Handbook of UFO Religions (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, 20)

"The Handbook of UFO Religions, edited by esteemed scholar of new religions Benjamin E. Zeller, offers the most expansive and detailed study of the persistent, popular, and global phenomenon of religious engagements with ideas about extraterrestrial life. The present work considers not only new religions founded on ideas about extraterrestrials and UFOs, but how those within more mainstream religions have responded to the science, scientific speculation, and popular culture involving extraterrestrials, UFOs, and related concepts. Global in reach, it includes chapters considering South and East Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and draws on several interdisciplinary methods. In addition, the handbook traces connections between UFO religiosity and cultural patterns such as science and scientism, esoterism and occultism, millennialism, and popular culture. Contributors are: Rafael Antunes Almeida, W. Michael Ashcraft, Stefano Bigliardi, Susannah Crockford, George D. Chryssides, Carole M. Cusack, Regis Dericquebourg, Holly Folk, David J. Halperin, Olav Hammer, Kelly E. Hayes, Joseph P. Laycock , Layne Little, Paul O. Myhre, Erik A. W. Östling, Susan J. Palmer, Lukas Pokorny, David G. Robertson, Mikael Rothstein, Christa Shusko, Karen Swartz, Diana Tumminia, Hugh B. Urban, and Franz Winter"-- Provided by publisher Dedication Contents Notes on Contributors Introduction • Benjamin E. Zeller 1 Scholarship on UFO s and Religion: The First Seventy-Five Years • W. Michael Ashcraft Part 1: Religious Engagement with UFOs 2 Vimānas and Hindu Ufology • Layne R. Little 3 Judaism and the UFO; with Emphasis on the Vision of Ezekiel • David J. Halperin 4 Unmasking the Alien Deception: Why Evangelicals Are Studying Ufology • Joseph P. Laycock 5 Aliens among Native Americans? • Paul O. Myhre Part 2: Methods and Themes 6 Ancient Aliens • Olav Hammer and Karen Swartz 7 They Knew Too Much: The Entangled History of Conspiracy Theories, UFOs and New Religions • David G. Robertson 8 ‘I Figured That in My Dreams, I Remembered What Actually Happened’: On Abduction Narratives as Emergent Folklore • Erik A. W. Östling 9 ‘Focused Gatherings’? Notes for a Study of a UFO Conference • Rafael Antunes Almeida Part 3: Case Studies: Individual Proponents 10 A Martian God: Eleanor Kirk’s Extraterrestrial Epiphany in The Christ of the Red Planet • Christa Shusko 11 Of Polenta and Elohim: Mauro Biglino’s ‘Ancient Aliens’ between Anti-Religion and New Religiosity • Stefano Bigliardi 12 Maitreya, Crop Circles, and the Age of Light: Benjamin Creme’s UFO Thought • Lukas Pokorny 13 Raymond W. Bernard, Hollow Earth, and UFOs • Holly Folk Part 4: New UFO Religions Emerging from the American Context 14 Scientology • Hugh B. Urban 15 The United Nuwaubian Nation • Susan J. Palmer 16 Norman Paulsen and the Brotherhood of the Sun / Sunburst • Carole M. Cusack 17 Heaven’s Gate and Charismatic Leadership • George D. Chryssides 18 A Retrospective on the Unarius Academy of Science • Diana Tumminia 19 Starseeds • Susannah Crockford Part 5: New UFO Religions Emerging from the Global Context 20 Spirits of the Space Age: The Valley of the Dawn as a UFO Religion • Kelly E. Hayes 21 The Aetherius Society: A Ritual Perspective • Mikael Rothstein 22 Rael and the Raelians • Régis Dericquebourg 23 UFO s as Players in History: A Japanese New Religious Movement, ‘Spiritual Technology,’ and Ancient Astronauts • Franz Winter 24 East Asian UFO Religiosity • Lukas Pokorny Index "The Handbook of UFO Religions, edited by esteemed scholar of new religions Benjamin E. Zeller, offers the most expansive and detailed study of the persistent, popular, and global phenomenon of religious engagements with ideas about extraterrestrial life. The present work considers not only new religions founded on ideas about extraterrestrials and UFOs, but how those within more mainstream religions have responded to the science, scientific speculation, and popular culture involving extraterrestrials, UFOs, and related concepts. Global in reach, it includes chapters considering South and East Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and draws on several interdisciplinary methods. In addition, the handbook traces connections between UFO religiosity and cultural patterns such as science and scientism, esoterism and occultism, millennialism, and popular culture. Contributors are: Rafael Antunes Almeida, W. Michael Ashcraft, Stefano Bigliardi, Susannah Crockford, George D. Chryssides, Carole M. Cusack, Regis Dericquebourg, Holly Folk, David J. Halperin, Olav Hammer, Kelly E. Hayes, Joseph P. Laycock , Layne Little, Paul O. Myhre, Erik A. W. Östling, Susan J. Palmer, Lukas Pokorny, David G. Robertson, Mikael Rothstein, Christa Shusko, Karen Swartz, Diana Tumminia, Hugh B. Urban, and Franz Winter"-- Provided by publisher