Analyzing New Religious Movements: A Research and Case Study Workbook

Studying new religious movements well requires specific research skills that general religious studies methods do not always address: how to gather primary sources about movements that may be secretive or contested; how to evaluate the reliability of accounts from former members, critics, and official spokespersons; and how to maintain scholarly neutrality in a field where popular sensationalism is a constant temptation. This workbook course develops those skills through structured practice. By the end of this course you will be able to conduct a structured case study of a new religious movement using academic research methods, evaluate sources for reliability and bias, apply sociological frameworks to movement analysis, and write a rigorous, balanced scholarly analysis of a specific movement. What you will learn: - The case study method in religious studies: how to define the scope of a case study, identify research questions, and select appropriate sources - Source taxonomy for NRM research: official movement publications, academic monographs, investigative journalism, former-member accounts, and government reports — with a bias-evaluation checklist for each - Applying the church-sect-NRM typology: a structured worksheet for classifying a movement and justifying the classification with evidence - Analyzing the conversion narrative: how to read a personal conversion account as data — what it reveals and what it does not - Doctrine and belief analysis: a template for mapping the core beliefs of a movement, their internal coherence, and their relationship to the broader tradition they draw from - Organizational analysis: leadership structure, authority types (charismatic versus rational-legal), membership requirements, and exit conditions - Financial and social boundary analysis: how movements establish and maintain clear boundaries between members and outsiders - Writing a balanced case study: a structured template for producing a 1,000-word movement analysis that is fair, evidence-based, and analytically clear Each chapter provides a methodological concept, a worked example using a well-documented movement, and a blank template for your own research. A guided case study project runs throughout the course, allowing you to apply each skill to a movement of your own choosing. This course is suitable for students who have a basic familiarity with religious studies concepts and want to develop rigorous research skills for NRM analysis. No prior sociological methods training is required. This course is educational and presents a scholarly, neutral perspective on the movements it examines.