Encyclopedic dictionary of cults, sects, and world religions : revised and updated edition

1357 Pages·2010·7.14 MB·English

by  Nichols

ZONDERVAN
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions
Copyright © 2006 by George A. Mather, Larry A. Nichols, and Alvin J. Schmidt All rights reserved under
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ePub Edition August 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-86606-0
Formerly published as Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult
Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mather, George A.
Dictionary of cults, sects, and world religions / George A. Mather, Larry A. Nichols, Alvin J. Schmidt.—
Rev. and updated ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Dictionary of cults, sects, religions, and the occult. 1993.
Summary: “This updated dictionary explores a variety of religious beliefs”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-23954-3
1. Religions—Dictionaries. 2. Cults—Dictionaries. 3. Sects—Dictionaries. I. Nichols, Larry A. II. Schmidt,
Alvin J. III. Mather, George A. Dictionary of cults, sects, religions, and the occult. IV. Title.
BL31.M295 2005
200'.3—dc22
2005000820
CIP
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06 07 08 09 10 • 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
George Mather would like to dedicate this book to those
friends and family who have been a continued source of
encouragement during the writing of this book.

Larry Nichols would like to dedicate this book in loving
memory of his mother, Joyce Nichols, and his father-in-law,
Alfred Medeiros, along with all of the members of
Our Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Alvin Schmidt would like to dedicate this book to his two sons,
Timothy and Mark, to help them see that religious diversity
does not conform to what Christ said, “Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into
the kingdom of heaven.”
Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

World Religions

Dictionary Entries

Appendixes

Bibliography

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts
Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge various individuals for their support and
contributions to this project.

George and Larry extend thanks to Alvin Schmidt, who has come aboard as
one of the authors. In the first edition he served as consulting editor. It has been
good to have him contribute his scholarship.

We thank Kurt van Gorden, our present consulting editor, for his very careful
reading of the entire manuscript and his many helpful suggestions, comments,
and constructive criticisms along the way. Kurt has done a yeoman’s work and is
a true servant of the cross of Christ.

We wish to thank Arthur Pena for his critical review of the article on The
Baha,i Faith. We thank Keith MacGregor and MacGregor Ministries, Kurt van
Gorden, Jill Rische, Paul Carden, Arthur Varnick, and Dale Broadhurst for their
review and remarks on Mormonism. Concerning the Jehovah’s Witnesses, we
thank David Reed, Watchman Fellowship, and Christian Research Institute. We
thank Verle and Orie Streifling for their contributions to the article on Seventh-
day Adventism. We offer thanks to Gary Zeolla for providing helpful
information on several parts of the book. The authors acknowledge and thank
Robert Pardon, the director of the New England Institute for Religious Research.

Special thanks goes to Lois Smith for her tireless work in xeroxing the entire
hard copy used in the editing process. We also thank Melissa Nichols for her
work on the appendixes.

Larry Nichols would like to note that during the final months of writing, his
mother was afflicted with a terminal illness. The dedication of this book is for
her along with his late father-in-law and grandparents. At the same time, Larry’s
father was diagnosed with cancer. By the grace of God, he has had successful
surgery and has recovered. He wants to thank both of his parents (as was done in
the first edition) for their love, prayers, and support through the years.

Larry would like to acknowledge and thank professors who have taught him
throughout the years:

John Calvin Holsinger, history professor at Evangel University, who has
kept in touch and has been a constant source of encouragement for
continuing to pursue graduate studies

John Stroup, professor of church history at Yale University Divinity School
(now at Rice University), who taught his students to think and write
critically and at times skeptically

Paul Holmer, George Lindbeck, (the late) Hans Frei, and Brevard Childs of
Yale University Arthur Just, who taught him to understand Luke and the
sacraments the late Robert Preus, who manifested a breadth of
knowledge of Post-Lutheran systematic theology and a deep
understanding of the doctrine of “justification by grace through faith”

Timothy Quill, who, because of the first edition to this encyclopedic
dictionary, invited him to participate in the “Russian Project”—that is, to
teach at the Siberian Lutheran Seminary in Russia and at the Luther
Academy in Latvia

David Scaer (“All theology is Christology”), for teaching all of his students
to never take ourselves too seriously, but to take Christ most seriously

William Weinrich, a great patristics scholar whose writings and personal
conversations through the years have proved most enlightening Dean
Wenthe, for his outstanding scholarship, exceptional leadership, and deep
insights into the ongoing narrative of the Old/New Testament church and
the response of the church to today’s postmodern world.

Finally, we would together reserve our deepest appreciation for our wives and
children, who certainly sacrificed the most. Larry Nichols would acknowledge
his wife, Zelia, for her constant love and devotion and patience for putting up
with his many hours at the computer. His daughters—Melissa, Charissa, Alicia,
and Faythe—are the wonderful gifts of God for whom he is deeply thankful.

George Mather would like to thank his wife, Sharon, for her patience during
the writing of this work, and acknowledge his daughter, Jennnifer, and his sons,
Khristian, Joshua and wife, Shannon, and Andrew and wife, Berenice. He would
also like to acknowledge his grandchildren: Grace, Priscilla, Benjamin, Ethan,
Emma, and Vasty, along with his sister Charlotte, and her husband, Paul, and his
brother Jack, and his wife, Mary, his mother-in-law, Phyllis, and her husband,
Bob.

Alvin Schmidt would like to thank and acknowledge his wife, Carol, fort her
support and patience.
Introduction

When the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
was added, it was agreed that Congress and government in general would not be
actively supporting or participating in the establishment of religion, nor would it
be in the business of prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Religious life in our
newly formed country would never be the same thereafter. The religious milieu
and the historical context in which the First Amendment was first applied were
to the so-called “Judeo-Christian” (mostly Christian) heritage. Had this and
many other books whose theme addresses American religious cults, sects, and
new religions been written in the late 1700s, they would be considerably thinner
volumes.

Changes over the centuries of this nation’s comparatively short history,
however, have been voluminous. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries
witnessed a veritable explosion of growth into the many denominations of
Christendom. Adherents to the world religions and the cults have found a
welcome home under the protection of the First Amendment. In just the thirteen
years since the first edition of this volume (1993), the authors have labored to
keep up with the rapid evolution of multifarious new religious groups that are
constantly springing up.

In recent decades, words like “multiculturalism,” “diversity,” and
“postmodernism” have become household nomenclature in religious dialogue or
conversation. Many people today distinguish between religion and spirituality.
The former is (negatively) associated with organized objective and structured
forms of religious expression while many understand the latter as a mystical and
liberating opportunity to tap into the inner soul in the quest for religious meaning
independent of the extraneous discipline of objective religion.

In the words of Ronald Enroth, the writer of the foreword to our first volume,
“religious freedom has allowed for and in fact encouraged, religious pluralism.”
Multiculturalism is a word that not only describes the cultural diversity of
America, but the complete and total tolerance of religious diversity as well. All