CHRISTIAN ESSENE CHURCH TIMELINE 1964 (July 15): Olivier Manitara (né Olivier Martin) was born in Vire, Normandy, France. 1984: Manitara received his first mystical experience when the Bulgarian mystic Peter Deunov, who died in 1944, appeared to him. 1989: Manitara opened his first publishing house, the Éditions Telesma, in Saint-Affrique (Aveyron) France, where he published his first writings. 1990: Manitara received a revelation from an Angel, a guardian of the ‘Tradition of the Light’ (Tradition de la Lumière). The Angel told him he must transmit his spiritual knowledge to others. 1991 (August 19): Manitara opened his first “initiation school” called the School of Life and Spirit (École de Vie et d’Esprit), later renamed the Contemporary Essene School (École Essénienne Contemporaine). 1991: Manitara started holding seminars in various locations in France.…
GURU JÁRA PATH TIMELINE** ** For an extended group timeline and profile, see Introvigne 2019. 1971 (January 4): Jaroslav (Jára) Dobeš was born in Příbram, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). 1976: At age five, as he later reported, Jára first experienced visions of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. 1980: Jára started recording his supernatural experiences in a journal. Believing he was suffering of mental illness, doctors put him on heavy medication. 1982 (November): Jára tried to hang himself on a tree but was saved by his best friend and taken to the hospital. There, he went through what he later described as a near-death experience, which oriented his life towards spirituality. 1985: Jára became a proficient rock climber. 1989: Jára escaped to Italy, where he studied Roman Catholicism and monastic…
Andrew Ames is a student at McGill University in Religious Studies and Mathematics. Since June 2017 he was been working as a Research Assistant on the SSHRC-funded project, "Children in sectarian religions and state control" directed by Susan J. Palmer at the School of Religious Studies, McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
PEOPLES TEMPLE AND WOMEN’S ROLES TIMELINE 1949 (June 12): Marceline Mae Baldwin married Jim Jones in Richmond, Indiana. 1954: Jim Jones founded Community Unity Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. 1956: Peoples Temple, first incorporated in 1955 as Wings of Deliverance, opened in Indianapolis. 1960: People Temple officially became affiliated with the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) denomination. 1962–1962: Jim Jones and family lived in Brazil. 1965 (July): Jones, his family, and more than eighty members of his interracial congregation moved to Redwood Valley, California. 1968: Carolyn Moore Layton moved with her husband Larry Layton to Redwood Valley. 1969: An extramarital relationship between Carolyn Layton and Jim Jones was disclosed to Moore family members. 1970: Grace Grech married Tim Stoen, Temple attorney and advisor to Jim Jones. 1971 (April): Tim Stoen asked…
WOMEN IN THE FUNDAMENTALIST LATTER DAY SAINT MOVEMENTS TIMELINE 1820: Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr., had his “First Vision” at the age of fourteen near Palmyra, New York. 1827 (January 18): Joseph Smith and his legal wife Emma Hale married in South Bainbridge, New York. 1830: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) officially organized in Fayette Township, New York. The Book of Mormon was published. Mid-1830s: Joseph Smith clandestinely married Fanny Alger in Kirtland, Ohio. 1841 (April): Joseph Smith married his first official plural wife, Louisa Beaman, in Nauvoo, Illinois. 1842: The Relief Society, a leadership and service auxiliary group for LDS women, was organized. 1844 (June 27): Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Brigham Young became…
RAËLIAN UFO PEACE PARK / UFOland TIMELINE 1946: Claude Vorilhon was born in Ambert, France. 1971: Vorlihon married his first wife. 1973: Vorilhon experienced a close encounter during a walk in the Clermont-Ferrand Mountains of Central France. 1974: Vorilhon described his close encounter experience in Le livre qui dit la Vérité (“The Book That Tells the Truth”). 1974: Raël founded MADECH (Movement to Welcome the Creators of Humanity). 1975: Raël reported being taken on board a space ship and transported to the planet of the Elohim 1997: The Raelians opened UFOland in Valcourt, Quebec. 2001: UFOland was closed to the public and sold a year later. 2000s: The Raelians began development of the Raelian Peace Park on Big Island, Hawaii. HISTORY The Raelians have established two theme parks over their…
OBERTO AIRAUDI TIMELINE 1950 (May 29): Oberto Airaudi was born in Balangero, in the province of Turin, Italy. 1967: Airaudi published his first book, Poesie dei miei sedici anni (Poems of a sixteen years old). He also produced his first painting, Pensiero già arrivato ai primi segni ritrovati, collaudati in verità (My thought has just arrived to the first symbols, and they have been rediscovered and proven true). 1969: Although the legal age in Italy at that time was twenty-one, Airaudi successfully petitioned the Court of Turin to be recognized of age at nineteen and marry. 1975: Having abandoned his activity as an insurance broker, Airaudi founded in Turin the Centro Ricerche e Informazioni Horus (Horus Research and Information Center), devoted to esotericism, naturopathy, and parapsychology. 1970s: Airaudi became part…
Stuart A. Wright is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Criminal Justice at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Dr. Wright teaches courses in religion, social movements, and terrorism. He is a former NIMH Research Fellow (Yale) and Rockefeller Foundation Scholar-in-Residence (Bellagio, Italy). In 2000, Lamar recognized Dr. Wright with a career achievement award as University Scholar. He has authored over fifty publications in scholarly books and journals. He is known internationally for his research on religious and political movements, conflict and violence. He has published five books, including Armageddon in Waco (University of Chicago Press, 1995), Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and Saints under Siege: The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (with James…
Name: The Family (also The Family of Love); founded as The Children of God Founder: David Brandt Berg; Berg was affectionately known as "Moses David," "Mo," "Father David," and "Dad" to Family members. Date of Birth and Death: 1919-1994 Birth Place: Oakland, California Year Founded: 1968 FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY David Brandt Berg was a third-generation evangelist. His grandfather, John Lincoln Brandt, was first a Methodist preacher and then a leader of the Campbellite movement of the Disciples of Christ. Brandt preached that Christians "have an urgent duty to win souls for Christ (217).": "Haste is essential, because men are under the sentence of death. Haste is essential, because our children are forming habits that are determining their character and destiny. Haste is essential because the devil is never idle. Haste is…
INTERNATIONAL RAELIAN MOVEMENT TIMELINE 1946 Claude Vorilhon was born in Ambert, France. 1973 Vorilhon experienced a Close Encounter of the Third Kind (CEIII) during a walk in the Clermont-Ferrand Mountains of Central France. 1974 Vorilhon described his close encounter experience in Le livre qui dit la Vérité (“The Book That Tells the Truth”). 1974 Raël founded MADECH (Movement to Welcome the Creators of Humanity). 1975 Raël reported being taken on board a space ship and transported to the planet of the Elohim. 1976 In response to internal power struggles, Raël dissolved MADECH and founded the Raelian Movement. 1997 Raël founded Clonaid company (originally Valiant Venture Ltd Corporation) to make cloning services available to its investors when the technology was ready. 1998 Raël created the Order of Raël ’s Angels. 2001…