Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality

by Bob Larson

An indispensable reference tool for parents, students, and pastors alike. Larson analyzes dozens of world religions and spiritual movements―from Islam to UFOs, from the New Age movement to witchcraft―and presents the information in a reliable encyclopedia format. Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality is a ready reference that will help address answers to tough questions from a biblical perspective.

Genres: Christian, Religion

592 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Bob Larson is an American radio and television evangelist, and a pastor of Spiritual Freedom Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Larson has authored numerous books critical of rock music and Satanism.

Reviews

[Yolonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME and Educational!!!

[Corey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Generally terrible. While the book does cover actual cults, it also covers what it calls "alternative spiritualities", this includes things like The Entirety of Hinduism, and The Entirety of Buddhism. Interestingly the author never addresses Judaism, though from the impression I got from the rest of the book he actually knows very little about it.

Easily the worst part of the book is the number of cult criteria listed that would include the author's own brand of evangelical Christianity yet he does no self reflection on this instead opting to recount a tale of the time he assisted two young Buddhist girls only to also threaten them with hell (albeit, indirectly).

The book also includes Vampirism among its list of cults and alternative spiritualities, as well as the Burning Man Festival.

I, a Jew, am admittedly not the target audience for this book.

The segments about actual genuinely dangerous cults are relatively thorough and accurate however the list of why they're bad often fails entirely to actually grasp that problematic aspect instead opting to focus on how not the author's particular brand of evangelical Christianity they are. I am genuinely surprised he didn't list the Catholic Church as a cult.

There are dozens of better books and resource guides about cults out there. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who wouldn't buy an exorcism via zoom.