The Children of God:

Marc Notes: Bibl. ref.; Publ. in cooperation with CESNUR. Biographical Note: J. Gordon Melton is the director in Santa Barbara, California, of the Institute for the Study of American Religion. He is the author of the influential Encyclopedia of American Religions" and some twenty other works, co-author of the award-winning Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices," and a frequent contributor to scholarly books and journals on the subject of new religions. His previous book in this series, Scientology," was praised in the Journal of Church and State" as a "crisp, cogent study" by one of the "foremost experts on new and unconventional religions," noting that "few books pack as much information into so little space" or in such an "insightful, objective, and scholarly" way. Contributor Bio:  Melton, J Gordon J. Gordon Melton is the director for the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California, and is a research specialist with the department of religions studies at the University of California. He is the author of more than twenty-six books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and almanacs on American religion, new religious movements, and directories of churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship. He is also an ordained elder in the United Methodist church and a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the American Study of Religion, the American Society of Church History, the Communal Studies Association, and the Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion.