Stephen A. Kent | |
---|---|
Known for | From Slogans to Mantras |
Awards | Graduate Student Supervisor Award (2009) Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award (2010) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Maryland, College Park, B.A. (1973) American University, M.A. (1978) McMaster University, Ph.D. (1984) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Sociology of religion,New religious movements |
Institutions | Professor of Sociology,University of Alberta |
Website | skent |
Stephen A. Kent is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton,Alberta,Canada. He researches new religious movements (NRMs),and has published research on several such groups including the Children of God (The Family),the Church of Scientology,and other NRMs operating in Canada.
Kent graduated from the University of Maryland,College Park,in 1973,with a B.A. degree in sociology and a minor in social and political theory. [1] [2] In 1978,he was awarded a master's degree in the history of religions from American University. [1] Kent was also awarded an M.A. in 1980 from McMaster University with a focus in religion and modern Western society and a minor in Indian Buddhism;he was granted a Ph.D. in religious studies in 1984 from the same institution. [1] [2]
From 1984 to 1986,Kent held an Izaac Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship in the sociology department at the University of Alberta. [1] He is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton,Alberta,Canada. [3]
John H. Simpson writes in a chapter of Lori G. Beaman's 2006 book Religion and Canadian Society that Kent "finds himself on the cult side of the cult/new religious movement divide." [4] Simpson recommends Kent for further reading on the group the Children of God and notes:"He has done extensive research on new religious movements and argues that we need to be careful about minimizing the risks of involvement with such groups. His work is a good example of the issues taken up by scholars who focus on 'cults.'" [4] Kent has devoted significant study to the Children of God,and the group's founder David Berg. [5]
Sociologist Lorne Dawson has criticized Kent's work for his use of ex-member testimony. [6] In response to Dawson and other critics who have issues with ex-member testimony,Kent argues that former member accounts provide outsider insights not available to members who misattribute divine authority to leaders in high demand religious groups. [7] Irving Hexham commented about Kent in a 2001 article in Nova Religio ,"The one exception to the generally neutral tone of Canadian academics and their rejection of anticult rhetoric is Stephen Kent,who has been outspoken in his criticism of many new religions,particularly Scientology,and who works closely with various anticult groups. Although Kent's views are widely known,few Canadian academics agree with his findings and most disagree quite strongly because of his tendency to use the testimony of ex-members." [8] In their book Denying History,authors Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman cite Kent and Krebs's work,commenting "In fact,the sociologists Stephen Kent and Theresa Krebs have identified numerous cases of 'when scholars know sin,' where allegedly nonpartisan,unbiased scholars find themselves the unwitting tools of religious groups striving for social acceptance and in need of the imprimatur of an academic." [9]
Kent's research of Scientology has focused on its organization,the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF). [10] [11] His extensive study of Scientology's history and practices led him to conclude that as a result of relatively young people becoming involved with the organization in the 1960–70s,some second-generation Scientologist children have left the group in "waves". [12] Kent has commented to the media about Scientology's RPF, [10] and the Scientology ethics and justice system, [13] as well as its affiliated organization Narconon. [14] [15] He has published articles concerning Scientology and Hollywood, [16] and commented that Scientology uses celebrities as "public relations officers for Scientology,and part of their mission is to represent Scientology to the outside world and to other governments." [17]
According to CBS News ,"[h]e's considered one of the foremost experts on Scientology. But inside the church,he's considered an anti-religious extremist who has been paid to testify against the church in court." [18] Tony Ortega of The Village Voice referred to Kent as an academic "who studies Scientology in depth", [19] and the St. Petersburg Times referred to Kent as "an expert on the group". [20] Kent has testified as an expert witness for parties suing organizations affiliated with Scientology,and subsequently Scientologists picketed outside of his University of Alberta office. [21] Religious studies scholar J. Gordon Melton and Church of Scientology spokesperson Leisa Goodman have both questioned the accuracy of Kent's scholarship on Scientology. [22] [23] Kent responded to both critics,accusing them of breaches of ethics and poor research practices. [24]
In 2017,he co-edited an edited volume titled Scientology in Popular Culture alongside Susan Raine,published by Praeger. It received positive reviews from commentators in Nova Religio , Choice ,and the International Journal of Cultic Studies . [25] [26] [27]
He has researched testimony of individuals that have alleged Satanic ritual abuse,in a period from the 1930s to 1980s (also known as the Satanic panic). [28] Kevin J. Christiano notes in the book Sociology of Religion:Contemporary Developments that Kent's research "shows that the Bible and biblical themes provide the primary references for the articulation of abuse",noting that "purported cult ceremonies particularly used biblical references and metaphors." [28] Sociologist Anson Shupe and Susan J. Darnell characterised Kent as "eccentric",stating that research and police enquiries into the allegations of satanic ritual human sacrifice had proved them to be unfounded. [29] He wrote a two part journal article on Satanic ritual abuse for the journal Religion in 1993. [28] Christopher Partridge said of this article that Kent "accepts uncritically the stories of alleged victims about satanic abuse [...] the problem is that there is absolutely no concrete evidence that such rituals are practiced and no evidence that Satanists are interested in carrying out such inversions of obscure biblical texts". [30]
Responding to this article,Jean La Fontaine criticized it,saying that though Kent made "an effort to seem objective",the article was not and that it strongly suggested the reliability of the testimonies;she argued that the main objective in writing the article had been to validate these stories. She said Kent's dataset was unusual and criticized the fact that the number of people interviewed was not made clear;she further criticized Kent's failure to analyze other possible origins for these stories as "at best an academic weakness of the article and at worst a strong indicator that the veracity of the informants had been accepted in advance". [31] In a rejoinder to Kent's article on satanic ritual abuse,David Frankfurter argued that Kent "accepts every detail of every story as if photographed,while denying the reader any sense of the interviewees' clinical history,symptoms,religious affiliation,and association with other people claiming or postulating Satanic abuse",and that Kent himself was guilty of dubious research ethics and a lack of scholarly objectivity,having only been granted the interviews in turn for assistance in interpreting their memories. Frankfurter argued that any analysis drawn on this data was subject to "gross methodological problems" which Kent ignored;he argued the Satanic panic was a continuation of previous witch-hunts,and said there was little forensic evidence for any of these claims and that many of the convictions of supposed participants had been often overturned. [32]
Kent's book From Slogans to Mantras:Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam Era was published in 2001 by Syracuse University Press. In the book,Kent explored how political activists from the period of the Vietnam War later turned to alternative religious movements including Hare Krishnas,Transcendental Meditation,Scientology,and the Unification Church. [33] Publishers Weekly described From Slogans to Mantras as a "lucid and economical study",noting that Kent had examined the convergence between the interest of American youth in radical politics and protest and the pursuit of "unusual,cultish,spiritual traditions." [33] James A. Overbeck wrote in Library Journal that the work is recommended for academic and public libraries,mentioning that Kent utilized personal narratives and alternative press in the book. [34]
Doni Whitsett reviewed the book in Cultic Studies Review , [35] writing that it contained informative content,and is an easy read free of sociological jargon which made it more accessible to non-expert readers. However,Whitsett also stated that it would have been interesting to compare those who did not choose the route of the ex-members described in the book and to analyze the differences inherent in these two subsets of individuals. [35] Jill K. Gill reviewed the book in Humanities and Social Sciences Online and also commented on its readability,stating that it was succinctly written and engaging. [36] Peter W. Williams reviewed the book in The Journal of American History and provided a less positive review,saying that the book was a "mildly interesting and useful footnote to the sixties" but that he wished the book had gone further than that. [37] In 2003 it was cited by Choice as an outstanding academic title that should be owned by every library,with the reviewer calling it an "engaging and articulate book" with a "fairly compelling social psychological account" of the topic. [38]
In 2003,Kent's book From Slogans to Mantras was listed as one of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles that should be owned by every library. [38] Kent was recognized by his students at the University of Alberta in 2009. [39] He received a "Graduate Student Supervisor Award" from the Graduate Students' Association on March 12,2009. [39] In April 2010,Kent received the "Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award" given by the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He stated he would utilize the 1,000 USD award to "update the department's DVD collections in the sociology of deviance and the sociology of religion". [40]
The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originated in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient, Michelle Smith, which used the controversial and now discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy to make claims about satanic ritual abuse involving Smith. The allegations, which arose afterward throughout much of the United States, involved reports of physical and sexual abuse of people in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. Some allegations involve a conspiracy of a global Satanic cult that includes the wealthy and elite in which children are abducted or bred for human sacrifice, pornography, and prostitution.
The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization founded by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups it considered "cults", as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It operated from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s in the United States.
Massimo Introvigne is an Italian sociologist of religion, author, and intellectual property attorney. He is a co-founder and the managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), a Turin-based nonprofit organization which has been described as "the highest profile lobbying and information group for controversial religions".
David G. Bromley is a professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, specialized in sociology of religion and the academic study of new religious movements. He has written extensively about cults, new religious movements, apostasy, and the anti-cult movement.
The anti-cult movement, abbreviated ACM and also known as the countercult movement, consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of cults, uncover coercive practices used to attract and retain members, and help those who have become involved with harmful cult practices.
Anson David Shupe, Jr. was an American sociologist and author noted for his studies of religious groups and their countermovements, family violence and clergy misconduct.
Benjamin David Zablocki was an American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he taught sociology of religion and social psychology. He published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements, cults, and brainwashing.
Douglas Edward Cowan is a Canadian academic in religious studies and the sociology of religion and currently holds a teaching position at Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Prior to this appointment he was Assistant Professor of Sociology & Religious Studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
Ronald M. Enroth was an American professor of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, and an evangelical Christian author of books concerning what he defined as "cults" and "new religious movements" and important figure in the Christian countercult movement.
A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed is a 1990 book about L. Ron Hubbard and the development of Dianetics and Scientology, authored by British former Scientologist Jon Atack. It was republished in 2013 with the title Let's sell these people A Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology. The title originates from a quote of Hubbard from 1950; an associate of Hubbard's noted him saying that he wanted to sell potential members "a piece of blue sky".
The academic study of new religious movements is known as new religions studies (NRS). The study draws from the disciplines of anthropology, psychiatry, history, psychology, sociology, religious studies, and theology. Eileen Barker noted that there are five sources of information on new 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.
Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field is an edited volume discussing various topics related to cults, including the scholarly field itself, the concept of brainwashing, and the public perception of the groups. The book was edited by Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins, and was published by University of Toronto Press on December 1, 2001. It includes contributions from 12 religious, sociological, and psychological scholars, in 14 essays.
James Roger Lewis was an American philosophy professor at Wuhan University. He was a religious studies scholar, sociologist of religion, and writer, who specialized in the academic study of new religious movements, astrology, and New Age.
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a cult, a business, a religion, a scam, or a new religious movement. Hubbard initially developed a set of ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. An organization that he established in 1950 to promote it went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book Dianetics in 1952. He then recharacterized his ideas as a religion, likely for tax purposes, and renamed them Scientology. By 1954, he had regained the rights to Dianetics and founded the Church of Scientology, which remains the largest organization promoting Scientology. There are practitioners independent of the Church, in what is referred to as the Free Zone. Estimates put the number of Scientologists at under 40,000 worldwide.
Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America is a book written by James Randall Noblitt and Pamela Sue Perskin exploring the phenomenon of satanic ritual abuse (SRA). The authors argue that some allegations of intergenerational, ritualized abuse cults are supported by evidence, contrary to most scholars of the subject who regard satanic ritual abuse as a moral panic with no factual basis. Noblitt, a clinical psychologist, is Director of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services in Dallas, Texas. Perskin is the executive director of the International Council on Cultism and Ritual Trauma and a lecturer on child abuse.
INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) is an independent registered charity located in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, London; from 1988-2018 it was based at the London School of Economics. It was founded by the sociologist of religion, Eileen Barker, with start-up funding from the British Home Office and Britain's mainstream churches. Its stated aims are to "prevent harm based on misinformation about minority religions and sects by bringing the insights and methods of academic research into the public domain" and to provide "information about minority religions and sects which is as accurate, up-to-date and as evidence-based as possible."
Scientology is an edited volume about Scientology, and the Church of Scientology organization, published in 2009 by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the sociologist James R. Lewis. Chapters in the work give an overview and introduction to the organization, and present analysis of the movement from the perspective of sociology. The book compares the organization to religious movements, and goes over its history of controversy. It delves into the practices of the organization and the activities undertaken at its facilities.
The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology is a non-fiction book about Scientology by sociologist Roy Wallis. Originally published in 1976 by Heinemann, it was republished in 1977 by Columbia University Press. The original manuscript was the product of Wallis's doctoral research at Oxford under the tutelage of Bryan Wilson. Wallis, after a review of the original manuscript by Scientology leaders, made edits to about 100 passages before publication.
Carl A. Raschke is an American philosopher and theologian. Raschke is a Past Chair and Professor of Religious Studies Department at the University of Denver, specializing in continental philosophy, the philosophy of religion and the theory of religion. He was given the university lecturer award for 2020-2021. He is also listed with the affiliated faculty of the Global Center for Advanced Studies.
Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History is a 2000 nonfiction book by historian of religion Philip Jenkins. It was published by Oxford University Press. The book argues that the anti-cult movement in America starting in the 1970s extends farther back in American history to at least the seventeenth century. Nineteenth-century new religious movements like the Shakers, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Spiritualism, Christian Science, etc. had countermovements that resembled recent anti-cult movements. Anti-cult rhetoric, like the brainwashing thesis, was generated in the nineteenth century and later revived during the Cold War. Jenkins identified a cycle of cult resurgence and anti-cult reaction throughout US history, and he predicted that in 2010 there would be a cult resurgence typified by that cycle.