The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena - Softcover

Críticas

"J. Gordon Melton is a renowned authority on what academics call "New Religious Movements." His expertise with the arcane shines from the pages. . . . [T]his is an entertaining and fascinating look at an astonishing variety of ways that people experience belief."-- The Dallas Morning News

"From the sensational to the conventional, this book covers it"-- About.com

"The work is not an effort to promote religious phenomena, nor to pass judgment. ... That's part of the appeal of this work. It's amazing how informative it is, without being disrespectful of any religious experience."-- Kliatt

"Melton is a longtime researcher in esoteric traditions and new or unconventional religious movements, subjects on which he has written extensively. The book is fascinating to flip through, will interest a wide range of readers, and is written for nonexperts."-- Library Journal

"[Melton] gives readers interesting religious expressions and phenomena from Buddhism, Baha'I, Islam, indigenous faiths and Christianity. The result cannot help but be inspiring or alarming, depending on your understanding of true faith."-- Reference & Research Book News

"Melton, a renowned authority on "New Religious Movements," takes on a broad range of topics. If you can't learn an interesting bunch of facts from this book, you must already have a doctorate on the topic."-- The Modesto Bee

Reseña del editor

Based on more than 250 occurrences and extraordinary experiences that have served to lift believers out of the mundane world and place them in contact with a transcendental reality, The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena explores unusual and unexplained physical events, apparitions, and other phenomena rooted in religious beliefs. Well-known religion expert, J. Gordon Melton takes readers on a tour amongst angels, Marian apparitions, and religious figures such as Jesus, the Buddha, Mohammad, and Tao Tzu. Melton reports on dreams and near-death experiences; feng shui and labyrinths; statues that bleed, drink milk, weep, and move; snake handling, speaking in tongues, and stigmata; relics, including the spear of Longinus and the Shroud of Turin; and sacred locales such as Easter Island, the Glastonbury Tor, the Great Pyramid, Mecca, and Sedona. Each entry includes a description of the particular phenomenon and the religious claims being made for it as well as a discussion of what a scientist might have to say about it. Transcending the mundane, the entries take no sides and make no arguments: the journey is the experience and the experience is the journey.