Includes bibliographical references (p. [331]-355) and index.

Teaching new religious movements/Learning from new religious movements / David G. Bromley -- Introducing and defining the concept of a new religion / J. Gordon Melton -- Disciplinary perspectives on new religious movements : views from the humanities and social sciences / John A. Saliba -- Methodological issues in the study of new religious movements / David G. Bromley -- New religious movements, countermovements, moral panics, and the media / James T. Richardson and Massimo Introvigne -- The meaning and significance of new religious movements / Lorne L. Dawson -- Deliberate heresies : new religious myths and rituals as critiques / Susan J. Palmer and David G. Bromley -- Social building blocks of new religious movements : organization and leadership / E. Burke Rochford, Jr. -- The dynamics of movement membership : joining and leaving new religious movements / Stuart A. Wright -- Gender in new religions / Sarah M. Pike -- Abuse in new religious movements : challenges for the sociology of religion / Janet Jacobs -- New religious movements and violence / Thomas Robbins and John R. Hall -- Responding to resistance in teaching about new religious movements / Eugene V. Gallagher -- Teaching new religious movements on the world wide web / Douglas E. Cowan -- Charting the information field : cult-watching groups and the construction of images of new religious movements / Eileen Barker -- New religious movements : a bibliographic essay / William Sims Bainbridge.