Benjamin E. Zeller's Heaven's Gate, America's UFO Religion, published by New York University Press in 2014, is the only full length scholarly monograph on Heaven's Gate, the group whose 1997 mass suicide drew wide public attention, built from the movement's own surviving writings and recordings together with the broader scholarly literature on new religious movements. Zeller is a specialist in American new religious movements. Its strength is that it treats Heaven's Gate as a serious object of religious studies rather than only as a media sensation, situating its theology within American esoteric and UFO religion traditions. Its limit is that as the only book length academic study, a claim resting on it lacks an independent scholarly source to check against, so a specific interpretive claim about the group's theology should be understood as Zeller's own scholarly reading rather than a cross-verified consensus.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Benjamin Zeller's Heaven's Gate, America's UFO Religion, published by New York University Press in 2014, is the standard scholarly study of the movement by a specialist in new religious movements, treated at the top tier. NotesThe only book-length scholarly study of Heaven's Gate.
Citation
AuthorBenjamin E. Zeller
PublisherNew York University Press
Publication Year2014
Source Typeacademic monograph
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Americas directly: "Benjamin E."
This source names New York directly: "Zeller's Heaven's Gate, America's UFO Religion, published by New York University Press in 2014, is the only full length scholarly monograph on Heaven's Gate, the group whose 1997 mass suicide drew..."
Claims Backed By This Source (53 claims)
This source backs 53 claims across the atlas. As facts: 39 well-attested. As cited relationships: 6 holds, 2 connected. Plus 6 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 16 claims: 12 well-attested, 2 connected, 2 general references.
- New Religious Movements, 16 claims: 12 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
- Historical Figures, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Sources, 9 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Years, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Cities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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