Over at the Salt Lake Tribune, Peggy Fletcher Stack has written a nice article on the fine and sometimes indistinguishable line between religious inspiration and madness. Because Stack’s audience in Utah is predominantly Mormon, she perforce tap-dances around some delicate issues (i.e., Joseph Smith’s mental health). But this portion of the article particularly caught my [...]
Tags:churches·CS Lewis·cults·DSM-IV·ecstasy·Jesus·Jim Jones·Joseph Smith·mania·manic depression·mental illness·messiahs·Mormons·Peggy Fletcher Stack·prophets·psychopath·Ralph Hood·schism·schizophrenia·sects·shamans·The Line Between Inspiration and Insanity
The story is a familiar one: a new religion is founded — or, as the sociologist Rodney Stark would say, a new sect is born from an older tradition — and over time it becomes successful. By success, I mean that it grows, becomes popular, and shows few signs of slowing down.
At some point during [...]
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