mike Garde
* Robin Garbose
* Norman Geisler
* Jan Groenveld
* Hank Hanegraaff
* Reinhart Hummel
* Roger Ikor
* Bob Larson
* Paul R. Martin
* Walter Ralston Martin
* Robert Passantino

Governmental organizations|

* 610 Office
* European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism
* Centre contre les manipulations mentales
* Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu
* MIVILUDES
* Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France

Individuals in government|

* Nicolas About
* Serge Blisko
* Georges Fenech
* Ford Greene
* Stephen Mutch
* Catherine Picard
* Kenneth Robinson
* Paul Rose
* Tom Sackville
* Nick Xenophon

Historical events|

* About–Picard law
* Anti-Mormonism
* Assassination of Shinzo Abe
* Governmental lists of cults and sects
* Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate
* Jason Scott case
* Persecution of Baháʼís
* Persecution of Falun Gong
* Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
* The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act
* Tokyo subway sarin attack
* Waco siege

Publications|

* All Gods Children (book)
* Another Gospel
* Bounded Choice
* Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
* Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
* The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
* Churches That Abuse
* Combating Cult Mind Control
* Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
* Cults in Our Midst
* Cults of Unreason
* Deadly Cults
* The Incendiaries
* The Kingdom of the Cults
* The Making of a Moonie
* Misunderstanding Cults
* The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions
* On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left
* Recovery from Cults
* Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
* Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
* Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
* Twisted Scriptures
* When Prophecy Fails
* The Wrong Way Home
* Zealot: A Book About Cults

* v
* t
* e

Books about new religious movements

General and historiography|

* Occult America
* The Darkened Room
* Nature Religion Today
* The Triumph of the Moon
* The Myth of Disenchantment
* The Occult: A History
* Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll
* A Republic of Mind and Spirit
* The Mystical Geography of Quebec
* A Course in Miracles
* Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
* Misunderstanding Cults
* The New Believers
* Another Gospel
* Pagan Theology
* The New Vigilantes
* Mystics and Messiahs

Modern paganism and magic|

* A Community of Witches
* Drawing Down the Moon
* Living Witchcraft
* Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia
* Witching Culture
* Dreaming the Dark
* Mastering Witchcraft
* The Satanic Witch
* Persuasions of the Witch's Craft
* Her Hidden Children
* Modern Paganism in World Cultures
* Never Again the Burning Times
* The Wiccan Web

Specific groups|

* Aliens Adored
* A Field Guide to Otherkin
* The Book of est
* Doomsday Cult
* Getting It: The Psychology of est
* Underground
* Contemporary Religious Satanism
* The Order of the Solar Temple
* Les Mythes du Temple Solaire
* Scientology
* From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco
* The Making of a Moonie
* Sex, Slander, and Salvation
* Werner Erhard
* The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation
* Sacred Journeys
* Ghosts of Kanungu

Criticism and controversies|

* Books critical of Scientology
* Gods of the Blood
* The Politics of Religious Apostasy
* Bounded Choice
* All Gods Children
* The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
* Zealot: A Book About Cults
* Cult Controversies
* Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
* How the Millennium Comes Violently
* Sacred Suicide

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