Greetings all!
After many years of research and writing, I’m very excited to say that my first book, Free Zone Scientology: Contesting the Boundaries of a New Religion, is out in hardback format. The book, which focuses on Scientology’s ‘auditing’ process and the emergence of ‘Scientologies’ (different types of Scientology), examines notions of boundaries and fluidity in an emergent religion. Free Zone Scientology is distinctive in its often-unregulated environment, which offers an avenue through which the horizontal-fluidity of contemporary religions can be explored. The research itself is ethnographic in nature, drawing from fieldwork and interviews with Scientologists across Free Zone and Church of Scientology spaces, and acts as a framework for the study of similar movements formed in recent decades through the method of lived religion.
The book can be ordered from Bloomsbury’s website, Amazon, etc. But if pricing is an issue, please do encourage your libraries to order a copy (or two!), as this is one of the best and most effective way of getting academic literature in the hands of as many people as possible.
Here are some very kind and lovely reviews from esteemed colleagues:
“A major work on the lives of Scientologists beyond the Church of Scientology is long overdue. Aled Thomas has produced a timely and insightful book. The work moves scholarship forward from the study of Scientology to the study of Scientologies.” – Stephen E. Gregg, University of Wolverhampton, UK
“Aled Thomas gives us an ethnographic look into a fascinating phenomenon on the alternative religious landscape: Scientology as interpreted and practiced among those who left the Church of Scientology or were never members in the first place. This book is highly recommended for scholars of new religions and is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship on Scientology and Scientologists.” – Donald A. Westbrook, San Jose State University, USA
The Holy Scriptures of the Shopping Mall 
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