• A 2003 Finalist in the Word Guild Canadian Writing Awards

Studying new religious movements can be like trying to learn several languages at once, each with its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax. The flourishing variety of these movements today makes the task even more difficult.

Irving Hexham has designed Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements to be an indispensable companion for students of religion and a fascinating guide for curious and perplexed observers of the religious scene.

Here are nearly 450 entries covering

• specific groups, from the Aetherius Society to the Zion Christian Church
• practices, from the Alexander technique to Yoga
• UFO religion, from alien abductions to Unarius Academy of Science
• symbols, from the ankh to yin-yang
• religious texts, from the apocryphal New Testament to the Vinaya-Pitaka
• religious leaders, from George Adamski to Rabbi Zalman

Reference books on religion tend to be too large, expensive and unwieldy for those who want quick information. Both handy and affordable, this Pocket Dictionary offers quick, concise and reliable answers to basic questions about new religious movements.