ABSTRACT
Among the most famous American new religions of the period around 1970 was The Children of God. Part of the Jesus People Movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s, this group vanished from American consciousness by the mid-1970s, and some scholars wondered what had become of it., Then, around 1990, bands of members came in from all around the world, under the new name, The Family. This chapter examines the fascinating millenarian movement with the conversion stories of eight men and women who joined The Family in its first dozen years, based on interviews. The culture of The Family is American secular culture reborn. The Family forces Christianity to confront the technological and sexual realities of modern society. The Family has shown a remarkable capacity to survive persecution and diaspora. The question now is whether the Family can resist the temptation to compromise with the surrounding sociocultural environment.
