Children of God

The Children of God (COG), later known as the Family of Love, the Family and now the Family International, is a new religious movement that started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, USA. It was part of the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s, with many of its early converts drawn from the hippie movement. Due to its unusual emphasis on total commitment it triggered the first organized anticult group (FREECOG) and was among the movements prompting the cult controversy of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States and Europe.

References

Academic

• {{fnb|1}} Chancellor, James (2000). "Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God". University of Syracuse Press, Syracuse, NY.
• Bainbridge, William Sims (1996). "The Sociology of Religious Movements". Routledge. ISBN 0-4159-1202-4.
• {{fnb|6}} Bainbridge, William Sims (2002). "The Endtime Family: Children of God". State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.
• Barker, Eileen. (1989). "New Religious Movements, A Practical Introduction". Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-1134-0927-3.
• Barrett, DV (1996). "Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions". Blandford A. Cassell. ISBN 0-7137-2567-2.
• Kent, Stephen A. (1994). "Lustful prophet: A psychosexual historical study of the children of god's leader, David Berg." Cultic Studies Journal 11 (2), 135-188.
• Kent, Stephen A. (1994). "Misattribution and social control in the Children of God." Journal of Religion and Health 33 (1), 29–43.
• Kent, Stephen A. (2000). "Brainwashing and re-indoctrination programs in the Children of God/The Family." Cultic Studies Journal 17, 56–78.
• Lewis, James R, and J. Gordon Melton, eds. (1994). Sex, Slander and Salvation; Investigating The Family/Children of God. Center for Academic Press, Stanford, CA.
• Lynch, Dalva, and Paul Carden (1990). "Inside the 'Heavenly Elite': The Children of God Today.". Christian Research Journal, pp 16.
• McFarland, Robert (1994). "The Children of God." The Journal of Psychohistory 4(21).
• Melton, J. Gordon (2004). "The Children of God, 'The Family' (Studies in Contemporary Religion vol. 7)". Signature Books. ISBN 1-5608-5180-5.
• Melton, J. Gordon and Robert L. Moore (1982). "The Cult Experience: Responding to the New Religious Pluralism". The Pilgrim Press, New York, USA.
• Palmer, Susan J. (1994). "Heaven's Children: The Children of God's Second Generation" in Lewis JR and Melton JG (eds.) (1994) Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating The Family/Children of God Stanford, California: Center for Academic Publication. ISBN 0-9639501-2-6.
• Palmer, Susan J., and Charlotte Hardman eds. (1999). Children in New Religions (3rd ed.). Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2620-5.
• Shepherd, Gary, and Lawrence Lilliston (1994). "Field Observations of Young People's Experience and Role in The Family" in Sex, Slander, and Salvation, op. cit.
• Shepherd, Gary, and Shepherd, Gordon (August 2005). "Accommodation and Reformation in The Family/Children of God", Nova Religio (Journal of the University of California)
• Shepherd, Gary and Shepherd, Gordon (Spring 2000)."The Moral Career of a New Religious Movement" The Oakland Journal.
• Wilson, Bryan and Jamie Cresswell, eds. (1999). "New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response". Routledge, London, UK.
• Wright, Stuart (1987). "Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection". Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Washington, D.C., USA.
• Van Zandt, David (1991). "Living in the Children of God". Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersy.

Journalistic and popular

• Davis, Deborah (1984). "The Children of God: The Inside Story". Zondervan. ISBN 0-3102-7840-6. (Davis is one of David Berg's daughters.)
• McManus, Una (1980). "Not for a Million Dollars". Impact Books. ISBN 0-9148-5054-7.
• Williams, Miriam (1999). "Heaven's Harlots: My Fifteen Years As a Sacred Prostitute in the Children of God Cult". Quill. ISBN 0-6881-7012-9.
• "30 Members of Children of God arrested" (September 2, 1993). Washington Post, pp. A05
• "The Family" and Final Harvest" (June 2, 1993). Washington Post, pp. A01
• Category:Press - xFamily - Children of God — An archive of press coverage of The Children of God and The Family.
• {{fnb|2}} Goodstein, Laurie (2005), Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult, New York Times, January 15 2005, pg. A-1, availible online at ReligionNewsBlog.com

Web pages

• TheFamily.org - Official website
• {{fnb|4}} Origins
• xfamily.org - a wiki about The Family and Children of God
• {{fnb|3}} Child Abuse?! (March 1989)
• Category:Press - An archive of press coverage of The Children of God and The Family.
• {{fnb|5}} Charter Amendments, June 2003 (pdf)
• {{fnb|7}} MovingOn.org - Community site for former second generation members of The Family
• {{fnb|8}} MyConclusion.com - Opinions and responses by current second-generation members with positive viewpoints about The Family