Remember, it’s never too late to register for a class, even after it’s begun. You can always catch up with any sessions you may have missed by watching the video recordings of previous sessions. The time remaining to register before the first class session is below, so stop hesitating and get to it!
as in-person class only
• This course is offered during the 2025 Term 3 (Jul-Sep) period as an in-person course only at our Hamilton, New Zealand classroom.
Begins Wednesday 23 July 2025, 11:00am-1:00pm
• Our 2025 Term 3 “A History of Cults” course meets on Wednesdays from 11:00am-1:00pm beginning on 23 July 2025 (New Zealand time). The course meets for 3 consecutive weekly sessions. The final session will be held on Wednesday 6 Ago 2025
•If you live outside of New Zealand and wish to Zoom in to our live class sessions, check the nearest local Time Zone equivalent below:
for live-streaming Zoom Sessions from New Zealand. If your Time Zone doesn't suit our live-streamed class, you can also access our courses by watching the live-recorded sessions that are posted to the course webpage each week, usually within 1-2 days.
Honolulu, Hawai’i: begins Tue 22 July 2025, 11:00pm-1:00am
US Pacific: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 2:00-4:00am
US Central: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 4:00-6:00am
US Eastern: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 5:00-7:00am
London, UK: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 10:00am-12:00pm
Bangkok, Thailand: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 4:00-6:00pm
Singapore: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 5:00-7:00pm
Sydney Australia: begins Wed 23 July 2025, 7:00-9:00pm
HIS220: "A History of Cults” -2025 Term 3
• Cults are weird and wonderful things, and they are not just a phenomenon of the twentieth century. They straddle the whole history of civilization, beginning with the Egyptians. This series of 3 lectures will track the history of cult movements from ancient times right up to and including the 21st century.
Wednesday 23 July 2025
Wednesday 30 July 2025
Wednesday 6 Ago 2025
New material is posted weekly throughout the duration of the course. Video recordings and PDFs from each weekly session will be posted here 1-2 days after each class.
EarthDiverse Course Information
EarthDiverse Zoom instructions
A HISTORY OF CULTS
Cults of Isis, Dionysus, Orpheus, Demeter, Cybele, Mithras, Pythagoras and the Roman Emperor.
Cults of Christianity – Cathars, Quaker, Mormon, Millerism, Jehovah Witness and Cargo cults.
Modern cults – Scientology, Heaven’s Gate, Jim Jones, Branch Davidian, as well as the Maori Prophet Movement, cult of Surrealism, Political cults and cults like the Centre Point Community.
This course is offered as an in-person course only.
This course has distance-learning options for those unable to attend the live class sessions in Hamilton. Students have three options for attending our courses once they have registered:
• Attend in-person classes in our Hamilton classrooms at the regularly scheduled day and time.
• Attend our live on-line classroom sessions via Zoom at the regular scheduled day and time.
• Watch the live-recorded class sessions at your leisure, at a time, day and place more suited to your schedule.
Live Zoom sessions and video recordings
• In addition to our in-person classes in Hamilton, our courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed Hamilton classes are available via free Zoom software for those living outside the Waikato. Live-streaming allows you to participate fully in your own learning, ask questions of the instructor and participate fully in the same way as if you were in the physical classroom.
• Those unable to attend the scheduled date and time of the actual class sessions, or those who need to miss a class or two due to previous engagements or unexpected illness, can watch any or all of the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace and in their own time.
• Detailed instructions on how to access our distance learning components will be sent after completing your registration. There are no additional fees for this service. However, distance learners will need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a good quality web-camera (tablet devices and mobile phones can also access our live-streamed classes), a built-in microphone (most modern laptops have built-in microphones) or a headset with a microphone. You will also need to download and install the free Zoom software on your computer or device. Those accessing the video recordings will be able to do so with a simple web browser on any device.
Those who cannot make the class meeting day and time either in-person or via live Zoom sessions may consider accessing this course through the weekly recorded video sessions. Class videos are usually posted within 1-2 days of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning on a day and time of your choosing.
• Any Term can be taken independently of the others, and there are no prerequisites for any of the Term courses.
• This class has no assignments, required readings, quizzes, tests or exams.
• All classes encourage questions and group discussion.
• PDFs of class presentations and video recordings of each session are posted 1-2 days after each session for the duration of the course. You are most welcome to come, sit back, relax, take part in and enjoy the discussions!
• If you’re attending in-person, course fees include tea/coffee/snack at each session. Help yourself!
• There are no refunds for missed classes. If you miss a class, you can watch the video recording!
• Guests of registered participants are welcome to attend a single session without registering.
Certificates of Completion for any particular Term Course or Series are available for Professional Development purposes upon request at the end of each Term or Series.
All materials are included in the course fees. These are developed by our instructors and distributed as PDF files on the course webpage.
• Course materials (if any) are provided to all registered students as digital materials made available to you on the course webpage for download (accessible after registration). There is no need to purchase any additional textbooks for this course.
• You will only require a pen or pencil, a notebook for taking your own class notes.
• Our instructor's materials are posted to the class webpage on your dashboard as a PDF file so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.
A keen desire to learn about our emotions from a wide variety of perspectives!!
• There are no prerequisites for this course.
