Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements

by H. Wayne House

Book Overview

When you want well-organized, essential information on one of the many cults, sects, and movements that dot today's religious landscape, this collection of charts is invaluable. It gives you both the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310385512
• ISBN13: 9780310385516
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 2.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

I needed a good book on cults and this one delivered

I just started Ministry School and we were given a World Religions assignment for a presentation within two weeks of starting classes. I could not find any comprehensive information on Alamo Christian Ministries. I searched on the internet, even went to the website however, I was still information deficient. I found this book when I googled Tony Alamo and Alamo Christian Ministries. I looked inside the book on this website, ordered it, read it, created my presentation and it went extremely well because I was sufficiently prepared. As of yesterday, another student has asked me to use the text for their presentation which is coming up. I really liked the book. I highly recommend it.

A helpful resource book to own

This book was very helpful when I needed to find information on a little known ministry that had some questionable teachings. It was the only book I could find out of many books I purchased on cults that had this group in it's content. The material is nicely displayed, giving the background of the groups with a contrasting orthodox response. We especially appreciated the added appendix of Christian teachings, and creeds. In some categories the information was lacking, but over all the book serves as a very useful resource.

Worth the money for checking out nonorthodox groups

House goes over 19 different quasi-Christian religions and, although I have not read very much yet, initial appearances show that he appears to have done a very nice job. He lists the different viewpoints of these religions and then contrasts them with "Orthodox" Christianity. He uses original sources to support himself so that it's not just his opinion, but rather the opinion of the group's leaders. Certainly some may come in and disagree about certain nuances regarding the way he lays out the orthodox position (i.e. a Catholic or Greek Orthodox layperson may not see eye-to-eye on salvation and justification through faith alone), but House gives verses from the Bible to support himself. He also uses expert resources to check his work and make sure his arguments were not faulty. I will keep this reference near-by, and when I have a question about a particular group's teaching, I will be sure to see what this has to say. I do have two complaints: First, the book is so big (350 pages, 8.5 x 11 format) and, with the pages getting flipped back and forth, I'm scared the spine may not hold out. I'm wondering why the publisher didn't use a metal ring spine to make it easier to lay the book flat and help it withstand the constant paging back and forth. Also, what about the Boston (discipleship) movement? I would have liked material on this growing group. However, I can't lessen my recommendation of the book despite my complaints.

A Great Ready Reference Book

H. Wayne House has put together a wonderful collection of charts/descriptions/facts regarding the various cults, sects, & religious movements. House gives facts about each group's history, their theology on the main doctrines of the Christian faith (i.e. the Trinity, the diety of Christ, the doctrine of Revelation, the humanity of Christ, Salvation, etc.) and he gives the orthodox response to the false teaching. This book is literally exhaustive in its research and simple in its approach, which makes the book a very powerful tool for the Christian apologists. Some of the various groups that are covered are Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church Universal and Triumphant, A Course in Miracles, the New Age movement, Mind Science groups, Christian Identity Movement, Christadelphians, Eckankar, Urantia Foundation, The Way International, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, etc. The bibliography alone (from page 339 to 351) is worth the cost of the book.