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Cambridge Psychotherapy Institute (1973)
The Cambridge Psychotherapy Institute (CPI) was founded in 1973 by Peter Gill to train therapists according to Gill’s distinct philosophy. The organization, which initially had about 80 members, was first based in Gill’s home in Newton, Massachusetts, later relocating to the town of Marblehead. Gill started his career as a school psychologist in Newton from Continue reading
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Calvary Chapel (1965)
Calvary Chapel is a global association of charismatic evangelical churches with Pentecostal roots. The movement began in 1965 when pastor Chuck Smith, formerly of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, founded Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in California with a congregation of only 25 people. In 1968, the church separated from the Foursquare denomination after Continue reading
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Call of the Shofar (c. 2002)
Call of the Shofar was a spiritual development organization founded by Steven (Simcha) Frischling. The group operated for several years with little public attention before receiving extensive media coverage starting in late 2013. The ensuing debate centered on the group’s methods and whether they were compatible with Orthodox Jewish law. Frischling, who had a background Continue reading
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Ca Van Liem (1993)
Ca Van Liem was a figure who gained notoriety in a remote Vietnamese hamlet in the early 1990s. Blind and charismatic, he proclaimed himself a king and prophet, amassing a following among the local hill tribe villagers of Ta He, a community approximately 200 miles northwest of Hanoi. Liem’s influence grew as he presented himself Continue reading
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Built Anew Ministries (c. 1980)
Larry Gazelka founded Built Anew Ministries in Minneapolis in the early 1980s after announcing a divine calling during an Assembly of God crusade. After a few years, Gazelka left his ministry after he was confronted by other pastors for allegedly spreading a false rumor about his own pastor, which he confessed to being untrue. Around Continue reading
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Builders of the Adytum (1922)
The Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) was founded in 1922 in Los Angeles by occultist Paul Foster Case. “Adytum” is Latin for “Inner Shrine” or “Holy of Holies,” and “Builders” refers to the metaphor of building a spiritual temple without hands, as Jesus is believed to have done. Case, born in 1884, was a prominent Continue reading
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Buddhafield (c. 1980)
Jaime Gomez, later known by a variety of names including Michel, Andreas, The Teacher, and Reyji, was born in Venezuela to a wealthy rancher. He eventually moved to the United States hoping to become an actor and professional dancer. He secured a non-speaking role in the 1968 film “Rosemary’s Baby” and performed with the Oakland Continue reading
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Brunstad Christian Church/Smith’s Friends (1898)
Brunstad Christian Church is a worldwide evangelical Christian organization that originated in Norway. For many years, the group was informally known as “Smith’s Friends,” a reference to its founder, Johan Oscar Smith. Today, the church is a global federation of local congregations with an estimated 40,000 adherents in over 65 countries. Smith was born in Continue reading
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The Bruderhof (1920)
The Bruderhof is a communal Anabaptist Christian movement founded in Germany in 1920 by Eberhard Arnold. Its name means “place of brothers” in German. The movement is an intentional community that practices shared ownership, believer’s baptism, nonviolence, and lifelong faithfulness in marriage. The term “Bruderhof” was first used by early Anabaptists in Moravia; Arnold adopted Continue reading
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Brownsville Revival (1995)
The Brownsville Revival, also known as the Pensacola Outpouring, was a Christian revival movement that began on Father’s Day, June 18, 1995, at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. This event, which attracted millions of people from around the world, became a notable phenomenon within the Pentecostal movement. Two years prior, in 1993, pastor Continue reading
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Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow (1932)
Maria de Naglowska was a Russian occultist, mystic, author, and journalist who gained notoriety in Paris during the 1930s. She was the founder of the Brotherhood of the Golden Arrow, a short-lived esoteric society known for its focus on sexual magic and its unique theological perspectives. Born on August 15, 1883, in St. Petersburg, Naglowska Continue reading
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Brotherhood of Eternal Love (1966)
The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was an organization of drug users and distributors based in Orange County, California, that operated from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. Nicknamed the “Hippie Mafia” by law enforcement, the group aimed to spark a “psychedelic revolution” by manufacturing and distributing drugs — primarily LSD — which they regarded as Continue reading
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Brother Carson’s Solar Temple (1935)
Brother Carson’s Solar Temple was a short-lived religious movement that arose in the first years of the Great Depression in Vancouver, Canada. The group operated out of an office that it called its “Headquarters for the Americas” and was led by Peter Carson. The group’s activities came under scrutiny following the disappearance of Edna Blumberger, Continue reading
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Brisbane Christian Fellowship (c. 1970)
The Brisbane Christian Fellowship (BCF), also known as the Brisbane Christian Assembly, is a non-denominational Christian community established in the 1970s. Located in Samford Valley on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia, the group is estimated to have around 1,000 members. BCF describes itself as a vibrant congregation focused on the ministry of the Word of Continue reading
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The Brethren/Garbage Eaters (1971)
The Brethren is the most commonly used name for a religious movement founded by Jimmie T. “Jim” Roberts in the early 1970s. The group has never adopted an official name but has been referred to variously as The Travellers, The Road Ministry, Body of Christ, The Brothers and Sisters, The Assembly, and The Church. Members Continue reading
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Breatharianism (c. 1980)
Breatharianism, also known as inedia, is the belief that a person can survive without consuming food or water, instead subsisting on prana or “life-force energy.” While the notion has roots in ancient spiritual traditions and appeared in a 17th century esoteric text, it is today associated primarily with the claims of two modern individuals. Wiley Continue reading
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Branhamism (1946)
William Marrion Branham was born in 1909 in Burkesville, Kentucky. According to accounts he later shared, a light entered the room at his birth and hovered over him — an event he interpreted as the beginning of a divine calling. From an early age, Branham claimed to hear voices, including one that warned him against Continue reading
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Branch Davidians/Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists (1929)
Though best known for the fatal conflagration at its Texas compound in 1993 while under the leadership of Vernon Wayne Howell, better known as “David Koresh,” the Branch Davidians date back to a schism within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church several decades earlier. The group’s foundational beliefs were first articulated by Victor Houteff, a Bulgarian immigrant Continue reading
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Brahma Kumaris (1936)
The Brahma Kumaris — the “Daughters of Brahma” — is a spiritual movement that began in the 1930s in Hyderabad, a section of British India that is now part of Pakistan. Its founder, Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpalani, also known as Om Baba, was a wealthy jeweler who, in 1935, gave up his business after claiming to Continue reading
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Bokononism (1963)
Bokononism is a fictional religion created by author Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle. The religion, which posits the ultimate futility of life and the need for religion to provide comfort in a universe without meaning, freely admits that it offers “harmless untruths,” with its writer proclaiming, “All of the true things that Continue reading
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Blood Over Intent (2013)
Blood Over Intent (BOI) is a YouTube-based occult movement that emerged around 2013, with Mark Braun, a Florida plumber and electrician, as its most prominent figure. Braun, who goes by the name “QuasiLuminous” online, claims to be the earthly incarnation of Satan. The central practice of BOI is a form of occult magick involving the Continue reading
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Andrew Blake (c. 2002)
Andrew Blake was born in Virginia in 1983 and became immersed in the world of online fandoms in the early days of the Internet. Around 1999, the teenage Blake began posting on “Star Trek: Voyager” fan boards under the handle “Strwriter,” claiming to be a brilliant 15-year-old college student who was also an actor and Continue reading
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Black Hebrew Israelites (c. 1885)
The Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) movement is a collection of groups that emerged in the late 19th century in the United States among African Americans who believe that they are descended from the ancient Israelites. Some BHI groups consider themselves to be the only true Jews, while others have a more syncretic theology that includes Continue reading
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Bishop Hill Colony (1846)
Erik Jansson was born in Sweden in 1808. At age 22, he claimed to have experienced a religious vision that cured his rheumatism. He had another vision a decade later, and began preaching. He had no formal theological training and his teachings diverged from the Lutheran Church of Sweden, which led to confrontations with the Continue reading
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Bikram Yoga (c. 1971)
Bikram Yoga is a system of hot yoga introduced by Bikram Choudhury in the United States in the early 1970s. Classes typically take place in a yoga studio with the temperature set to 105° F (41° C) with a humidity of 40%, which is said to emulate the climate of India. The rooms are usually Continue reading
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Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 