Peter B. Clarke
Encyclopedia
Peter Bernard Clarke was a British scholar of religion and founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion
.
(since 2003); earlier in his career (1974–1978) he was Professor of African History at the University of Ibadan
, Nigeria
.
Clarke inaugurated a series of annual conferences on new religious movements at King's, which brought together academics from a variety of backgrounds. These conferences eventually evolved into the "INFORM" (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) seminars.
Clarke was the founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion
, established by the Centre for New Religions in 1985 (the journal appeared under the title Religion Today until 1995).
Clarke's research fields have spanned Islamic movements as well as new religions derived from African, African Brazilian and Japanese roots. His publications include Religion Defined and Explained 1993, with Peter Byrne), Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective (2006, editor), New Religions in Global Perspective: A Study of Religious Change in the Modern World, the Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (2005, editor), and The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (2008, editor); he is also the author and editor of another 20 books and 100 scholarly articles.
In discussing Australian aboriginal
and African "primal religions" in a chapter of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Religions, Clarke asserted that terms such as "primal" or "traditional" religions are "controversial", as they are often "wrongly taken to refer to static, unchanging and primitive, or unsophisticated religions found in underdeveloped societies"; Clarke made clear that he was not using the terms in this way, but used them in the sense of "religions that have always been an integral part of the culture of a society", unlike religions "with global ambitions such as Christianity and Islam".
renamed its 2012 postgraduate essay competition the 2012 Peter B. Clarke Memorial Prize.
Journal of Contemporary Religion
The Journal of Contemporary Religion is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal which covers anthropological, sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of religion.- History and format :...
.
Academic career
Clarke served as Professor Emeritus of the History and Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London, having taught there from 1994–2003, the Director of the Centre for New Religions at King's College, and a professorial member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(since 2003); earlier in his career (1974–1978) he was Professor of African History at the University of Ibadan
University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
.
Clarke inaugurated a series of annual conferences on new religious movements at King's, which brought together academics from a variety of backgrounds. These conferences eventually evolved into the "INFORM" (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) seminars.
Clarke was the founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion
Journal of Contemporary Religion
The Journal of Contemporary Religion is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal which covers anthropological, sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of religion.- History and format :...
, established by the Centre for New Religions in 1985 (the journal appeared under the title Religion Today until 1995).
Clarke's research fields have spanned Islamic movements as well as new religions derived from African, African Brazilian and Japanese roots. His publications include Religion Defined and Explained 1993, with Peter Byrne), Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective (2006, editor), New Religions in Global Perspective: A Study of Religious Change in the Modern World, the Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (2005, editor), and The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion (2008, editor); he is also the author and editor of another 20 books and 100 scholarly articles.
Definitions of religion
In Religion Defined and Explained, co-written with Peter Byrne, Clarke advocated an elastic definition of religion based on "family resemblance": while religions have "a characteristic set of features", "there will be no single feature or set of features found in each and every example of religion", and "there will be no limits to be set in advance to the kind of characteristic features newly discovered or developing religions might be found to exemplify, nor will there be absolute limits to the additional features such new examples could add to the set". Clarke and Byrne argued that "the various examples of religion will then be related by a network of relationships rather than shared possession of necessary and sufficient conditions for membership of the class." Even so, based on the family resemblance, "one will be able to say of newly found examples whether they are religions or not."In discussing Australian aboriginal
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and African "primal religions" in a chapter of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Religions, Clarke asserted that terms such as "primal" or "traditional" religions are "controversial", as they are often "wrongly taken to refer to static, unchanging and primitive, or unsophisticated religions found in underdeveloped societies"; Clarke made clear that he was not using the terms in this way, but used them in the sense of "religions that have always been an integral part of the culture of a society", unlike religions "with global ambitions such as Christianity and Islam".
Death
Clarke died in late June 2011, due to complications arising from deep-vein thrombosis. In view of his contributions to the field, a decision was made to retain his name as the editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion until the end of the year 2011. The Sociology of Religion Study Group within the British Sociological AssociationBritish Sociological Association
The British Sociological Association is a scholarly and professional society for sociologists in the United Kingdom, and was founded in 1951. They publish the academic journals Sociology, Work, Employment and Society and Cultural Sociology as well as their membership newsletter...
renamed its 2012 postgraduate essay competition the 2012 Peter B. Clarke Memorial Prize.
External links
- Home page at the Oxford University website
- Home page on FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...