Cult Archaeology and Creationism: Understanding Pseudoscientific Beliefs about the Past

By Francis B. Harrold

Book Overview

UFOs and aliens, unexplained mysteries, religious cults, diffusion, creationism. We are all familiar with beliefs about human life that lie outside traditional scientific boundaries. Notions such as these are considered reasonable by vast numbers of us in the Western world, in our modern "technological" and "educated" cultures.

Understanding why this should be so and how we as a society might deal with these widespread pseudoscientific beliefs are the subjects at the heart of this study. The authors--specialists in anthropology, archaeology, sociology, psychology, and history--explore creationism, which claims that there is evidence to support a literal interpretation of the origins of the world and of humanity as narrated in the Book of Genesis, and cult archaeology, which encompasses a wide range of fantastic beliefs about our past.

Cult Archaeology and Creationism contains several essays on the history of pseudoscientific beliefs and their current manifestations as well as the results of a unique research project in which students at five campuses across the country were asked about their beliefs and about such background factors as their school experience and religious faith. This expanded edition also includes two new essays, one on Afrocentrism and another that views cult archaeology and creationism in the 1990s and beyond.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877455139
• ISBN13: 9780877455134
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: University of Iowa Press
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

very worthwhile for those interested in pseudoscience

Harrold and Eve have contributed significantly to the study of pseudoscientific beliefs in this volume and their previous work The Creationist Movement in Modern America (also highly recommended). This volume is the result of a 1986 multidisciplinary symposium, and chapters were contributed by authors from fields such as anthropology, psychology, sociology, and history.Of particular interest for researchers is the original Student Opinion Questionnaire that was used in a national survey of college student pseudoscientific beliefs which was conducted simultaneously in three seperate areas of the country. The results of this survey are presented within the book.The second edition is preferable, as it includes a new chapter by Bernard Ortiz de Montellano on the increasingly prominent topic of "Afrocentric" history, as well as an updated final chapter covering changes in pseudoscientific beliefs from the 80s to the 90s.

Aids in understanding origins of pseudo-scientific beliefs

This is an invaluable tool for all social scientists interested in understanding how people come to accept many things as fact, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. Explorered are the ways in which people are socialized to adhere to specific belief systems; via family, religious and educational institutions... The primary focus is on false belief systems which have origins in fundamentalist religion.