Douglas E. Cowan Ph.D, 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. Prior to this appointment he was Assistant Professor of Sociology & Religious Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Religious studies is the multi-disciplinary, secular study of religion. ... The sociology of religion is – among other elements – the study of the practices, social structures, historical backgrounds, development, universal themes, and roles of religion in society. ... The University of Waterloo, also known as UW or simply Waterloo, is a medium-sized research-intensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English, French (in some areas) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 106 24 Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 4th 1,076,395... The University of Missouri-Kansas City (abbreviated UMKC) is an institution of higher learning located in Kansas City, Missouri. ...

Education and Career

Cowan was born in Canada and received his undergraduate tertiary education at the University of Victoria where he was awarded the B.A. degree in English literature. He then proceeded to theological studies and received the M.Div (Honours) from St. Andrews Theological College. His doctoral work, which involved an examination of the Christian countercult movement through the prism of the sociology of knowledge and propaganda theory, was undertaken through the University of Calgary. His dissertation supervisor was the evangelical scholar in religious studies Professor Irving Hexham. The University of Victoria (usually known as UVic) is located in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (it is located northeast of Victoria and is split between the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich) . It is a medium-sized university, with approximately 18,000 students, as of 2004. ... The Christian countercult movement, also known as discernment ministries is the collective designation for many mostly unrelated ministries and individual Christians who oppose non-mainstream Christian and non-Christian religious groups, which they often call cults. ... The sociology of knowledge is the study of the social origins of ideas, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies. ... North Korean propaganda showing a soldier destroying the United States Capitol building. ... The University of Calgary is a university of approximately 23,500 full time and 4,500 part time students, totalling almost 28,000 students, located in the north-western part of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (pop. ... Irving Hexham (April 14, 1943) is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ...

While Cowan currently describes himself as an agnostic, he was ordained to the Christian ministry in the United Church of Canada, and held pastoral positions during his doctoral studies. After graduating with the Ph.D in 1999 Cowan received a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology/CJC and the UMKC Center for Religious Studies. During 2005 he relocated from the USA to his current teaching post in Ontario. The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ... St. ...

Cowan's research interests include religion and the Internet, religion and film, modern paganism, new religious movements, and method and theory in the study of religion. A new religious movement or NRM appears as a religious, ethical or spiritual grouping that has not (yet) become recognised as a standard denomination, church, or body, especially when it has a novel belief system and when it is not a sect. ...

Most of Cowan’s work has focused on religion and the Internet and a variety of issues related to boundary-making and identity maintenance in assorted religions and how challenges are met and resolved by religious adherents. Cowan regularly presents his work at a number of conferences, including the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Center for the Study of New Religions (CESNUR). The American Academy of Religion is the worlds largest association of scholars in the field of religion and related topics. ...

In addition to providing peer-review for numerous scholarly journals, he is one of the co-general editors for Nova Religio: The Journal of New and Emergent Religions, and the editor-in-chief of the Religious Movements Homepage Project (www.religiousmovements.org).

Bibliography

• Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet (Routledge 2005)
• 'Book Excerpt: The Mists of Cyberhenge: Mapping the Modern Pagan Internet,' The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 7, 1 (2005): 59-97.
• 'Online U-Topia: Cyberspace and the Mythology of Placelessness,' Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 3 (2005): 257-263.
• (with Jeffrey K. Hadden), 'Virtually Religious: New Religious Movements and the World Wide Web,' in Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, James R. Lewis, ed., (Oxford University Press, 2004), 119-140.
• The Remnant Spirit: Conservative Reform in Mainline Protestantism (Praeger 2003)
• Bearing False Witness? An Introduction to the Christian Countercult (Praeger 2003).
• 'Confronting the Failed Failure: Y2K and Evangelical Eschatology in light of the Passed Millennium,' Nova Religio, 7, 2 (2003): 71-85.
• ‘Exits and Migrations: Foregrounding the Christian Counter-cult,’ Journal of Contemporary Religion 17, 3 (2002): 339-354.
• 'No Harmony: Some Notes on Evangelical Christian Response to Buddhism,' Religious Studies and Theory, 19, 2 (2000): 17-52.
• 'Too Narrow and Too Close: Some Problems with Participant Observation in the Study of New Religious Movements,' Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 10, 4 (1998): 391-406.
• Nakid entent unto God: A Source/Commentary on The Cloud of Unknowing (Wakefield: Longwood Academic, 1991).
• 'The Parson and the Landlord,' Studies in Religion, 19, 4 (1990): 459-469.
• Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet Ed. (with Lorne L. Dawson, Routledge 2004)
• Religion on the Internet: Research Prospects and Promises Ed. (with Jeffrey K. Hadden, JAI/Elsevier 2000)

Jeffrey K. Hadden (1937 - 2003) was a Professor of Sociology who began teaching at the University of Virginia in 1972. ...

External Links

• Dr Cowan's Home Page at Rension College, University of Waterloo [1]

• "Researching Scientology" delivered at CESNUR 2004 conference [2]

• "Reflections on Louisville: The Christian Countercult in Conversation," delivered at the 2002 CESNUR conference [3]

• "From Parchments to Pixels: The Christian Countercult on the Internet," delivered at the CESNUR 2001 conference[4]

Assessments

• Nikki Bado-Fralick, book review of Cyberhenge, The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 7, 2 (2005): 241-242.
• Erika Summers-Effler, book review of Bearing False Witness, American Journal of Sociology 110, 3 (2004): 832.

See Also

• Christian countercult movement
• Cult apologist
• Opposition to cults and new religious movements
• Sociology of Religion
• Wicca