Peter Bernard Clarke (25 October 1940 – June 2011) was a British scholar of religion and founding editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion . [1]
The Journal of Contemporary Religion is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal which covers anthropological, sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of religion.
Clarke served as Professor Emeritus of the History and Sociology of Religion at King's College London, having taught there from 1994 to 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 Oxford (since 2003); earlier in his career (1974–1978) he was Professor of African History at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. [1] [2]
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, and a founding constituent college of the federal University of London. King's was established in 1829 by King George IV and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, when it received its first royal charter, and claims to be the fourth oldest university institution in England. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and Technology, the Institute of Psychiatry, the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery.
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two 'ancient universities' are frequently jointly called 'Oxbridge'. The history and influence of the University of Oxford has made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
The University of Ibadan (UI) is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria. It is popularly known as Unibadan or UI.
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). [3] [4] [5]
Clarke's research fields have spanned Islamic movements as well as new religions derived from African, African Brazilian and Japanese roots. [1] [6] [7] 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. [1] [8] [9]
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." [10]
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". [11]
Clarke died in late June 2011, due to complications arising from deep-vein thrombosis. [7] 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. [7] The Sociology of Religion Study Group within the British Sociological Association renamed its 2012 postgraduate essay competition the 2012 Peter B. Clarke Memorial Prize. [12]
Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use of both quantitative methods and qualitative approaches such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival, historical and documentary materials.
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion or alternative spirituality, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the modernizing world by embracing individualism, whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia and Africa. Most have only a few members, some have thousands, and a few have more than a million members.
CESNUR, is an organization based in Turin, Italy. It was established in 1988 by a group of religious scholars from universities in Europe and the Americas, working in the field of new religious movements. Its director is the Italian sociologist and attorney Massimo Introvigne. CESNUR defines itself as being independent of any religious group, church, denomination or association. It has evolved into a network of scholars and organizations who study the field.
Bryan Ronald Wilson,, was Reader Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Oxford and President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (1971–75). He became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1963.
Benjamin Zablocki is an American professor of sociology at Rutgers University where he teaches sociology of religion and social psychology. He has published widely on the subject of charismatic religious movements, cults, and brainwashing.
Paul Lauchlan Faux Heelas is a British sociologist and anthropologist. He is noted for work in the field of spirituality, religion and modernity, with special reference to 'New Age' spiritualities of life. Recent publications and current research explore 'the sacred' and 'the secular'; transgressions of the secular ; 'life force', CAM, and 'spiritual humanism'.
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 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, organisations that collect information on NRMs, the mainstream media, and academics studying such phenomena.
The Family Survival Trust (FST) is a charity registered in the UK, established in order to support and offer counselling for members of abusive cults and similar organisations, and their families members.
Thomas Robbins is an author and an independent scholar of sociology of religion.
Linda Jane Pauline Woodhead is a British academic specialising in the religious studies and sociology of religion. She is best known for her work on religious change since the 1980s, and for initiating public debates about faith. She has been described by Matthew Taylor, head of the Royal Society of Arts, as "one of the world's leading experts on religion". Since 2006, she has been Professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. From 2007 to 2012, she was director of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme.
A self religion is a religious or self-improvement group which has as one of its primary aims the improvement of the self. The term "self religion" was coined by Paul Heelas and other scholars of religion have adopted/adapted the description. King's College scholar Peter Bernard Clarke builds on Heelas's concept of self religion to describe the class of "Religions of the True Self".
The Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR) is an academic association with more than 700 members worldwide. It publishes a journal, the Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review and holds meetings at the same venues and times as the American Sociological Association.
INFORM is an independent registered charity located in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, London since 2018; from 1988-2018 it was based at the London School of Economics. It was founded by the sociologist of religion, Eileen Barker, with funding from the British Home Office, Britain’s mainstream churches, foundations and enquirers. Its stated aim is to provide neutral, objective and up-to-date information on new religious movements (NRMs) to government officials, scholars, the media, and members of the general public, in particular to relatives of people who have joined a new religious movement., as well as religious or spiritual seekers
Lorne L. Dawson is a Canadian scholar of the sociology of religion who has written about new religious movements, the brainwashing controversy, and religion and the Internet. His work is now focused on religious terrorism and the process of radicalization, especially with regard to domestic terrorists.
Margit Warburg is a Danish sociologist of religion. Since 2004, she has been professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She was an associate professor at the same university from 1979 to 2004.
Dick Anthony is a forensic psychologist noted for his writings on the validity of brainwashing as a determiner of behavior, a prolific researcher of the social and psychological aspects of involvement in new religious movements.
Pagan studies is the multidisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of contemporary Paganism, a broad assortment of modern religious movements, which are typically influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of premodern Europe. Pagan studies embrace a variety of different scholarly approaches to studying such religions, drawing from history, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, folkloristics, theology and other religious studies.