My Favorite Text on the Tragedy

After one week of reading, my favorite text about the Peoples Temple is an essay by J.Z. Smith, one of the most prominent theorists in religious studies.  Hailing from the nearby University of Chicago, Smith argues that we fail both as scholars and as human beings if we merely dismiss events like this as the actions of madmen.

I have digitized my favorite two pages from his essay, for the class to read: