Who's Who Intro and Index (original) (raw)
Brief profiles of 150+ individuals, groups, and ministries that are influential in the Wild World of Religion of the 21st Century
Go directly to the Alphabetic Index of Profiles of Individuals
Go directly to the Profiles of Groups and Ministries
About the Who’s Who Digest
Keeping up with all of the activity in the Wild World of Religion would be absolutely impossible. In the interest of assisting those whose main interest is just "identifying" a variety of individuals and groups, the following collection of over 150 brief profiles of some of the most influential is offered.
Please Note: This is an "all inclusive" listing, past and present, positive and negative, of individual writers, speakers, teachers, religious personalities, groups, ministries … and their websites … related to modern religious movements. Some are included because of their negative influence on a significant number of people. Others are included because of their positive contribution to sorting through the confusion in the Wild World of Religion. And still others are included just because their names show up frequently in information about modern religious movements, and folks wonder, "Who is that?" Some profiles are just a few sentences. Some are a paragraph or two. A few are quite a bit longer. The length is totally idiosyncratic based on how much the Webauthor felt might be interesting and/or helpful as overview information, and does not imply anything in particular about the relative "importance" of the subject of the thumbnail.
Corrections welcome: Careful effort has been made to represent as accurately as possible any biographical information and the actual teachings and policies and practices of the individuals and groups in this collection of information. But in an effort this massive, minor errors are inevitable. When practical, quotations from their own publications or recordings have been provided to substantiate their teachings, and documentation from public records, including news articles, has been provided to substantiate information regarding their activities. Any corrections of fact, with supporting documentation, are welcome and will be incorporated as promptly as possible.
However, no effort has been made to provide a comprehensive overview of all of the teachings or activities of any one person or group. That is beyond the scope of the purpose of this material. Every teacher and group has positive and negative attributes. Any reader who wishes to investigate these matters in more detail is referred to the bibliography section of this Field Guide website. The bibliography includes many books and weblinks to information--pro and con--about most of the entries in this database. It is not the purpose of this website to dogmatically impose opinions and evaluations on anyone--the purpose is to call attention to those areas believed to be of serious spiritual concern in the actions or words of some teachers, groups, and movements. It is left to the reader to evaluate the evidence presented and come to their own conclusions. More information on how individuals and groups have been chosen for inclusion is available in the Field Guide FAQ.
Suggestions for more individuals, groups, and ministries
to include in this listing are welcomed.
Please Note:
Some profiles include reference to other individuals who have their own entry in these listings. Their names will be clickable, to take you to their listing.
If a longer profile is currently available in another section of the Field Guide for any of the individuals listed, their name above their profile will be clickable, to take you to that profile.
Some groups, movements, and ideas referenced in some of the profiles have their own profile in the Field Guide, and thus their names will also be clickable to take you to the relevant material.
Quick Reference Index of Individual Names
Click on an underlined name to go to the profile for that person.
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