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A comprehensive account of the religious dimensions of the UFO/flying saucer experience
The Gods Have Landed is a comprehensive account of the religious dimension of the UFO/flying saucer experience. It examines the religious meanings attached to UFOs by the larger society as well as specific movements that claim inspiration from "Space Brothers" and other extra-terrestrial sources. It addresses the religious dimension of the phenomenon of alien abductions, particularly the impact of extra-terrestrial life on Christian theology.
Of special interest are the surveys of primary and secondary materials that make this book the indispensable reference on the subject.
"The whole idea of taking seriously, in a scholarly sense, a phenomenon that has a widespread following but has so far been largely scorned by serious scholars is quite appealing; it means that this book is breaking new and important ground." — Timothy Miller, University of Kansas
"It provokes interesting intersections with ancient and modern religious ideas. Its strength is in taking the religious dimension of UFOs and abductees' experiences seriously. I particularly like its historical framework and the extensive bibliography." — David Christopher Lane, Mount San Antonio College
James R. Lewis is Senior Editor for the Center for Academic Publication and Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for the Study of American Religion. He is co-editor of Perspectives on the New Age, also published by SUNY Press, and editor of Syzygy: Journal of Alternative Religion and Culture.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Contactees: A Survey
J. Gordon Melton
2. Religious Dimensions of UFO Phenomena
John A. Saliba
3. Religious Dimensions of the UFO Abductee Experience
John Whitmore
4. Unarius: Emergent Aspects of an American Flying Saucer Group
Diana Tumminia and R. George Kirkpatrick
5. Women in the Raelian Movement: New Religious Experiments in Gender and Authority
Susan Jean Palmer
6. Waiting for the Ships: Disillusionment and the Revitalization of Faith in Bo and Peep's UFO Cult
Robert W. Balch
7. Spiritualism and UFO Religion in New Zealand: The International Transmission of Modern Spiritual Movements
Robert S. Ellwood
8. Exo-Theology: Speculations on Extraterrestrial Life
Ted Peters
9. UFO Contactee Phenomena from a Sociopsychological Perspective: A Review
John A. Saliba
10. The Flying Saucer Contactee Movement, 1950-1994: A Bibliography
J. Gordon Melton and George M. Eberhart
Index