Among the Scientologists

Among the Scientologists
Author: Donald A. Westbrook
Publisher:
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2019
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0190664975

The Church of Scientology is one of the most recognizable American-born new religions, but perhaps the least understood. With academic and popular interest on the rise, many books have been written about Scientology and surely more will follow. Although academics have begun to pay more attention to Scientology, the subject has received remarkably little qualitative attention. Indeed, no work has systematically addressed such questions as: what do Scientologists themselves have to say about their religion's history, theology, and practices? How does Scientology act as a religion for them? What does "lived religion" look like for a Scientologist? This is not so much a book about the Church of Scientology, its leaders, or its controversies, as it is a compilation of narratives and histories based on the largely unheard or ignored perspectives of Scientologists themselves. Drawing on six years of interviews, fieldwork, and research conducted among members of the Church of Scientology, this groundbreaking work examines features of the new religion's history, theology, and praxis in ways that move discussion beyond apostate-driven and expos� accounts.

Going Clear

Going Clear
Author: Lawrence Wright
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0385350279

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes “an utterly necessary story” (The Wall Street Journal) that pulls back the curtain on the church of Scientology: one of the most secretive organizations at work today. • The Basis for the HBO Documentary. Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.

The Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology
Author: J. Gordon Melton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The author explores the theology and hierarchical structure of the Church of Scientology providing information on its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the church's social reform programs, and a summary of the major points of controversy.

Scientology

Scientology
Author: James R. Lewis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2009-03-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199715955

Scientology is arguably the most persistently controversial of all contemporary New Religious Movements. James R. Lewis has assembled an unusually comprehensive anthology, incorporating a wide range of different approaches. In this book, a group of well-known scholars of New Religious Movements offers an extensive and evenhanded overview and analysis of all of these aspects of Scientology, including the controversies to which it continues to give rise.

Scientology 0-8

Scientology 0-8
Author: L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 523
Release: 2007
Genre: Scientology
ISBN: 9788779897601

The Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology
Author: Hugh B. Urban
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2011-08-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 069114608X

Hugh Urban tells the real story of Scientology from its cold war-era beginnings in the 1950s to its prominence today as the religion of Hollywood's celebrity elite. Urban paints a vivid portrait of Hubbard, the enigmatic founder who once commanded his own private fleet and an intelligence apparatus rivaling that of the U.S. government. One FBI agent described him as "a mental case," but to his followers he is the man who "solved the riddle of the human mind." Urban details Scientology's decades-long war with the IRS, which ended with the church winning tax-exempt status as a religion; the rancorous cult wars of the 1970s and 1980s; as well as the latest challenges confronting Scientology, from attacks by the Internet group Anonymous to the church's efforts to suppress the online dissemination of its esoteric teachings.

Dianetics

Dianetics
Author: L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 679
Release: 2007
Genre: Communication
ISBN: 9788779897427

Albert Einstein said: We are using only 10% of our mental potential. Dianetics tells you how you can free a significantly larger part of your potential. Self confidence, harmonic relationships and a positive attitude towards life can absolutely be achieved. It makes Positive Thinking a reality. You can achieve your goals with more certainty if you are able to find the cause of upsets, unwanted reactions or emotions. The human mind is not a mysterious puzzle - impossible to resolve. Read and work with Dianetics, see how it works for you and make up your own mind. The book gives a clear description of what is happening in the mind and explains a practical method, enabling you to explore your own subconscious, and rid yourself of what holds you down, resulting in increased IQ and well-being. Watching the DVD called 'How to Use Dianetics' along with the book is recommended to have a visual illustration of the concepts and the practical application.

Inside Scientology

Inside Scientology
Author: Janet Reitman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2011-06-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0547549237

“The most complete picture of Scientology so far.” —Garry Wills, New York Times Book Review Based on five years of research, access to confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, Janet Reitman sheds some long-awaited light on the ever-elusive religion of the Church of Scientology. Scientology, created in 1954 by pulp science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world’s fastest growing religion, with millions of members and huge financial holdings. Celebrity believers keep its profile high. But Scientology is also a very closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny. Ex-members use the internet to share stories of harassment and abuse. Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology in an account that establishes the truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology’s development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a global spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and ex-followers. This is a defining book about a little-known world. “[A] searing expose.” —People Magazine “A masterful piece of reporting.” —Washington Post “This book is fearless.” —Wall Street Journal “[A] frightening portrait of a religion that many find not just controversial, but dangerous.” —Boston Globe “[Reitman's] revelations — including abuse allegations against church leader David Miscavige and details about the organization's aggressive courtship of Tom Cruise — come with impressive backup.” —Entertainment Weekly

Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief
Author: Jenna Miscavige Hill
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2013-02-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062248499

Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org—the church's highest ministry, speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape. Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader—David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line. Addressing some of the Church's most notorious practices in startling detail, she also describes a childhood of isolation and neglect—a childhood that, painful as it was, prepared her for a tough life in the Church's most devoted order, the Sea Org. Despite this hardship, it is only when her family approaches dissolution and her world begins to unravel that she is finally able to see the patterns of stifling conformity and psychological control that have ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she mounts a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.