Dictionary of Beliefs, Religions, Sects, and Occultism

A truly exhaustive dictionary of all beliefs and related terms aimed at providing the Christian leader with accurate, necessary, and precise information on each of them.

Although countless books have been published on cults, either referring to one in particular or to a group of them, currently, the number of religious initiatives has multiplied in such a way that, until the publication of this Dictionary, there was nothing exhaustive where one could find data on any cult and at the same time comparative information with other religions and beliefs.

The work alphabetically includes an article for each of the currently known beliefs, religions, cults, and occultist groups. Each article is divided into three parts:

History: Provides essential information about its origin, founder, influence, and effects on the social and religious environment. In many cases, it even provides the postal address of the group.

Beliefs and practices: Briefly but comprehensively explains the ideological and doctrinal structure of the group and its relationship to other beliefs.

Conclusion: Attempts to summarize what has been presented and provide, from a Christian perspective, the authors' conclusions.

Interspersed among the articles describing cults and beliefs, there are countless entries corresponding to terms, concepts, founders, people and related to them, in the latter cases indicating dates of birth and death (if applicable). When these names appear in an article, they are indicated in small capitals, so that the reader knows that they are included in the Dictionary and can search for them independently.

It includes, in addition to cults, descriptions of all major non-Christian religions, as well as the history and basic doctrinal principles of all Christian confessions and denominations. In this sense, the authors address any suspicion that might arise from having included Christian confessions in a dictionary of "cults" and argue that they have included them with the intention of offering an exhaustive work regarding beliefs and at the same time providing a point of reference and consultation for the corresponding articles. We must not forget that many of the cults have originated or been inspired by great pagan religions or Christian confessions. Their inclusion allows articles to be interconnected with each other with a (See...) so that the consultant does not have to resort to other sources for information.

With nearly 4,000 entries, the comprehensiveness and usefulness of this reference and consultation work become more than evident.

It is completed with abundant appendices, tables and comparisons of cults and beliefs, tables on the origin of cults, comparative tables of different creeds, and an extensive bibliography on cults and beliefs, in Spanish and English.