
Abuse in New Religious Movements
Sarah Harvey(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Will be published approx. on 31. December 2025
Book
Hardback
75 pages
978-1-009-66083-9 (ISBN)
Description
This Element analyses issues of abuse in new religious movements (NRMs). It argues that abuse in NRMs is not unique but that certain factors can be intensified in NRM contexts - propensities for separation from wider society, teachings on unique legitimacy and exclusivity, and charismatic authority. First, a historical overview addresses how abuse in NRMs has been approached and understood, linking this to the development of NRM and cultic studies and their preferred terminology. Second, a theoretical framework allows consideration of the ways in which the interlinked structural and cultural factors of religious movements can contribute to the perpetration, legitimisation or concealment of abuse. Finally, the Element presents an applied case study analysing the interplay of these factors in the Jesus Fellowship Church, a UK-based NRM which closed in 2019, partly in recognition of abuses that had occurred. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
289 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-66083-9 (9781009660839)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Sarah Harvey
Abuse in New Religious Movements
Book
approx. 12/2025
Cambridge University Press
€26.70
Not yet published
Person
Content
1. Introduction; 2. A theoretical model of abuse: structural and cultural factors; 3. 'A holy segregation between the sexes': the Jesus fellowship church; 4. Conclusion; References.