Table of Contents

Part 1 religious groups moving toward the mainstream: the Mormon practice of plural marriage - the social construction of religious identity and commitment, Marie Cornwall and Laga Van Beek; Christians in hiding - the "no name" sect, Benton Johnson; the Californication of American Evangelicanism - deviance and cultural accommodation in a Midwest vineyard congregation, Mark A. Shibley. Part 2 Outsiders' definitions and contradictory interpretations: the Metropolitan community churches and the gay agenda - the power of Pentecostalism and Essentialism, R. Stephen Warner; conservative Protestants and violence against women - exploring the rhetoric and the response, Nancy Nason-Clark; better dead than red - local letters and the Rajnesh movement, Roshani Shay and Ted Shay. Part 3 Internal interpretations and negotiations: charisma and corruption in the love family - toward a theory of corruption in charismatic cults, Robert W. Balch; rule making and rule breaking in a Jesus community, Lynne Isaacson; from promiscuity to celibacy - women and sexual regulation at Rajneeshpuram, Marion S. Goldman. Part 4 Religious rationalizations and moral frameworks: defining and sanctioning sexual deviance in contemporary witchcraft, Mary Jo Neitz; the violated self and the search for religious meaning, Janet L. Jacobs; when none dare call it evil - a sociological framework for evaluating abuse in religions, James V. Spickard; afterword - directions in the study of deviance and religion, Mary Jo Neitz and Marion S. Goldman.