J. Gordon Melton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | John Gordon Melton (1942-09-19)September 19, 1942 (age 83) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Birmingham Southern College Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Thesis | The Shape and Structure of the American Religious Experience: A Definition and Classification of Primary Religious Bodies in the United States (1975) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Methodist,Religion,New religious movements,American religious history |
| Institutions | Baylor University |
| Notable works | |
John Gordon Melton (born September 19, 1942) is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion[1] and was the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion atBaylor University inWaco,Texas where he resides.[2] He is also an ordained minister in theUnited Methodist Church.
Melton is the author of more than forty-five books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and scholarly textbooks on American religious history,Methodism, world religions, andnew religious movements (NRMs). His areas of research include majorreligious traditions, American Methodism, new and alternative religions, Western Esotericism andoccultism, andparapsychology,New Age, andDracula andvampire studies.
Melton was born inBirmingham,Alabama, the son of Burnum Edgar Melton and Inez Parker. During his senior year in high school, he came acrossThe Small Sects in America by Elmer T. Clark; he became interested in reading as much as possible on alternative religions.[3][4]
In 1964, he graduated fromBirmingham Southern College with an A.B. degree in geology. After completing his undergraduate education he matriculated intoGarrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary to study theology and ancient church history, graduating first in his class with a Master of Divinity in 1968. He completed doctoral studies at Northwestern University with a Ph.D. in He married Dorothea Dudley in 1966, who had one daughter, Melanie. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979. His second wife is named Suzie.[2]
As of 2017 Melton was the incumbent Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion atBaylor University inWaco,Texas where he resides.[2] He had retired as professor by 2023.[5]
Melton has authored several encyclopedic works on American religion.[4][6] He authored theEncyclopedia of American Religions, first published byGale in 1979, which he revised in several editions every few years. The book was a success.[4][6] He also edited the later editions of theEncyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology.[6] In hisEncyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America,[6] Melton distinguished theChristian countercult and the secularanti-cult movements. He articulated the distinction on the grounds that the two movements operate with very differentepistemologies motives and methods.[7] This distinction has been subsequently acknowledged by sociologists such asDouglas E. Cowan andEileen Barker.[8][9] As of 2006, he had edited 17 and written 30 books.[4]
In addition to religious studies, Melton has an interest in vampires, on which he has written several books.[4][6][10] In 1997, Melton,Massimo Introvigne, andElizabeth Miller organized an event at the Westin Hotel inLos Angeles where 1,500 attendees (some dressed as vampires) came for a "creative writing contest, Gothic rock music and theatrical performances."[10] WhenSony was accused of copyright infringement over a story involving vampires and werewolves in 2003, the company contacted Melton, who testified that stories about conflicts between the two sets of creatures had been present since the 1950s. The case was settled.[4]
In May 1995, during the investigation into theTokyo subway sarin attack, the group responsible for the attack,Aum Shinrikyo, contacted an American group known as AWARE (Association of World Academics for Religious Education), founded by American scholarJames R. Lewis, claiming that the human rights of its members were being violated.[11] Lewis recruited Melton, human rights lawyer Barry Fisher, and chemical expert Thomas Banigan. They flew to Japan, with their travel expenses paid by Aum, and announced that they would investigate and report through press conferences at the end of their trip.[12]
In the press conferences, Fisher and Lewis announced that Aum could not have produced the sarin with which the attacks had been committed. They had determined this with their technical expert, Lewis said, based on photos and documents provided by the group.[13] British scholar of Japanese religions Ian Reader, in a detailed account of the incident, reported that Melton "had few doubts by the end of his visit to Japan of Aum's complicity" and eventually "concluded that Aum had in fact been involved in the attack and other crimes";[11] TheWashington Post account of the final press conference mentioned Lewis and Fisher but not Melton.[13]
Reader concluded, "The visit was well-intentioned, and the participants were genuinely concerned about possible violations of civil rights in the wake of the extensive police investigations and detentions of followers." However, it was ill-fated and detrimental to the reputation of those involved. While distinguishing between Lewis' and Melton's attitudes, Reader observed that both Japanese media and some fellow scholars also criticized Melton.[11] Using stronger words, Canadian scholarStephen A. Kent chastised both Lewis and Melton for having put the reputation of the whole category of scholars of new religious movements at risk.[14]
TheLos Angeles Times described Melton as "one of the nation's foremost authorities on religion (and vampires [...])".[4] Melton's scholarly works concentrate on the phenomenology and not the theology of NRMs. Some Christian countercultists criticize Melton for not critiquing the groups he reports on from an evangelical perspective, arguing that his failure to do so is incompatible with his statements of professed evangelicalism. Some secular anti-cultists who feel that new religious movements are dangerous and that scholars should actively work against them have likewise criticized him.[15] Stephen A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, for example, characterized Gordon Melton, James R. Lewis, andAnson D. Shupe as biased towards the groups they study.[16]
Similarly, Perry Bulwer, B.A, LLB. has called Melton's research intoThe Family International "unreliable" and alleges bias and support for the NRM.[17]
