Introduction
STEPHEN A. KENT (PhD)
ACADEMIC TRAINING
UNDERGRADUATE:
University of Maryland, College Park. 1969-1973.: B.A. Sociology; Social and Political Theory Minor.
GRADUATE:
American University, Washington, D.C. 1975-1977. M.A. History of Religions–Hinduism; Gnosticism Minor. Thesis: “Valentinian Gnosticism and Classical Samkhya: A Thematic and Structural Study.” Degree Awarded: August 1978.
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. 1977-1979. M.A. Religion and Modern Western Society; Indian Buddhism Minor. Thesis: “A Sociological Interpretation of Millenarian Quakerism–1648 to 1662.” Degree Awarded: May 1980.
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. 1979-1983. PhD. Religion and Modern Western Society; Indian Buddhism Minor. Dissertation Topic: Quaker Mobilization and the Tithe Controversy in Interregnum England: A Social-Psychological Study. Degree awarded: May 1984.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS AND TEACHING:
1984-86 Izaac Walton Killam Post-Doctoral Scholarship, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta
Fall 1986– Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Waterloo
Spring 1987 (Ontario) Taught Sociological Theory; Social Movements; Social Change; Ideology and Belief Systems; Social Psychology.
Fall 1988 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. Taught Deviance and Conformity, Religion, and Introduction to Sociology.
January 2023 Emeritus Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta
–Present
July 1989 Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta – Religious Sects (including a graduate course); Sociology of World Religions
May 1992 Adjunct Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alberta
July 1997—
Retirement: Full Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. Taught undergraduate courses on the Sociology of Religion, Religion and Societies, Deviance and Conformity, Social Psychology, and Religious Sects; plus graduate courses on Religious Sects and Globalization, Religion, and Fundamentalism. All courses about religion were cross-listed with the Interdepartmental Program in Religious Studies. Also supervised and served on numerous research and supervisory committees for honours undergraduates, Masters students, and PhD candidates.
AWARDS
July 2012 Received The Margaret Thaler Singer Award (for advancing the understanding of coercive persuasion and undue influence) from the International Cultic Studies Association
May 2010 Received the Bill Meloff Award for Undergraduate Teaching, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta
March 12, Received one of three campus-wide Graduate Student Supervisor Awards 2009 from the Graduate Students’ Association, University of Alberta
2002 Book Selected by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries as an “Outstanding Academic Title.”
Research Interests:
My research on 17th century English sectarian groups utilized contemporary theories on sects, cults, and new religions to interpret Quaker and other Puritan fervour after the English Civil War in the 1650s. I used that familiarity with modern sectarian literature to form the basis of a successful research grant application in 1986 to Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council to undertake an examination of the movement of religious sects between the United States and Canada.
Aspects of that research involved both collecting relevant documents and conducting interviews with current and former members, their families, and others involved in the cult/anti-cult debate that raged during that period. From these interviews and documents, I grew concerned about numerous troubling accounts of abuses that many people experienced while members of various groups, and that sometimes continued after they became apostates. The abuses included misogyny, various forms of child abuse, extreme labour assignments, financial exploitation, legal violations, questionable if not dangerous medical practices, and several human rights abuses. When I began publishing some of these discoveries and discussing them in conferences, the reaction of many new religious scholars ranged from chilliness to actual interference against my scholarship. At least two of the controversial groups that I had studied undertook actions to damage my career and silence me.
In reaction to these acts of professional and personal interference, my research attention expanded in the area of religious, sectarian, and cultic abuses. Publications on these topics led to frequent media appearances around the world and invitations by attorneys in four countries to engage my expertise in court-related undertakings.
Meanwhile, the document collection that I began as part of my research on religious sects grew into one of North America’s largest archives on these groups. Currently, the University of Alberta stores some of it as a special collection, much of which is closed to the general public until 2070 in order to protect the identities of many donors.
Stephen A. Kent 