J. Gordon Melton

J. Gordon Melton
Born
John Gordon Melton

(1942-09-19) September 19, 1942 (age 82)
Academic background
EducationBirmingham Southern College
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Alma materNorthwestern University
ThesisThe Shape and Structure of the American Religious Experience: A Definition and Classification of Primary Religious Bodies in the United States (1975)
Academic work
DisciplineMethodist, Religion, New religious movements, American religious history
InstitutionsBaylor University
Notable works

John Gordon Melton (born September 19, 1942) is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he resides.[1] He is also an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

Melton is the author of more than forty-five books, including several encyclopedias, handbooks, and scholarly textbooks on American religious history, Methodism, world religions, and new religious movements (NRMs). His areas of research include major religious traditions, American Methodism, new and alternative religions, Western Esotericism (popularly called occultism), and parapsychology, New Age, and Dracula and vampire studies.

  1. ^ Baylor University, "J. Gordon Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History Archived 2017-12-22 at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved 12 April 2016