Peoples Temple: A Lost Legacy for the Current Moment

What is the legacy of Peoples Temple? Forty years after the events at Jonestown it seems that “Jonestown” has solidified itself as a landmark moment in American religious history. Jonestown has become synonymous with the problems of charismatic religious leadership and religious violence. Yet, the group who died at Jonestown, Peoples Temple, is largely unknown to people who reference the Jonestown murders/suicides. This article argues that revisiting Peoples Temple’s goals of apostolic socialism and racial reconciliation offer important insights for understanding the group’s legacy that can contribute insight into ways of solving ongoing social problems related to poverty and racial inequality in the United States.