Three basic questions have been paramount in orienting theory and research on NRMs [new religious movements]: what are the identifying markers of NRMs that distinguish them from other types of religious groups?; what are the different types of NRMs and how do these different types relate to the established institutional order of the host society?; and what are the most important ways that NRMs respond to the sociocultural dislocation that leads to their formation?
Theacademic study of new religious movements is known asnew religions studies (NRS).[2]The study draws from the disciplines ofanthropology,psychiatry, history,psychology, sociology,religious studies, and theology.[3]Eileen Barker noted that there are five sources of information onnew religious movements (NRMs): the information provided by such groups themselves, that provided by ex-members as well as the friends and relatives of members, organizations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.[4]
The study of new religions is unified by its topic of interest, rather than by itsmethodology, and is therefore interdisciplinary in nature.[5] A sizeable body of scholarly literature on new religions has been published, most of it produced bysocial scientists.[6] Among the disciplines that NRS uses are anthropology, history, psychology, religious studies, and sociology.[7] Of these approaches, sociology played a particularly prominent role in the development of the field,[7] resulting in it being initially confined largely to a narrow array of sociological questions.[8] This came to change in later scholarship, which began to apply theories and methods initially developed for examining more mainstream religions to the study of new ones.[8]
The majority of research has been directed toward those new religions which have attracted a greater deal of public controversy; less controversial NRMs have tended to be the subject of less scholarly research.[9] It has also been noted that scholars of new religions have often avoided researching certain movements which tend instead to be studied by scholars from other backgrounds; thefeminist spirituality movement is usually examined by scholars ofwomen's studies, African diaspora new religions by scholars ofAfricana studies, and Native American new religions by scholars ofNative American studies.[10]
In Japan, the academic study of new religions appeared in the years following the Second World War.[11][12]
In the 1960s, American sociologistJohn Lofland lived with Unification ChurchmissionaryYoung Oon Kim and a small group of American church members in California and studied their activities in trying to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships.[13] Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled: "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes" and in 1966 in book form byPrentice-Hall asDoomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith. It is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process ofreligious conversion, as well as one of the first sociological studies of a new religious movement.[14][15]
In Western nations the study of new religions became a distinct field in the 1970s;[16] prior to this, new religions had been examined from varying perspectives, withPentecostalism for instance being studied bychurch historians andcargo cults by anthropologists.[16] This Western academic study of new religions emerged in response to growing public concerns regarding the emergence of various NRMs during the 1970s.[17] By the latter part of that decade, increasing numbers of papers on new religions were being presented at the annual conferences of theAmerican Academy of Religion,Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and theAssociation for the Sociology of Religion.[9] The manner in which the scholarly study of new religions rose to prominence due to the public perception that these movements were social threats bore similarities with the manner in whichIslamic studies grew in Western nations following theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001.[10] The study of new religions would only be fully embraced by the Westernreligious studies establishment in the 1990s.[16]
In 1988, the charityINFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) was established by Barker, who was then a professor of sociology at theLondon School of Economics. The organization was supported by the UK Home Office and the British established churches and was designed to conduct research and disseminate accurate information about new religions.[18]Barker established INFORM due to her "conviction that a great deal of unnecessary suffering has resulted from ignorance of the nature and characteristics of the current wave of [NRMs] in the West."[19]Also in 1988, the Italian scholarMassimo Introvigne establishedCESNUR (Centre for Studies on New Religions) inTurin; it brought together academics studying NRMs in both Europe and North America.[20] In the United States, CESNUR gained representation through theInstitute for the Study of American Religion inSanta Barbara, California, which was directed byJ. Gordon Melton.[21]
Scholars of new religion often operate in a politicized environment given that their research can be cited in legal briefs and judicial decisions regarding NRMs.[22] In Barker's view, academic research into NRMs had practical applications in dealing with the problems that people experience with regard to NRMs.[23] It can, for example, provide accurate information about a particular religious movement that can help guide an individual's reactions to the group; "an awareness of the complexity of a situation might help people to avoid precipitous actions that would later have been regretted."[24] Sympathetic scholarly groups have been accused of uncritically believing what NRMs tell them, being pro-NRM, or ignoring the issues raised by ex-members.[25] The term "cult apologists" is sometimes used.[26]
Inclusion in this list assumes having both the requisite training as well as actually conducting at least one research study oncults and/ornew religious movements (using accepted methodological standards common in the research community), published in a peer-reviewed journal or academic book.
| Name | Lifetime | Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Alexander | 1935– | History | Alexander, a professor of history atBrigham Young University, is the author of many scholarly books and articles on the history ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[27] |
| Dick Anthony | 1939–2022 | Psychology | Anthony holds a PhD from theGraduate Theological Union,Berkeley, California,[28] and has supervised research at the department of psychiatry of theUniversity of North Carolina atChapel Hill and at theGraduate Theological Union,Berkeley.[29][30] His research has been supported by agencies such as theNational Institute of Mental Health, theNational Institute of Drug Abuse and theNational Endowment for the Humanities, and he has frequently testified or acted as a consultant in court cases involving NRMs.[31] He has been a leading critic ofbrainwashing andmind control theories and has defended NRMs, arguing that involvement in them has often been shown to have beneficial, rather than harmful effects.[30][32][33] |
| Elisabeth Arweck | 1959– | Religious studies | Arweck specializes in religious diversity in Europe and the United States.[34] She wroteResearching New Religious Movements: Responses and Redefinitions (2006) which analyzes the perception and responses for and against NRMs in various cultures.[35] |
| Eileen Barker | 1938– | Sociology | Barker is professor emeritus of the sociology department at theLondon School of Economics. She is founder and chairperson ofINFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), past-Chairperson of theBritish Sociological Association's Study Group for the Sociology of Religion, past-President of theSociety for the Scientific Study of Religion, and past-President of theAssociation for the Sociology of Religion. Her work has included hundreds of articles, books, reviews and consultations with governments.[36][37]: 1–5 |
| James A. Beckford | 1942–2022 | Sociology | Beckford is professor emeritus of sociology at theUniversity of Warwick, a Fellow of theBritish Academy, and a former president of both theAssociation for the Sociology of Religion and theInternational Society for the Sociology of Religion. He has authored or edited a dozen books about new religious movements and cult controversies and has contributed about 100 journal articles and book chapters to the field.[38]: x [39] He is associated with Eileen Barker'sINFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), a UK charity that disseminates information on NRMs to government and the public at large.[40] |
| Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi | 1943– | Psychology | Beit-Hallahmi graduated with aB.A. degree fromHebrew University, and received hisM.A. and PhD fromMichigan State University.[41] He has served as senior lecturer in psychology at theUniversity of Haifa, and has held faculty roles in clinical and research capacities atThe University of Michigan, theUniversity of Pennsylvania, Hebrew University, Michigan State University, andTel Aviv University.[41] Beit-Hallahmi is the author ofPsychoanalysis and Religion: A Bibliography, and co-author ofThe Social Psychology of Religion; he editedResearch in Religious Behavior.[41] He has published scholarship analyzing practices within standards of researching new religious movements.[42] |
| Stefano Bigliardi | 1981– | Philosophy of religion and science | Bigliardi is an associate professor of philosophy atAl Akhawayn University. He has interests in the relationship between science and religion, in pseudoscience and its intersections withIslam and new religious movements, and inancient aliens/esoteric literature including authorsMauro Biglino,Robert Charroux,Erich von Däniken,Peter Kolosimo,Jean Sendy,Brinsley Le Poer Trench, andManly P. Hall. He has publishedNew Religious Movements and Science (2023)[43] andIslam and Pseudoscience (2025)[44] forCambridge University Press; other new religious or spiritual movements he has published peer reviewed articles and chapters about include:Scientology, theRaelian movement,Falun Gong, the MexicanSanta Muerte,Märtha Louise of Norway's "Angel School," the Italian satanist organizationBambini di Satana, and Stella Azzurra (an Italian branch ofSanto Daime).[45] |
| Edward Breschel | Sociology | Breschel is a professor of sociology, social work, andcriminology atMorehead State University. He co-authored "General Population and Institutional Elite Support for Social Control of New Religious Movements: Evidence from National Data Survey,"Behavioral Science and the Law 10 (1992): 39–52 with David G. Bromley.[46] | |
| David G. Bromley | 1941– | Sociology | Bromley is a professor of sociology atVirginia Commonwealth University,Richmond, Virginia, and theUniversity of Virginia,Charlottesville, Virginia, a past president of theAssociation for the Sociology of Religion, and a former editor of theJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion.[31][33]: 63–64 [47] His publishing has concentrated both on new religious movements and theanti-cult movement that arose to oppose them; he andAnson Shupe became "the primary social science interpreters of that countermovement in a series of books and articles."[48] He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. |
| Jonathan Butler | 1948– | History | Butler is an historian of religion. He worked as an associate professor of church history atLoma Linda University in California, and also taught atUnion College inNebraska. He was co-editor of the magazineAdventist Heritage. He authored an article in 1979 claimingEllen White's endtime scenario was culturally conditioned to the point of being more at place in her time than now.[49][50][51] |
| Colin Campbell | Sociology | Campbell wrote an influential article inA Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain about the taxonomy of "cult" andsecularization.[52] | |
| Jean-Pierre Chantin | 1961– | History | Chantin is a French historian, associated with theUniversity of Lyon. He specializes in the history of religion in France, including theCatholic Church and the role of new religious movements.[53][54] In 1998 his study ofJansenism was published by the University of Lyon.[55] In 2001 he was the chief editor ofDictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine.[56] In 2004 he published a 157-page study on Frenchsects from 1905 to 2000, asking: "disputes or religious innovations?"[57] |
| George D. Chryssides | 1945– | Religious studies | Chryssides is the author, contributor and editor for several references covering new religious movements. He is senior lecturer for Religious Studies at theUniversity of Wolverhampton, and has served in various organizations related to the study of religion.[58][59] |
| John Gordon Clark | 1926–1999 | Psychiatry | Clark was a doctor and professor atHarvard Medical School.[60] He authored an article on cults for theJournal of the American Medical Association.[61] |
| Peter B. Clarke | 1940–2011 | Sociology | Clarke was professor emeritus of the history and sociology of religion atKing's College London, a professorial member of the faculty of theology at theUniversity of Oxford, and the founding editor of theJournal of Contemporary Religion. His publications includeJapanese New Religions: In Global Perspective (editor),New Religions in Global Perspective: A Study of Religious Change in the Modern World and theEncyclopedia of New Religious Movements (editor).[62][63] |
| Dan Cohn-Sherbok | 1945– | Religious studies | Cohn-Sherbok is arabbi ofReform Judaism, a Jewish theologian and a prolific author on religion. He is Professor Emeritus of Judaism at theUniversity of Wales. He has written onMessianic Judaism,Christian Zionism, and other new religious movements related to Judaism.[64] |
| Douglas E. Cowan | 1958– | Religious studies | Cowan teaches at Renison College,University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and is one of the co-general editors ofNova Religio: The Journal of New and Emergent Religions.[65] |
| Lorne L. Dawson | Sociology | Dawson is professor of sociology and chair of the department of religious studies at theUniversity of Waterloo. His publications includeComprehending Cults (1998),Cults and New Religions (2003) andReligion Online (2004); in addition, he has authored numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on the study of new religions, religion and the internet and related topics.[31] | |
| Régis Dericquebourg | 1947– | Sociology | Dericquebourg is asociologist of religions. He wrote his thesis onJehovah's Witnesses under the direction ofJean Seguy. He holds a doctorate in psychosociology and a postgraduate degree in clinical psychology from the Institute of Paris 7.[66] He is a member of the Group for the Study of Religions and Secularity at the National Center for the Scientific Studies in Paris, and a professor at theCharles de Gaulle University – Lille III. He published five books, many sociological articles in collective books, encyclopedias and journals and regularly participated in conferences on sociology. His contributions are mainly on Jehovah's Witnesses, healing churches andnew religious movements.[67] |
| Karel Dobbelaere | 1933– | Sociology | Dobbelaere is an emeritus professor at both theUniversity of Antwerp and theCatholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He is past president and general secretary of theInternational Society for the Sociology of Religion. His teaching focus was on sociology and the sociology of religion. His research fields have included changes in religious participation and new religious sectarian movements.[37]: ix |
| Asbjørn Dyrendal | Religious studies | Dyrendal is a professor of philosophy and religious studies atNorwegian University of Science and Technology. He specializes inconspiracy theories and new religious movements. He wrote, for example, "The Role of Conspiracy Mentality and Paranormal Beliefs in Predicting Conspiracy Beliefs Among Neopagans,"International Journal for the Study of New Religions 8, no. 1 (2018): 73–91 withJames R. Lewis andLeif Edward Ottesen Kennair.[68] | |
| Steve Eichel | 1954– | Psychology | Eichel is apsychologist known primarily for his work ondestructive cults,coercive persuasion,mind control,brainwashing, anddeprogramming. He is a former president of the Greater Philadelphia Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the 2006–07 president of the American Academy of Counseling Psychology, the national membership academy comprisingAmerican Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) board-certified counseling psychologists. Eichel is the president of the board of theInternational Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). |
| Ronald Enroth | 1938– | Sociology | Enroth is a widely published author and prominentChristian countercultist who has done work in the area of abusive evangelical Christian congregations and new religious movements. He is professor emeritus of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.[69][70][71] |
| Richard Kent Evans | Religious studies | Evans is visiting professor of religion atHaverford College. He authoredMOVE: An American Religion (2020) about theMOVE movement in Philadelphia, which was sometimes described as an NRM.[72] | |
| Arthur Fauset | 1899–1983 | Anthropology | Fauset was a noted civil rights activist, anthropologist, folklorist, and educator. He belonged to the Philadelphia Anthropology Society, theAmerican Anthropological Association, and theAmerican Folklore Society.Elsie Clews Parsons supported him throughout his career in anthropology and with her support Fauset published his PhD on African American cults in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago,Black Gods of the Metropolis in 1944.[73] |
| Thomas Forsthoefel | Religious studies | Forsthoefel is a professor ofreligious studies atMercyhurst College inErie, Pennsylvania, as well as a poet and author. He has a special interest inHinduism andBuddhism and has written on bothnew religious movements and established traditions within these faiths, while his own background isRoman Catholic.[74][75] Forsthoefel's published books include:Four charismatic thinkers on violence and non-violence: analysis and evaluation (Loyola University of Chicago, 1987),Epistemologies of religious experience in medieval and modern Vedānta (University of Chicago Divinity School, 1998),Knowing beyond knowledge: epistemologies of religious experience in classical and modern Advaita (Ashgate, 2002),Gurus in America co-editor with Cynthia Ann Humes (SUNY Press, 2005),Soulsong: Seeking Holiness, Coming Home (Orbis Books, 2006), andThe Dalai Lama: essential writings editor (Orbis Books, 2008). | |
| Daniel Foss | 1940–2014 | Sociology | Foss is a sociologist and author. He taught at the School for Critical Studies at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts, atLivingston College, and at the Newark College of Arts and Sciences atRutgers University. He has published research in sociologyjournals, including a piece on the white middle class youth movement of the 1960s and its relationship with later movements such as theChildren of God, theDivine Light Mission,Swami Muktananda and theRevolutionary Youth Movement inTheory and Society.[76] He later co-authored, withRalph Larkin, a more focused article dealing withGuru Maharaj Ji and his followers, which was published inSociological Analysis,[77] and a piece dealing with thevocabulary used in these social movements, inSocial Text.[78] |
| Marc Galanter | 1931– | Psychiatry | Galanter is director of the division of alcoholism and drug abuse in the department of psychiatry atNew York University School of Medicine.[79][80] He is the editor ofCults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association,[81] and author ofCults: Faith, Healing and Coercion.[82] |
| Eugene V. Gallagher | 1950– | Religious studies | Gallagher is a professor of religious studies atConnecticut College. His department lists his specializations as:History of religion,New religious movements,New Testament andearly Christianity,Westernscriptures andtraditions. He is the author of several books, mainly on the topic of new religious movements.[83] In 1995 Gallagher and James D. Tabor, an associate professor of religious studies at theUniversity of North Carolina, co-authoredWhy Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. The book blamed the 1993Waco siege partly on misunderstanding of religious issues by law enforcement personnel.[84] |
| Mattias Gardell | 1959– | Religious studies | Gardell is a scholar ofcomparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion atUppsala University, Sweden.[85] Gardell specializes in the study of religious extremism and religious racism in the United States, studying groups such as theKu Klux Klan, theNation of Islam, and racialist movements inNeopaganism (Odinism). His 1995 dissertation onLouis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was published in both British and American editions.[85] |
| Martin Gardner | 1914–2010 | Mathematics | Gardner was an American mathematics and science author. He wrote theMathematical Games column inScientific American from 1956 to 1981 and theNotes of a Fringe-Watcher column inSkeptical Inquirer from 1983 to 2002 and published over 70 books. He wrote on various new religious movements, including Scientology andUrantia (the topic of his 1995 book published byPrometheus Books).[86][87][88][89] |
| Ron Geaves | 1948– | Religious studies | Geaves is a professor of religion atLiverpool Hope University in England. He has become known by his expertise in the adaptation and transmigration of religions to the West, especiallyIslam,Sikhism andHinduism. He is the author of several books, includingThe Sufis of Britain, which explored the manifestations of Islamic mysticism in the UK andThe Continuum Glossary of Religious Terminology an extensive glossary of seven major world faiths. He was one of the earliest Western students of Maharaji (Prem Rawat, known also as Guru Maharaj Ji), and has written a number of papers related to Maharaji and his organizations, such as theDivine Light Mission, andElan Vital.[90][91] |
| Stephen Glazier | Anthropology | Glazier is a member of the graduate faculty in anthropology at theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln; where he teaches classes in anthropology, race and minority relations, and sociology of religion. He has conducted extensive fieldwork inTrinidad which focused on Caribbean religions such asRastafari,Vodoun, and theSpiritual Baptists. He has served as president of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness and secretary of theSociety for the Scientific Study of Religion.[92] | |
| Andreas Grünschloß | 1957– | Religious studies | Grünschloß, professor of religious studies atGöttingen University, is a researcher with a focus on new religious movements (especiallyUFO religions),Buddhism,syncretism and related topics who has contributed to various encyclopedias, anthologies and scholarly journals.[93] He is also co-editor of theMarburg Journal of Religion.[94] |
| Jeffrey K. Hadden | 1937–2003 | Sociology | Hadden was Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at theUniversity of Virginia, and founder of an internet resource on new religious movements, the Religious Movements Homepage Project.[93][95] |
| David A. Halperin | Psychiatry | Halperin is a psychiatrist interested in the intersects between religion and psychiatry and psychology. He edited the volumePsychodynamic Perspectives on Religion, Sect, and Cult (1983).[96] | |
| Olav Hammer | 1958– | History | Hammer is a Professor ofHistory of Religion at theUniversity of Southern Denmark inOdense, with a research focus on the application ofcritical theory in the context of religious change and innovation.[93][97] |
| Graham Harvey | 1959– | Religious studies | Harvey specializes inModern Paganism,indigenous religions, andanimism. He wrote books such asListening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism (1997) andWhat Do Pagans Believe? (2007), and he edited volumes likePaganism Today: Witches, Druids, the Goddess and Ancient Earth Traditions for the Twenty-First Century (with Charlotte Hardman; 1996).[98] |
| Steven Hassan | 1954– | Psychiatry | Hassan formed a method of counseling former members of controversial religious groups, called theStrategic Interaction Approach.[99] In his 2002 bookThe Psychology of Terrorism, authorChris E. Stout writes that Hassan, "bases his counseling of voluntary cultists on theory and research. To combat destructive mind control, he has developed the Strategic Interaction Approach. This approach is designed to free the cult member from the group's control over his or her life."[99]New York Magazine characterized Hassan as, "one of the country's leading experts on cults and mind control."[100] Steven Hassan is the author of the bookCombatting Cult Mind Control, which was recommended byLouis Jolyon West in theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry "to both lay persons who wish to become better informed on this topic and to professionals in health-related fields, clergy, attorneys, judges, and others whose responsibilities bring them into contact with cults, their members, and the families whose lives are affected."[101] and Peter Tyrer MD inThe Lancet wrote that it was "well worth reading" for "professionals in mental health, particularly those involved with students."[102] His "Strategic Intervention Therapy: A New Form of Exit Counseling for Cult Members" was published in 1994.[103] Hassan has been described as a "cult expert" by theReuters,[104]The Toronto Sun,[105]The New York Times,[106]The Globe and Mail,[107] theHerald Sun,[108] andNewsweek.[109] In the bookTheorising Religion: Classical and Contemporary Debates edited byJames A. Beckford and John Walliss, Hassan is described as a "scholar" belonging to the faction of "cult bashers."[110] |
| Irving Hexham | 1943– | Religious studies | Hexham is professor of religious studies at theUniversity of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He began his academic research with a study ofNew Age thought inGlastonbury[111] and continued his research with a study of the origins of the ideology ofApartheid.[112] Later he pioneered the study of theamaNazareta by publishing the completescriptures of this importantAfrican Independent Church which in the past was often consideredpagan.[113] Alongside his South African studies Hexham also published extensively onNew Religious Movements, Theology, theHistory of Christian Missions, and, more recentlyNational Socialism.[114] |
| Titus Hjelm | 1974– | Religious studies and sociology | Hjelm is a professor in the study of religion atUniversity of Helsinki (formerly a professor of sociology atUniversity College London). He primarily focuses onWicca,Satanism, and otherneopagan movements inNordic countries. For example, he published "BetweenSatan andHarry Potter: Legitimating Wicca in Finland,"Journal of Contemporary Religion 21, no. 1 (2006).[115] |
| Walter Hollenweger | 1927–2016 | Theology | Hollenweger was aSwiss theologian and author, recognized as an expert on worldwidePentecostalism. His two best known books are:The Pentecostals (1972) andPentecostalism: Origins and Developments Worldwide (1997)[116] In 1955 he began studying at the faculty of theology of theUniversity of Zurich. He wrote a ten volume doctoral dissertationHandbuch der Pfingstbewegung (Handbook of the Pentecostal Movement) published in 1966. The core of this work was published in various languages and became a standard work on Pentecostalism. His numerous publications in the years following made him one of the premier interpreters of this movement. |
| Cynthia Ann Humes | 1958– | Religious Studies | Humes is a professor of religious studies atClaremont McKenna College, inClaremont, California.[117] She has spent much time in India to study first-hand the role ofgoddesses in modernHinduism,[118][119] and has also written on Hinduism's influence onnew religious movements in the United States.[120] In 2008 she criticized theTranscendental Meditation movement for its seeming misunderstanding ofIndian classical music,[121] while in 2005 she had criticized its exclusivity.[122] |
| Stephen J. Hunt | 1954– | Sociology | Hunt is a professor of sociology at theUniversity of the West of England whose primary research interests in the field of alternative religion include theCharismatic movement and the "New" BlackPentecostal Churches.[38]: 14 [123] |
| Ronald Hutton | 1953– | History | Hutton is an English historian. Educated atCambridge andOxford, he taught history at theUniversity of Bristol in the 1980s. He has written influential books onNeopaganism,Wicca, and related topics.[124][125] |
| Massimo Introvigne | 1955– | Sociology | Introvigne is the director of the Center for Studies of New Religions (CESNUR) inTurin, Italy; his publications include over thirty books on the history and sociology of religion (among them theEnciclopedia delle religioni in Italia), as well as over a hundred scholarly articles in various languages.[93][126] |
| Benton Johnson | 1928– | Sociology | Johnson is professor emeritus of sociology at theUniversity of Oregon, former chair of both its sociology department and department of religious studies, and former editor ofJournal for the Scientific Study of Religion. He is past president of theSociety for the Scientific Study of Religion, theAssociation for the Sociology of Religion, and The Religious Research Association. His work focuses on church-sect typology, new religious movements and mainline U.S. Protestant denominations.[33]: 251–252 [127] |
| Danny Jorgensen | 1951– | Religious studies | Jorgensen is a professor at the department of religious studies of theUniversity of South Florida[128] is an American professor at the department of religious studies of the University of South Florida,[129] for which he also served aschair from 1999 to 2006. Jorgensen's research interests include Sociology of Culture, Knowledge, and Religion, Science and Religion, Cults and Sects,American religion,Native American religions,new religions,Mormonism,Shakerism,Occultism,Neopaganism,Witchcraft,Scientology, and others.[130] |
| Jeffrey Kaplan | 1954– | Religious studies | Kaplan specializes inrace, racism,white supremacy, and their intersections with new religious movements and religion generally. He co-edited with Heléne Lööw a volume namedThe Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization (2002).[131] |
| Alice Beck Kehoe | 1934– | Anthropology | Kehoe was professor of anthropology atUniversity of Nebraska andMarquette University, and the author of several books on new religious movements amongNative American peoples, including theGhost Dance.[132] |
| Stephen A. Kent | Sociology | Kent is a professor in the department of sociology at theUniversity of Alberta in Edmonton,Alberta, Canada.[133] A specialist in alternative religions, he has published research on such groups as theChildren of God andScientology, and has cautioned against downplaying the risks associated with involvement in such groups.[133][134] | |
| Reender Kranenborg | 1942– | Religious studies | Kranenborg was an editor of the magazineReligious Movement in the Netherlands published by the institute ofreligious studies of theFree University in Amsterdam.[135] He received his PhD in the theological faculty about the subject ofself-realization and he has a seat at theComitato Scientifico (scientific committee) of theCESNUR.[136] |
| Jeffrey J. Kripal | 1962– | Religious studies | Kripal is a professor of religious studies and chair of the department of religious studies atRice University,Houston, Texas. His areas of interest include the comparative erotics and ethics of mystical literature, Americancountercultural translations ofAsian religions, and the history ofWestern esotericism from ancientgnosticism to theNew Age, including[137] theRamakrishna Mission,[138] and theEsalen Institute.[139] |
| Janja Lalich | 1945– | Sociology | Lalich is a widely published author and educator who has done work in the area of cults and psychological influence. She is the head of the Cult Recovery and Information Center in Alameda, California. |
| David C. Lane | 1956– | Sociology | Lane is a professor of philosophy and sociology atMt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. He is the author of:The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar,The Unknowing Sage:Life and Work of Baba Faqir Chand, andExposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical.[140] |
| Michael Langone | 1947– | Psychology | Langone is the executive director of theInternational Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) and he has written widely on alternative religious movements.[141][142] |
| Saul V. Levine | 1938– | Psychiatry | Levine is a professor of psychiatry inToronto, Ontario, Canada.[143] He has researched cults and deprogramming, with work published in theCanadian Journal of Psychiatry,[144] and theCanadian Psychiatric Association Journal.[145] |
| James R. Lewis | 1949– | Philosophy | Lewis, a lecturer in philosophy at theUniversity of Wisconsin, has been a prolific author and editor of books on new religious movements such asThe Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (2004); he also edits the Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion series and is co-editor of Ashgate's Controversial New Religions series.[146] |
| Robert Jay Lifton | 1926– | Psychiatry | Lifton is a psychiatrist who has focused his research in the area ofcoercive persuasion.[147] He wrote an article on the creation of cults forThe Harvard Mental Health Letter,[148] and is the author ofThought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism,[149] andDestroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism.[150] |
| Raphaël Liogier | 1967– | Political science | Liogier is the director of theObservatoire du religieux[151] and a professor of universities at theInstitut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence and the Institut de management public et de gouvernance territoriale. He co-authored several articles on the theme of religion.[152] Liogier wrote his thesis onBuddhism under the direction ofBruno Étienne, a professor at the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, and has among other things published a book on secularism in 2006. He works particularly on the issues related toIslam andcults.[153] He has also criticized the "anti-sect" government agencyMIVILUDES.[154] |
| John Lofland | 1936– | Sociology | Lofland is a sociologist, professor, and author best known for his studies of thepeace movement and for his first book,Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith which was based on field work among a group ofUnification Church members in California in the 1960s. It is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process ofreligious conversion, and one of the first modern sociological studies of a new religious movement.[14][33][155] He earned a PhD in sociology theUniversity of California, Berkeley based on his Unification Church study. Since 1970 he has been a professor in the sociology department at theUniversity of California, Davis, where he is now Professor of Sociology Emeritus.[156] |
| Paul R. Martin | 1946–2009 | Psychology | A former member of theGreat Commission Association of Churches group, Martin was a psychologist and the founder and executive director of the ChristianWellspring Retreat and Resource Center. He consulted with several institutions, published on cult-related subjects, and collaborated in fieldwork focusing on the prediction and treatment of psychological damage related to involvement with high-demand religious movements.[157] |
| Jean-François Mayer | 1957– | History | Mayer is areligious historian and director of the instituteReligioscope. He has a doctorate degree in history at theJean Moulin University Lyon 3 (1984). From 1991 to 1998, he worked as an analyst on international affairs and policy for the Swiss federal government. In 1999, he founded a firm of strategic researches named JFM Recherches et Analyses, and taught at the University of Freiburg from 1999 to 2007.[158] In 2007, Mayer founded the Institute Religioscope and became the director. He contributed in the writing of several magazines, includingPolitica Hermetica,Religioscope andReligion Watch. His writing focuses on contemporary religious movements and cults, including Islam,Unification Church, theChurch of Scientology, theOrder of the Solar Temple and thePilgrims of Arès.[159] |
| J. Gordon Melton | 1942– | Religious studies | Melton is author of, co-author of, or contributor to many standard references and articles on emergent and established religious groups, including theEncyclopedia of American Religions. He is the director of the Institute for the Study of American Religions based in Santa Barbara, California.[146][47] |
| Jesse S. Miller | 1940–2006 | Psychology | Miller taught a course inadvanced hypnotherapeutic techniques, atUC Berkeley.[160] Miller specialized in analysis of hypnotherapy. |
| Timothy Miller | 1944– | Religious studies | Miller is a professor and author with a special interest in communalism and new religious movements. He is a professor ofreligious studies at theUniversity of Kansas at Lawrence.[161][162] In 1995 his bookAmerica's Alternative Religions was published bySUNY Press.[163] |
| Robin Munro | 1952–2021 | Jurisprudence | Munro is a legal scholar and author. He received his PhD from the Department of Law, School of Oriental & African Studies,University of London.[164] He has written on new religious movements in China, includingFalun Gong andsyncretic sects andsecret societies.[165][166] |
| Richard Ofshe | 1941– | Sociology | Ofshe is a widely published author and expert witness who has done work in the area of cultic mind control and the use of hypnosis for recovering repressed memories. He is a professor emeritus of Sociology at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[167] |
| Peter A. Olsson | 1941– | Psychiatry | Olsson is a psychiatrist affiliated withBaylor College of Medicine, where he is on staff as adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry.[168] He is an assistant professor of psychiatry atDartmouth Medical School.[168] In his research he has focused on the analysis of the framework and mindset of leaders ofdestructive cults and religious groups.[169][170] |
| Erik A. W. Östling | History of religion | Östling is professor and Administrative Director of the departments ofethnology,history of religions, andgender studies at theUniversity of Stockholm. He has written works onRaëlism, a major UFO religion, like ""Those who came from the sky": Ancient Astronauts and Creationism in the Raëlian Religion," inControversial New Religions, edited byJames R. Lewis and Jesper Aa. Petersen, 368–82 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).[171] | |
| Susan J. Palmer | 1946– | Sociology | Palmer teaches inMontreal, Quebec as an adjunct professor atConcordia University and as professor of religious studies atDawson College; she is the author of more than sixty articles as well as the author or editor of eight books on new religious movements.[146] |
| Jesper Aagaard Petersen | Religious studies | Petersen is a professor ofSocial andEducational Sciences at theNorwegian University of Science and Technology, specializing inreligious education. He co-authoredThe Invention of Satanism (2016) withJames R. Lewis and Asbjørn Dyrendal.[172] | |
| Karla Poewe | 1941– | Anthropology | Poewe is ananthropologist and historian. She is the author of ten academic books and fifty peer reviewed articles in international journals. Currently Poewe is professor emeritus in anthropology at theUniversity of Calgary, Calgary,Alberta, Canada, and Adjunct Research Professor atLiverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England. She is married toIrving Hexham.[173] Poewe and Hexham co-authoredUnderstanding Cults and New Religions (1986) andNew Religions as Global Cultures (1997).[174] |
| Margaret Poloma | 1943– | Sociology | Poloma is a professor and author who is known for her research on thePentecostal movement in American Christianity.[175] She is nowprofessor emeritus at theUniversity of Akron.[176] |
| Jennifer E. Porter | Religious studies | Porter is a professor of religious studies atMemorial University of Newfoundland. She specializes in religion and popular culture, but occasionally writes onSpiritualism.[177][178] | |
| Adam Possamai | 1970– | Sociology | Possamai is currently co-director of the Religion and Society Research Centre at theUniversity of Western Sydney.[179] He was the 2002–2007 co-editor of the Australian Religion Studies Review[180] and president of the sociology of religion section (RC22) of theInternational Sociological Association from 2010 to 2014.[181] He has published research on theChurch of All Worlds,the Church of Satan,Jediism, and other new religious movements.[179] |
| Susan Raine | Sociology | Raine is an associate professor atMacEwan University. She specializes inUFO religions, new religious movements,conspiracy theory, andparanormality. She co-edited withStephen Kent the volumeScientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy (2017).[182] | |
| James T. Richardson | 1941– | Sociology | Richardson has done work in the area of minority religions and connections between law and religion. He directs the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies at theUniversity of Nevada (Reno).[183][184] |
| Thomas Robbins | 1943–2015 | Sociology | Robbins was an independent scholar affiliated with the Santa Barbara Centre for Humanistic Studies; trained atHarvard University and theUniversity of North Carolina, he has held teaching and research appointments atQueens College, theNew School for Social Research,Yale University and theGraduate Theological Union and is a leading contributor of social scientific literature on new religious movements.[33]: 427–428 |
| Mikael Rothstein | 1961– | History | Rothstein is an associate professor ofreligious history at theUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark.[185][186] In 2002 he was on the board of theDanish Association for the History of Religions (DAHR) and the editorial boards of the publicationsRenner Studies on New Religions (Aarhus University Press) andNye Religioner (Gyldendal).[187] He is the author of several books on religious history and especially on the role of new religious movements, among them:Belief Transformations: Some Aspects of the Relationship between Science and Religion in Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) (1996),Secular Theories on Religion: Current Perspectives (2000) (co-author with Tim Jensen),New Age Religion and Globalization (2002), andNew Religions in a Postmodern World (2003) (co-editor with Reender Kranenborg) |
| John A. Saliba | 1937– | Religious studies | Saliba is professor of religious studies at theUniversity of Detroit Mercy as well as a Catholic priest and aJesuit.[188] He advocates a conciliatory approach towards new religious movements, arguing that "dialogue is more useful than diatribe."[189] He notes that for most people membership in a NRM is temporary, and maintains that NRMs can act as a temporary safe haven for young adults, enabling them to stabilise their lives.[189][190] He is critical of theanti-cult movement and has remarked that "the neutral stance of the social sciences is a stance which has often been interpreted as favoring the NRMs." |
| Ferdinando Sardella | 1960– | History of religion | Ferdinando Sardella is a Swedish scholar ofhistory of religions,Hinduism, andreligious studies, the former director and coordinator of theForum for South Asia Studies atUppsala University. His areas of interest and specialization are: modern Hinduism, Buddhism, religions in South Asia (from both a local and a global perspective), new religious movements, religion and science, medievalbhakti movements,Bengali andSanskrit studies, the history and sociology of religion, interreligious dialogue,comparative religion, globalization and postcolonial theory.[191][192] Sardella obtained a PhD degree in 2010 at his alma mater onBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominentBengali proponent of thebhakti tradition ofGaudiya Vaisnavism in the 20th century and founder of a movement called theGaudiya Math.[193] |
| Larry Shinn | 1942– | Religious studies | Shinn is president ofBerea College, Kentucky. Prior to this appointment he was vice-president of academic affairs, dean of humanities and head of the religious studies department atBucknell University, US. He has studiedISKCON in America for more than forty years and, among his other writings, published,The Dark Lord, a study of the Hare Krishnas and the cult controversy. He is also aUnited Methodist minister. He is notable for accepting the bona fides of the ISKCON even before a majority of academia accepted their (ISKCON's) traditional and orthodox nature.[194] |
| Anson D. Shupe | 1948–2021 | Sociology | Shupe was a professor of sociology at the joint campus ofIndiana State University-Purdue University atFort Wayne, Indiana. He has done fieldwork on a number of new religious movements, in particular theUnification Church, and has also studied theanti-cult movement; he andDavid G. Bromley became "the primary social science interpreters of that countermovement in a series of books and articles."[33]: 63, 467 [195] |
| Mark Silk | 1951– | Religious studies | Silk is a professor of religion in public life atTrinity College (Hartford, Connecticut).[196][197] In the 1980s and 1990s Silk was a regular contributor toThe New York Times, contributing essays and book reviews onfeminist theology,[198] new religious movements,[199]Jewish identity, and other religion-related topics.[200] In 1995 he criticized the American news media for their unbalanced coverage of new religious movements when compared to more established religious institutions.[201] |
| Margaret Singer | 1921–2003 | Psychology | Singer was professor emeritus in the University of California at Berkeley's department of psychology. She had published widely on cultic groups, coercion, pseudo-therapudic practices, and other areas,[202] includingbrainwashing theories, of which she was a strong proponent. She sat as an advisory board member for anti-cult groups theCult Awareness Network and theInternational Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). |
| Frederick Sontag | 1924–2009 | Philosophy | Sontag, an author and professor of philosophy atPomona College, was considered an expert on theUnification Church. In the 1970s he interviewed church founderSun Myung Moon and church members in Europe, America, and Asia while researching for a book published in 1977.[203][204][205] |
| Stephen J. Stein | 1940–2022 | History of religion | Stephen Joseph Stein was an American academic, author, and educator focused on religion in the United States. He was the Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and served as President of the American Society of Church History. His notable writings on new religious movements includeThe Shaker Experience in America (1992),Alternative American Religious (2000), andCommunities of Dissent (2003).[206][207] |
| Diana Tumminia | Religious studies and sociology | Tumminia is a professor of sociology atCalifornia State University, Sacramento. She has written works likeWhen Prophecy Never Fails: Myth and Reality in a Flying-Saucer Group (2005) on theUFO religionUnaris.[208] | |
| Jan van der Lans | 1933–2002 | Psychology | Van der Lans was a Dutch professor in thepsychology of religion at theCatholic University of Nijmegen (now called Radboud University Nijmegen). From 1977 onwards he did research among followers ofnew religious movements. In 1979 he instigated a European platform of psychologists of religion and until 1997 he was chairperson of theInternational Committee of European Psychologists of Religion. In 1992 he became a professor in the psychology of religion at the university. Van der Lans was involved in theInternational Association for the Psychology of Religion (German:Internationale Gesellschaft für Religionspsychologie) and as of 1998 part of its executive committee. He was also a member of theCommission Internationale de Psychologie Religieuse Scientifique.[209] |
| Roy Wallis | 1945–1990 | Sociology | Wallis was asociologist andDean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at theQueen's University Belfast. He is mostly known for his creation of the seven signs that differentiate a religious congregation from asectarian church, which he created while researching theScientology church. After publishing his bookThe Road to Total Freedom, an in-depth analysis of the sociology of Scientology, he was harassed by the church both legally and personally.[210][211] Forged letters, apparently from Wallis, were sent to his colleagues implicating him in various scandalous activities.[212] He introduced the distinction betweenworld-affirming andworld-rejecting new religious movements.[33] |
| Margit Warburg | 1952– | Sociology | Warburg is a professor at theUniversity of Copenhagen's department of history of religions. She specializes in the sociology of religion with emphasis on emergent religious sects and religious minorities. She has written extensively on the effect of technology on religion and new religious movements.[213] |
| James Webb | 1946–1980 | History | James Charles Napier Webb was an historian and biographer. He was born in Edinburgh, was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He is remembered primarily for two worksThe Occult Underground andThe Occult Establishment. Webb traced the influence of occult and mystical groups and writers on literature, philosophy and politics.[214] |
| Catherine Wessinger | 1952– | Religious studies | Wessinger is a professor ofreligious studies atLoyola University New Orleans with a main research focus onmillennialism,new religions,women and religion andreligions of India. Wessinger is co-general editor ofNova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions[215] and served as a consultant to federal law enforcement during theMontana Freemen standoff.[216] |
| Louis Jolyon West | 1924–1999 | Psychiatry | West was a psychiatrist affiliated withUniversity of California, Los Angeles.[217] He held positions of professor and chairman at the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA.[218] He contributed research on cults to publications including theComprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry,[219] andCults and New Religious Movements: A Report of the American Psychiatric Association.[81] West served on the advisory board of theCult Awareness Network. |
| Harriet Whitehead | Anthropology | Whitehead wroteRenunciation and Reformation: A Study of Conversion in an American Sect (1987) as an anthropological study ofScientology.[220] | |
| Bryan R. Wilson | 1926–2004 | Sociology | Wilson was reader emeritus in sociology and an emeritus fellow ofAll Souls College at Oxford. He taught at Oxford for over 30 years, and was visiting professor at various universities worldwide. He was honorary president of theInternational Society for the Sociology of Religion. His work was in the typology of sects, the secularization of religious groups, and relationships between minority groups and governments.[33]: 557–558 [37]: xiii [221] |
| Diane Winston | 1951– | Media and Religion | Winston is a professor of Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at theUniversity of Southern California (USC). USC lists her current research interests as media coverage of Islam, religion and new media, and the place of religion in American identity.[222][223] She received her B.A. fromBrandeis, a master's in theological studies fromHarvard Divinity School, a master's in journalism fromColumbia, and her PhD in religion fromPrinceton University.[224] She has extensively studied the history of theSalvation Army.[225][226] |
| Benjamin Zablocki | 1941–2020 | Sociology | Zablocki was the head of the sociology department atRutgers University. He has published on communes, leadership roles in new religious movements, and the academic debates regarding brainwashing and methodology in the study of new religion.[227][228][229][230] |
| Benjamin E. Zeller | Religious studies | Zeller specializes in American new religious movements and religion's relationship with science and culture. He wroteHeaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (2014) andProphets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America (2010).[231] |