J. Gordon Melton
Encyclopedia
John Gordon Melton is an American
religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion
and New Religious Movement
s with the Department of Religious Studies
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University
's Institute for Studies of Religion.
He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and almanacs on American religion and new religious movements. He lives in Santa Barbara, California
.
His areas of research include major religious
traditions, new religions and alternative religions
, Occultism and Parapsychology
, New Age
, and vampirology
.
Some religious skeptics and orthodox believers have criticized Melton as an advocate for religious groups they strongly disapprove of.
, the son of Burnum Edgar Melton and Inez Parker. In 1964 he graduated from Birmingham Southern College with the B.A. degree and then proceeded to theological studies at Garrett Theological Seminary
(M.Div., 1968). He married Dorothea Dudley in 1966, with one daughter born. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979.
In 1968, Melton was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist church and remains under bishop's appointment to this day. He was the pastor of the United Methodist church in Wyanet
, Illinois
(1974–75), and then at Evanston
, Illinois (1975–80). He was also a member of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
.
where he received his Ph.D. in the History and Literature of Religions in 1975. His doctoral dissertation surveyed some 800 religious groups known to exist in the United States at the time and led to the development of a classification system that has come to be widely used.
Melton recounts that "vocationally, the most influential force in my life was the writings of a man I never met but who became my hero, Elmer T. Clark ... while my contemporaries became enthused with UFO's, Elvis Presley
, or Alabama football, during my last year in high school one of Clarke's books, The Small Sects in America, captured my imagination. After reading it I wanted to consume everything written on American alternative religions."
Professional organizations
Much of Melton's professional career has involved literary and field-research into alternative and minority religious bodies. In taking his cue from the writings of Elmer Clark, Melton has spent almost four decades in identifying, counting and classifying the many different churches, major religious traditions, new religions and alternative religions found in North America. His Encyclopedia of American Religions, which was originally published in 1978, has become a standard work of reference that outstrips the number of groups that Clark was able to identify and classify in the 1940s.
Other noteworthy reference works include his Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, New Age Almanac, and Prime-time Religion (co-authored with Phillip Charles Lucas and Jon R. Stone). He has also acted as the series editor for four different multi-volume series of reference books: The Churches Speak (published by Garland), Cults and New Religions (published by Garland), Sects and Cults in America Bibliographical Guides (published by Garland), and Religious Information Systems Series (published by Garland). Several of these reference works provide significant information for the study of American religious history and church history.
He is a contributor to academic journals such as Syzygy, and Nova Religio. He has also contributed chapters to various multi-authored books on new religions, and articles in many other reference works, handbooks and encyclopedias of religion.
Research emphasis
Melton's major emphasis has been on collating primary source data on religious groups and movements. His approach to research is shaped, in part, by his training in church history, but also in the phenomenology of religion. His methodology has followed that of a historian seeking primary source literature, and so he has generally made direct, personal contact with the leaders or official representatives of a church or religious group. The purpose of such contact has been to obtain the group's main religious literature to ascertain their principal teachings and practices. His inquiries also comprise, gathering membership statistics, details of the group's history and so forth. These details then take shape in the profiles Melton drafts up in reference texts like the Encyclopedia of American Religions.
Melton uses a group's religious texts as the essential mainstay for reporting about a group before then proceeding to scholarly questions and analysis about the wider social, religious and historical contexts.
and some Christian countercult
organizations, pointing out that since colonial times many US Christian theologians, pastors, missionaries and apologists have questioned the legitimacy of other religious groups and teachings. (see his Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, pp. 221–227; and his essay "The Counter-cult Monitoring Movement in Historical Perspective").
Some of Melton's criticisms concerning the secular anti-cult movement revolve around his rejection of the concept of brainwashing as an explanation of religious conversion and indoctrination. During the 1970s and 1980s he was a prominent opponent of the controversial methods of deprogramming
. He based his criticisms on the grounds that (a) deprogramming violated civil liberties and religious freedom principles guaranteed in the US Constitution and (b) the efficacy of deprogramming or counter-brainwashing stratagems were doubtful.
In his Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America he drew an academic distinction between the Christian countercult movement and the secular anti-cult movement. He made the distinction on the grounds that the two movements operate with very different epistemologies, motives and methods. He was also urged to make this distinction in the course of a formal dialogue with evangelical sociologist Ronald Enroth, and also after conversations with Eric Pement of Cornerstone
magazine (Chicago). This distinction has been subsequently acknowledged by sociologists such as Douglas E. Cowan
and Eileen Barker
.
Questions critical former members' testimony validity
Melton challenges the validity of anti-NRM sources, and the testimonies of former members (which he refers to as apostates) critical of their previous groups. While testifying as an expert witness in a lawsuit, Melton asserted that when investigating groups, one should not rely solely upon the unverified testimony of ex-members, and that hostile ex-members would invariably shade the truth and blow out of proportion minor incidents turning them into major incidents. Melton also follows the argumentation of Lewis Carter and David Bromley and claims that as a result of their study, the treatment (coerced or voluntary) of former members as people in need of psychological assistance largely ceased and that an (alleged) lack of widespread need for psychological help by former members of new religions would in itself be the strongest evidence refuting early sweeping condemnations of new religions as causes of psychological trauma. This view is shared by several religious scholars, and contested by others.
, Switzerland, Melton presented his views on the New Age movement, stating that it led to a dramatic growth of the older occult/metaphysical community, and created a much more positive image for occultism in Western culture. He believes that the community of people it brought together has grown to be "one of the most important minority faith communities in the West."
s, as well as the study of contemporary vampiric groups and rites. In 1983 he served as editor for Vampires Unearthed by Martin Riccardo, the first comprehensive bibliography of English-language vampire literature. In 1994 he completed The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead. He has also written The Vampire Gallery: A Who's Who of the Undead.
In a 2000 Speak Magazine interview, Melton comments on how he first became interested in the subject of vampires, stating that his interest in the subject started during college days. He stated that: "During the 1990s, vampires began to consume my leisure time."
In 1997, Melton, Massimo Introvigne
and Elizabeth Miller organized an event at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles where 1,500 attendees (some dressed as vampires) came for a "creative writing contest, Gothic rock music and theatrical performances".
In the TSD annual colloquium, “Therapy and Magic in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and beyond” held in Romania in 2004, it was announced that Melton and Introvigne would be participating in the TSD conference "Buffy, the vampire slayer", in Nashville, TN in 2004. Melton was titled as the "Count Dracula Ambassador to the U.S".
Melton is the president of the American chapter The Transylvanian Society of Dracula
(TSD). This chapter appears to be inactive, as most English speaking members join the Canadian chapter.
, submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in a pending case before the California Supreme Court related to the Unification Church
. The brief stated that hypotheses of brainwashing and coercive persuasion were uninformed speculations based on skewed data. The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and advanced the position that "this commitment to advancing the appropriate use of psychological testimony in the courts carries with it the concomitant duty to be vigilant against those who would use purportedly expert testimony lacking scientific and methodological rigor."
, after Dr. Christine Sutton
. He has contributed 15 Micropædia
articles, generally on religious organizations or movements: Aum Shinrikyo
, Branch Davidian
, Christian Science
, Church Universal, Eckankar
, Evangelical Church
, The Family
, Hare Krishna
, Heaven's Gate
, Jehovah's Witnesses
, New Age Movement, Pentecostalism
, People's Temple, Scientology
and Wicca
.
, Melton, fellow scholar James R. Lewis and religious freedom lawyer Barry Fisher flew to Japan to voice concern that police behaviour, including mass detentions without charge and the removal of practitioners' children from the group, might be infringing the civil rights of Aum Shinrikyo
members. They had travelled to Japan at the invitation and expense of Aum Shinrikyo after they had contacted the group to express concern over developments, and met with officials over a period of three days. While not having been given access to the group's chemical laboratories, they held press conferences in Japan stating their belief, based on the documentation they had been given, that the group did not have the ability to produce sarin and was being scapegoated. Melton revised his judgment shortly after, concluding that the group had in fact been responsible for the attack and other crimes. The scholars' defence of Aum Shinrikyo led to a crisis of confidence in religious scholarship when the group's culpability was proven.
, that feel that New Religious Movements are dangerous, and that scholars should actively work against them. Stephen A. Kent
and Theresa Krebs published a critical article When Scholars Know Sin, in which they characterize Gordon Melton, James R. Lewis, and Anson Shupe
as biased towards the groups they study. Melton was also characterized as a "apologist" in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle
, and by a Singaporean lawyer as a "cult apologist who has a long association of defending the practices of destructive cults" in The Straits Times, and in an article: "Apologist versus Alarmist", in Time Magazine. The term "cult apologist" was also used in Esquire Magazine in describing Melton's actions in the Aum Shinrikyo incident.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and New Religious Movement
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
s with the Department of Religious Studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
's Institute for Studies of Religion.
He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and almanacs on American religion and new religious movements. He lives in Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
.
His areas of research include major religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
traditions, new religions and alternative religions
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
, Occultism and Parapsychology
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
, New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
, and vampirology
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
.
Some religious skeptics and orthodox believers have criticized Melton as an advocate for religious groups they strongly disapprove of.
Early life
Melton was born in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, the son of Burnum Edgar Melton and Inez Parker. In 1964 he graduated from Birmingham Southern College with the B.A. degree and then proceeded to theological studies at Garrett Theological Seminary
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary is a graduate school of theology of the United Methodist Church located in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1853, Garrett-Evangelical is on the campus of Northwestern University and continues many associations with the university...
(M.Div., 1968). He married Dorothea Dudley in 1966, with one daughter born. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979.
In 1968, Melton was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist church and remains under bishop's appointment to this day. He was the pastor of the United Methodist church in Wyanet
Wyanet, Illinois
Wyanet is a village in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,028 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Wyanet is located at ....
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
(1974–75), and then at Evanston
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, Illinois (1975–80). He was also a member of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship or SFF was founded by Arthur Ford in 1956. Their mission is to be "an interfaith, non-profit movement" of religious leaders, writers, and business and professional persons who feel a kinship with and have a concern for the growing Western interest in altered states of...
.
Graduate studies
Melton pursued graduate studies at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
where he received his Ph.D. in the History and Literature of Religions in 1975. His doctoral dissertation surveyed some 800 religious groups known to exist in the United States at the time and led to the development of a classification system that has come to be widely used.
Melton recounts that "vocationally, the most influential force in my life was the writings of a man I never met but who became my hero, Elmer T. Clark ... while my contemporaries became enthused with UFO's, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, or Alabama football, during my last year in high school one of Clarke's books, The Small Sects in America, captured my imagination. After reading it I wanted to consume everything written on American alternative religions."
Professional organizations
- American Academy of ReligionAmerican Academy of ReligionThe American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,...
- American Society of Church HistoryAmerican Society of Church HistoryThe American Society of Church History was founded in 1888 with the disciplines of Christian denominational and ecclesiastical history as its focus. Today the society's interests include the broad range of the critical scholarly perspectives, as applied to the history of Christianity and its...
- Society for the Scientific Study of ReligionSociety for the Scientific Study of ReligionThe Society for the Scientific Study of Religion was formed to advance research in the social scientific perspective on religious institutions and experiences.-Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion:...
Methodology and writing
Reference worksMuch of Melton's professional career has involved literary and field-research into alternative and minority religious bodies. In taking his cue from the writings of Elmer Clark, Melton has spent almost four decades in identifying, counting and classifying the many different churches, major religious traditions, new religions and alternative religions found in North America. His Encyclopedia of American Religions, which was originally published in 1978, has become a standard work of reference that outstrips the number of groups that Clark was able to identify and classify in the 1940s.
Other noteworthy reference works include his Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, New Age Almanac, and Prime-time Religion (co-authored with Phillip Charles Lucas and Jon R. Stone). He has also acted as the series editor for four different multi-volume series of reference books: The Churches Speak (published by Garland), Cults and New Religions (published by Garland), Sects and Cults in America Bibliographical Guides (published by Garland), and Religious Information Systems Series (published by Garland). Several of these reference works provide significant information for the study of American religious history and church history.
He is a contributor to academic journals such as Syzygy, and Nova Religio. He has also contributed chapters to various multi-authored books on new religions, and articles in many other reference works, handbooks and encyclopedias of religion.
Research emphasis
Melton's major emphasis has been on collating primary source data on religious groups and movements. His approach to research is shaped, in part, by his training in church history, but also in the phenomenology of religion. His methodology has followed that of a historian seeking primary source literature, and so he has generally made direct, personal contact with the leaders or official representatives of a church or religious group. The purpose of such contact has been to obtain the group's main religious literature to ascertain their principal teachings and practices. His inquiries also comprise, gathering membership statistics, details of the group's history and so forth. These details then take shape in the profiles Melton drafts up in reference texts like the Encyclopedia of American Religions.
Melton uses a group's religious texts as the essential mainstay for reporting about a group before then proceeding to scholarly questions and analysis about the wider social, religious and historical contexts.
Christian countercult and secular anti-cult
Melton is one of the more prominent critics of the anti-cult movementAnti-cult movement
The anti-cult movement is a term used by academics and others to refer to groups and individuals who oppose cults and new religious movements. Sociologists David G...
and some Christian countercult
Christian countercult movement
The Christian countercult movement is a social movement of Christian ministries and individual Christian countercult activists who oppose religious sects thought to either partially abide or do not at all abide by the teachings that are written within the Bible. These religious sects are also known...
organizations, pointing out that since colonial times many US Christian theologians, pastors, missionaries and apologists have questioned the legitimacy of other religious groups and teachings. (see his Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, pp. 221–227; and his essay "The Counter-cult Monitoring Movement in Historical Perspective").
Some of Melton's criticisms concerning the secular anti-cult movement revolve around his rejection of the concept of brainwashing as an explanation of religious conversion and indoctrination. During the 1970s and 1980s he was a prominent opponent of the controversial methods of deprogramming
Deprogramming
Deprogramming refers to actions that attempt to force a person to abandon allegiance to a religious, political, economic, or social group. Methods and practices may involve kidnapping and coercion...
. He based his criticisms on the grounds that (a) deprogramming violated civil liberties and religious freedom principles guaranteed in the US Constitution and (b) the efficacy of deprogramming or counter-brainwashing stratagems were doubtful.
In his Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America he drew an academic distinction between the Christian countercult movement and the secular anti-cult movement. He made the distinction on the grounds that the two movements operate with very different epistemologies, motives and methods. He was also urged to make this distinction in the course of a formal dialogue with evangelical sociologist Ronald Enroth, and also after conversations with Eric Pement of Cornerstone
Cornerstone (magazine)
Cornerstone was a newspaper and later a magazine published by Jesus People USA, focusing on topics of evangelical Christian faith and engagement with politics and culture....
magazine (Chicago). This distinction has been subsequently acknowledged by sociologists such as Douglas E. Cowan
Douglas E. Cowan
Douglas E. Cowan is a Canadian academic in religious studies and the sociology of religion and currently holds a teaching position at Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
and Eileen Barker
Eileen Barker
Eileen Vartan Barker OBE, born in Edinburgh, UK, is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics , and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights...
.
Questions critical former members' testimony validity
Melton challenges the validity of anti-NRM sources, and the testimonies of former members (which he refers to as apostates) critical of their previous groups. While testifying as an expert witness in a lawsuit, Melton asserted that when investigating groups, one should not rely solely upon the unverified testimony of ex-members, and that hostile ex-members would invariably shade the truth and blow out of proportion minor incidents turning them into major incidents. Melton also follows the argumentation of Lewis Carter and David Bromley and claims that as a result of their study, the treatment (coerced or voluntary) of former members as people in need of psychological assistance largely ceased and that an (alleged) lack of widespread need for psychological help by former members of new religions would in itself be the strongest evidence refuting early sweeping condemnations of new religions as causes of psychological trauma. This view is shared by several religious scholars, and contested by others.
New Age
In a paper presented at the conference on "New Age in the Old World" held at the Institut Oecumenique de Bossey, CélignyCéligny
Céligny is a municipality in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It consists of two small exclaves of the Canton of Geneva into the Canton of Vaud, near Crans-près-Céligny.-Geography:...
, Switzerland, Melton presented his views on the New Age movement, stating that it led to a dramatic growth of the older occult/metaphysical community, and created a much more positive image for occultism in Western culture. He believes that the community of people it brought together has grown to be "one of the most important minority faith communities in the West."
Vampirism research
Melton has researched the history of vampireVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
s, as well as the study of contemporary vampiric groups and rites. In 1983 he served as editor for Vampires Unearthed by Martin Riccardo, the first comprehensive bibliography of English-language vampire literature. In 1994 he completed The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead. He has also written The Vampire Gallery: A Who's Who of the Undead.
In a 2000 Speak Magazine interview, Melton comments on how he first became interested in the subject of vampires, stating that his interest in the subject started during college days. He stated that: "During the 1990s, vampires began to consume my leisure time."
In 1997, Melton, Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne is an Italian sociologist and intellectual property consultant. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions , an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of tens of books and articles in...
and Elizabeth Miller organized an event at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles where 1,500 attendees (some dressed as vampires) came for a "creative writing contest, Gothic rock music and theatrical performances".
In the TSD annual colloquium, “Therapy and Magic in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and beyond” held in Romania in 2004, it was announced that Melton and Introvigne would be participating in the TSD conference "Buffy, the vampire slayer", in Nashville, TN in 2004. Melton was titled as the "Count Dracula Ambassador to the U.S".
Melton is the president of the American chapter The Transylvanian Society of Dracula
Transylvanian Society of Dracula
The Transylvanian Society of Dracula is a cultural-historic, non-profit, non-governmental organization. Its members include Romanian and international scholars, folklorists, historians, esoterists, writers, cultural anthropologist, and individuals interested in comparative religion, magic and...
(TSD). This chapter appears to be inactive, as most English speaking members join the Canadian chapter.
Amicus curiae
Melton, together with a group of scholars and the American Psychological AssociationAmerican Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
, submitted on February 10, 1987 an amicus curiæ brief in a pending case before the California Supreme Court related to the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
. The brief stated that hypotheses of brainwashing and coercive persuasion were uninformed speculations based on skewed data. The brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and advanced the position that "this commitment to advancing the appropriate use of psychological testimony in the courts carries with it the concomitant duty to be vigilant against those who would use purportedly expert testimony lacking scientific and methodological rigor."
Encyclopædia Britannica contributor
Dr. Melton is the second most prolific contributor to the Encyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, after Dr. Christine Sutton
Christine Sutton
Christine Sutton is a physicist associated with the Particle Physics Group in the Physics Department of the University of Oxford.Sutton is active in outreach programs for particle physics and has previously represented Great Britain in the European Particle Physics Outreach Group...
. He has contributed 15 Micropædia
Micropædia
The 12-volume Micropædia is one of the three parts of the 15th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, the other two being the one-volume Propædia and the 17-volume Macropædia. The name Micropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J...
articles, generally on religious organizations or movements: Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
, Branch Davidian
Branch Davidian
The Branch Davidians are a Protestant sect that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists , a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church around 1930...
, Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
, Church Universal, Eckankar
Eckankar
Eckankar is a new religious movement founded in the United States in 1965, though practiced around the world long before with a solid following in China. It focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God." The personal...
, Evangelical Church
Evangelical Church
The term Evangelical Church may refer specifically to:* Slovak Evangelical Church* Armenian Evangelical Church* Assyrian Evangelical Church* Christian Evangelical Church of Romania* Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus...
, The Family
Children of God
The Family International , formed as as the Children of God and later named Family of Love and the Family, is a new religious movement, started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, United States. It began in the late 1960s, with many of its early converts drawn from the hippie movement...
, Hare Krishna
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
, Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (religious group)
Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religion based in San Diego, California, founded and led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles...
, Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, New Age Movement, Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
, People's Temple, Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
and Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
.
Aum Shinrikyo investigation
In May 1995, in the early stages of investigations into the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subwaySarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway
The Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, usually referred to in the Japanese media as the , was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by members of Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995....
, Melton, fellow scholar James R. Lewis and religious freedom lawyer Barry Fisher flew to Japan to voice concern that police behaviour, including mass detentions without charge and the removal of practitioners' children from the group, might be infringing the civil rights of Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
members. They had travelled to Japan at the invitation and expense of Aum Shinrikyo after they had contacted the group to express concern over developments, and met with officials over a period of three days. While not having been given access to the group's chemical laboratories, they held press conferences in Japan stating their belief, based on the documentation they had been given, that the group did not have the ability to produce sarin and was being scapegoated. Melton revised his judgment shortly after, concluding that the group had in fact been responsible for the attack and other crimes. The scholars' defence of Aum Shinrikyo led to a crisis of confidence in religious scholarship when the group's culpability was proven.
Criticism
As a scholar who reports on New Religious Movements without condemning those groups, Melton has received criticism from scholars and organizations, such as the Anti-Cult MovementAnti-Cult Movement
The anti-cult movement is a term used by academics and others to refer to groups and individuals who oppose cults and new religious movements. Sociologists David G...
, that feel that New Religious Movements are dangerous, and that scholars should actively work against them. Stephen A. Kent
Stephen A. Kent
Stephen A. Kent, is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He researches new and alternative religions, and has published research on several such groups including the Children of God , the Church of Scientology, and newer faiths...
and Theresa Krebs published a critical article When Scholars Know Sin, in which they characterize Gordon Melton, James R. Lewis, and Anson Shupe
Anson Shupe
Anson D. Shupe is an American sociologist noted for his studies of religious groups and their countermovements, family violence and clergy misconduct.-Work:...
as biased towards the groups they study. Melton was also characterized as a "apologist" in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, and by a Singaporean lawyer as a "cult apologist who has a long association of defending the practices of destructive cults" in The Straits Times, and in an article: "Apologist versus Alarmist", in Time Magazine. The term "cult apologist" was also used in Esquire Magazine in describing Melton's actions in the Aum Shinrikyo incident.
Books
"Log Cabins to Steeples: The United Methodist Way in Illinois" (Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1974).- A Directory of Religious Bodies in the United States (New York: Garland, 1977).
- An Old Catholic Sourcebook (co-authored with Karl PruterKarl PruterKarl Hugo Prüter , was an Old Catholic bishop.Pruter was raised in the Lutheran church, and was a Congregationalist minister under the name of Hugo Rehling Pruter Sr. from 1945 to 1958. In the Congregationalist Church he was one of the leaders in the liturgical movement within the church during the...
), (New York/London: Garland, 1982). - Magic, witchcraft, and paganism in America: A bibliography, compiled from the files of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, (New York: Garland Publishing,1982), ISBN 0-8240-9377-1. Revised edition co-authored with Isotta Poggi, Garland, 1992.
- The Cult Experience: Responding to the New Religious Pluralism (co-authored with Robert L. Moore), (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1982).
- Why Cults Succeed Where The Church Fails (co-authored with Ronald M. Enroth), (Elgin: Brethren Press, 1985).
- Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (New York/London: Garland, 1986; revised edition, Garland, 1992).
- Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders (New York/London: Garland, 1986).
- American Religious Creeds (Detroit: Gale, 1988; republished in three volumes, New York: Triumph Books, 1991).
- New Age Almanac, (co-edited with Jerome Clark and Aidan Kelly) (Detroit: Visible Ink, 1991).
- Perspectives on the New Age (co-edited with James R. Lewis), (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992).
- Islam in North America: A Sourcebook (co-edited with Michael A. Koszegi), (New York/London: Garland, 1992).
- Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating The Family/Children of God (co-edited with James R. Lewis), (Stanford: Center for Academic Publication, 1994).
- Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology editor, 4th ed (Gale, 1996) ISBN 978-0810354876; 5th ed (Gale 2001) ISBN 978-0810394896
- Finding Enlightenment: Ramtha's School of Ancient Wisdom, Beyond Words PublishingBeyond Words PublishingBeyond Words Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1983, the company was unprofitable in its early years, though its works were award winning. The privately owned company focuses on non-fiction titles in the New Age genre, but began as a...
, Inc. Hillsboro Oregon, ISBN 1-885223-61-7 (1998). - American Religions: An Illustrated History (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2000).
- The Church of ScientologyThe Church of Scientology (Melton)The Church of Scientology is a book written by J. Gordon Melton on the Church of Scientology. It is the first of a series of books on new religious movements published by the Center for Studies on New Religions.-Contents:...
(Studies in Contemporary Religions, 1), Signature Books (August 1, 2000), ISBN 1-56085-139-2, 80pp. - The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, ISBN 0-8103-2295-1
- Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting (co-authored with Phillip Charles Lucas & Jon R. Stone). Oryx, 1997.
- Encyclopedia of American Religions, Thomson Gale; 7th edition (December 1, 2002), 1250pp, ISBN 0-7876-6384-0
- Cults, Religion, and Violence, David Bromley and Gordon Melton, Eds., Cambridge University Press (May 13, 2002), 272pp, ISBN 0-521-66898-0
- Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-Clio (September, 2002), 1200pp, ISBN 1-57607-223-1
- J. Gordon Melton, ‘The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective’ in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, James A. Beckford and James T. Richardson, eds. (London: Routledge, 2003), 102-113.
- Encyclopedia Of Protestantism, Facts on File Publishing (May 30, 2005), 628pp, ISBN 0-8160-5456-8
Scholarly assessments
- Derek Davis, Review of The Church of Scientology, Journal of Church and State, 42/4 (Autumn 2000): 851-852.
- P. G. Davis, Review of Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders, Religious Studies and Theology, 9 (1989): 101-103.
- James L. Garrett, Review of Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, Southwestern Journal of Theology, 33 (1990): 69.
- Jeffrey Hadden, Review of Prime-time Religion, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36 (1997): 634.
- Stephen A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters," Skeptic, 6/3 (1988): 36-44. Also see J. Gordon Melton, Anson D. Shupe and James R. Lewis, "When Scholars Know Sin" Forum Reply to Kent and Krebs, Skeptic, 7/1 (1999): 14-21. Article, rebuttals and rejoinder available online
- Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Related sites
- Institute for the Study of American Religion Homepage [Note: as of 07/22/08 this site is down!]
- American Religions Collection at the University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraThe University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
Library. - Testimony of J. Gordon Melton Before the Maryland Task Force to Study the Effects of Cult Activities on Public Senior Higher Education Institutions, July 14, 1999
- 'Apologist' vs. 'Alarmist', Time Magazine, January 27, 1997 vol. 149 no. 4
- J. Gordon Melton's Interview on New Religions with "Speak Magazine", by John Lardas - No. 2, Summer 2000
- The Organization of Scientology extract from the book "The Church of Scientology" by Melton
- "The Rise of the Study of New Religions" paper delivered by Melton at CESNUR 1999 conference, Cesnur.org
- "Brainwashing and the Cults: The Rise and Fall of a Theory," essay by Melton published in Germany, Cesnur.org
- "Author's Information on Religious Sects Provides Invaluable Guide" article by evangelical journalist Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press, January 31, 2003, Cesnur.org