Fireside Chat: From Mother Divine to the Corner Swami: Religious Cults in Philadelphia (Book Talk)

Thom Nickels, Author and Journalist

Religious cults have marked every society since the beginning of time. Some have an audacious presence, while others seem to be the very soul of respectability. From Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement to Anton Szandor LaVey’s Church of the Process, join author Thom Nickels for an intimate look at religious cults in Philadelphia.

Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including: Philadelphia Architecture (2005), Literary Philadelphia, 2015 and Philadelphia Mansions, 2018. Nickels was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Two Novellas (1990) and awarded the 2005 Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism. His 1980s column Different Strokes in the Philadelphia Welcomat was first out gay column in a mainstream newspaper in the United States. His 2015 cover essay on Agnes Repplier was published by The American Catholic Studies Journal. He has written for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Passport magazine, Huff Post, Icon magazine, The New Oxford Review, PJ Media, Philadelphia Magazine and the Broad Street Review and currently writes for The Irish Edition, The Philadelphia Press, City Journal (New York), the Philadelphia Weekly, Delaware Valley Journal and Broad + Liberty.

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