Introduction

The terms cults and new religious movements or NRMs are difficult to define. This chapter discusses why. The research involved in writing this book is detailed: interviews, archival research, and survey of academic literature in the study of NRMs. Using the work of sociologist Randall Collins, the social arrangement of scholars is focused upon to show how chains of interaction rituals (Collins’s term) are crucial to the development of a field. Collins describes interactions as encounters among human beings in contact with one another. In this chapter, that contact is extended to scholars interacting with texts as well. The terms field and specialization are defined, as applied to NRM studies. The differences between Cultic studies and NRM studies are explored. Cohorts of scholars in NRM studies and Cultic studies are identified. The author’s strategy is explained. Various sub-fields associated with NRM studies are defined that are not covered specifically in this book, and short descriptions of each chapter round out the introduction.