Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 76
to be among the most interesting, widespread, and influential on America's religious scene
today. The collection of comparisons and contrasts between the various religions and
traditional Christianity is written from a Christian perspective, as candidly confessed by the
authors. However, I would like to see more Christian terms and concepts included in later
listings.
The book is arranged alphabetically, and each group or term is identified by its association
(Christian, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormon, New Age, occult). Essays on various
religious groups are presented as well as definitions of terms and ideology adopted by the
groups chosen for inclusion in the book. Biographical sketches of certain group leaders are
also included. Interspersed throughout the book are excellent photographs depicting
assorted ceremonial paraphernalia, places of interest, and individuals referred to in the
essays.
The Appendices contain The Ecumenical Creeds of Christendom diagrams and charts
summarizing 20 modern religious groups a list of some of the cults, sects, and religions
included in the volume and a diagram illustrating how many of these cults, sects, and
religious groups emerged from the influence of major religious traditions—Judeo-Christian,
Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu. An excellent, group-categorized bibliography is included providing
extensive suggested reading for those desiring to learn more about one of the specific
groups included in the dictionary.
I am delighted that the authors intend to publish future editions of this dictionary. I hope
new listings, from Amish to YWAM, will be incorporated in the next edition. In addition, I
hope to see an examination of some of the fast-growing offshoots of established Christian
denominations born in dissension and currently demonstrating aberrant, detrimental
proclivities in their methodology or theology.
It is my hope that the first volume of the Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult
will be the first of a regularly updated series. I highly recommend the premier edition as an
essential reference tool, a must-have basic for one's personal or professional reference.
Maxine Pinson, Publisher/Editor
Savannah Parent
Savannah, Georgia
The New Age in Argentina: Fraud or Spiritual Growth? Alfredo Silletta. Beas
Ediciones, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1993, 220 pages.
La Nueva Era en Argentina: Engaño o Crecimiento Espiritual? (The New Age in Argentina:
Fraud or Spiritual Growth?) is the author‟s latest publication on the subject of dangerous,
thought-repressing groups and movements. This time Silletta has chosen to concentrate on
what he describes as a “nontraditional cultural movement”—namely, the New Age (Nueva
Era) in Argentina. His book is a brief, extremely condensed, pocket guide to an array of
themes, history, theories, and people connected directly or indirectly with the New Age
movement.
In the introduction Silletta proposes to study the roots of the movement in the South
American country, and to also look at the sociocultural conditions that made the soil fertile
for the New Age to flourish there.
The first chapter gives the reader a general overview of the rise of New Agers in the United
States in the 1960s and 1970s, and also outlines the different techniques alleged by New
Age practitioners as ways to reach a deliberate change of consciousness. In the second
chapter the author briefly explains in layperson‟s terms the different sets of ideas from
which the New Age has borrowed its beliefs, including esoteric and occult theories,

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 77
psychology and alternative therapies, Eastern religions, Christianity, astrology, shamanism,
and ufology.
Chapter 3 mentions the influences of certain scientific theories on the New Age movement—
ranging from positive (the movement‟s concern for the environment and the planet Earth)
to negative and dangerous (their belief in the individual being almighty)—which often result
in utter narcissism, selfishness, insensitivity, and psychotic crises. Silletta also points to
what he perceives as the parallelism between Nazism and the New Age, including allowing
feelings and intuition to dominate the intellect, or the irrational to control the rational.
The fourth and final chapter gives the lowdown on Argentina‟s entertainment paparazzi and
prominent public figures who have been victimized by the latest fads in mind-altering
techniques. Like their U.S. counterparts, they too have become the movement‟s perhaps
cheapest and most effective way to advertise.
At the conclusion of his book, Silletta laments how the New Age movement attempts to find
a common denominator to both science and religion, reason and magic, East and West,
minimizing world problems as “states of mind” easily resolved once humanity awakens to
New Age consciousness. Silletta criticizes the movement‟s emphasis on sending telepathic
messages or channeling the advice of extraterrestrial beings to improve the world, instead
of acting to bring about change.
The New Age in Argentina is a very practical quick-reference guide for the person with
background knowledge of the New Age movement, as well as a useful overview for the
reader who is exploring for the first time the main characteristics of the movement. The
book‟s brevity, unfortunately, is also its major disadvantage. The book is condensed and
abbreviated in character Silletta simplifies his arguments, thus shortchanging certain topics
and assuming too great a familiarity on the part of the reader. The book, nonetheless,
highlights the positive and negative aspects of the New Age movement, thus whetting the
reader‟s appetite for further research.
Gladys Martin
Berea, Ohio
These reviews are is an electronic version originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number
1, pages 118-127. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound
volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.