Chapter one is the introduction to the book. It outlines the main goals of the book, previous scholarship, and a new methodological framework for understanding violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It presents an overview of the sociological approaches to the people behind the Dead Sea Scrolls and scholarship on the meaning of violence.

Chapter 3 explores the relationship between increased social tension and the emergence of nascent conflict and finds traces of this stage in the Damascus Document. This chapter continues to examine how the emergence of violence in New Religious Movements such as the People’s Temple or the Branch Davidians can serve as an analytical lens for understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In this chapter, we focus on specific new Western religious movements, frequently referred to as cults, but that also might be termed “destructive” religious movements. "Destructive" elements include deceptive recruiting techniques, attempts to exert significant control over the minds and behavior of followers, abuse of followers, criminal activity, and violence or harm (including suicide) toward followers or others. A case vignette is presented, illustrating how the Branch Davidians under the leadership of Vernon Howell (AKA David Koresh) typified many of the characteristics of a Western religious cult. Common characteristics of leaders of Western religious cults are discussed, along with tactics commonly utilized by leaders to gain followers and to maintain control over followers. Common characteristics of followers are also discussed, and some prevalent myths about followers are dispelled. Psychological principles are discussed to the extent that they may shed light on the group and individual dynamics in play that may have contributed to some of the highly destructive outcomes that have occurred in some of these movements.

In this chapter, we define a family cult as a cult that either mainly consists of one family or a cult whose doctrine specifically defines or exerts control over the family structures of its members. We examine the unique dynamics of family cults, as well as the characteristics of leaders and followers of family cults by discussing six family cults: The Branch Davidians, The Children of God cult (later known as The Family International), The Manson Family, The Peoples Temple, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints, and The Church of the Lamb of God. We explore the added degree of difficulty of maintaining loyalty to a cult leader above family, and the dynamics that appear in the resulting complex relationships. Future considerations include the redefining of family structure in the age of the Internet. As people develop connections with others across the world and the concept of family changes with time, it will be interesting to see the evolution of our concept of family cults.