ABSTRACT
Increasing scholarly attention was given to violence and NRMs after the 1978 Jonestown tragedy, and then again after the 1993 standoff between NRM members and federal officials outside Waco, Texas. The scholarly reactions to both events are traced. Scholars studied Jonestown and the organization responsible for it, Peoples Temple, in three waves from 1978 to the present. Governmental handling of the Waco tragedy increased the distance between NRM studies scholars and federal officials. Attempts were made to bridge the two perspectives represented by these two groups. Finally, NRM scholarship on violence is addressed. The issue of external versus internal motivators for violence erupting in an NRM is examined. NRM-related scholars have given too little attention to non-lethal forms of violence. Most of the scholarship about violence and NRMs focuses around high-impact, dramatic events in which people are killed. NRM studies needs a wider definition of violence.
