John Lofland (sociologist)

John Lofland
Born
John Franklin Lofland

(1936-03-04) March 4, 1936 (age 88)
Milford, Delaware, US
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisThe World-Savers (1964)
Academic work
DisciplineSociology
Sub-discipline
Institutions
Notable worksDoomsday Cult (1966)

John Franklin Lofland (born March 4, 1936) is an American sociologist best known for his studies of the peace movement and for his first book, Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith, which was based on field work among a group of Unification Church members in California in the 1960s. It is considered to be one of the most important and widely cited studies of the process of religious conversion, and one of the first modern sociological studies of a new religious movement.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African diaspora traditions and other American innovations, Volume 5 of Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, W. Michael Ashcraft, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 ISBN 978-0275987176, p. 180
  2. ^ Exploring New Religions, Issues in contemporary religion, George D. Chryssides, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001 ISBN 978-0826459596 p. 1
  3. ^ Conversion Archived 2012-01-21 at the Wayback Machine, Unification Church Archived 2012-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford Seminary