Sociologists and anthropologists have identified the second half of the 20th century in America as a time of intensified apocalyptic feeling, a time when fundamentalist and New Age religions articulated new visions of world transformation and salvation. Through a comparative analysis of following two case studies answer the following questions: Why do fundamentalist and New Age religions want to transform the self and/or society? What techniques do they utilize to gain support and achieve this transformation?
Your thesis must clearly provide an answer to both prompt questions (so you will probably need a two part, 2-3 sentence thesis to do this).
Case studies:
-Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion by Benjamin Zeller
-New Age and Neopagan Religions in America by Sarah Pike
