Stephen A. Kent - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from From Slogans to Mantras) Canadian sociologist of religion

Stephen A. Kent
Kent in 2000
Known for	From Slogans to Mantras
Awards	Graduate Student Supervisor Award (2009) Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award (2010)

Academic background
Alma mater	University of Maryland, College Park, B.A. (1973) American University, M.A. (1978) McMaster University, Ph.D. (1984)
Academic work
Discipline	Sociology of religion, New religious movements
Institutions	Professor of Sociology, University of Alberta

Website	skent.ualberta.ca

Stephen A. Kent is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He researches new religious movements (NRMs), and has published research on several such groups including the Children of God (The Family), the Church of Scientology, and other NRMs operating in Canada.

Education

Kent graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1973, with a B.A. degree in sociology and a minor in social and political theory. In 1978, he was awarded a master's degree in the history of religions from American University. Kent was also awarded an M.A. in 1980 from McMaster University with a focus in religion and modern Western society and a minor in Indian Buddhism; he was granted a Ph.D. in religious studies in 1984 from the same institution.

From 1984 to 1986, Kent held an Izaac Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship in the sociology department at the University of Alberta. He is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Research

John H. Simpson writes in a chapter of Lori G. Beaman's 2006 book Religion and Canadian Society that Kent "finds himself on the cult side of the cult/new religious movement divide." Irving Hexham commented in a 2001 article in Nova Religio that Kent "has been outspoken in his criticism of many new religions, particularly Scientology, and who works closely with various anticult groups."

Stephen A. Kent speaks at conference of Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation, formerly CULTInfo
(March 18, 2000)

Simpson recommends Kent for further reading on the group the Children of God and notes: "He has done extensive research on new religious movements and argues that we need to be careful about minimizing the risks of involvement with such groups. His work is a good example of the issues taken up by scholars who focus on 'cults.'" Kent has devoted significant study to the Children of God, and the group's founder David Berg. Some researchers, including sociologist Lorne L. Dawson, have criticized Kent's work for his use of ex-member testimony. In response to these critics, Kent has argued that former member accounts provide outsider insights not available to members who misattribute divine authority to leaders in high demand religious groups.

Scientology

Kent's research of Scientology has focused on its organization, the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF). His extensive study of Scientology's history and practices led him to conclude that as a result of relatively young people becoming involved with the organization in the 1960–70s, some second-generation Scientologist children have left the group in "waves." Kent has commented to the media about Scientology's RPF, and the Scientology ethics and justice system, as well as its affiliated organization Narconon. He has published articles concerning Scientology and Hollywood, and commented that Scientology uses celebrities as "public relations officers for Scientology, and part of their mission is to represent Scientology to the outside world and to other governments."

According to CBS News, "e's considered one of the foremost experts on Scientology. But inside the church, he's considered an anti-religious extremist who has been paid to testify against the church in court." Tony Ortega, former editor of The Village Voice, referred to Kent as an academic "who studies Scientology in depth," and the St. Petersburg Times referred to Kent as "an expert on the group." Kent has testified as an expert witness for parties suing organizations affiliated with Scientology, and subsequently Scientologists picketed outside of his University of Alberta office. Religious studies scholar J. Gordon Melton and Church of Scientology spokesperson Leisa Goodman have both questioned the accuracy of Kent's scholarship on Scientology. Kent responded to both critics, accusing them of breaches of ethics and poor research practices.

In 2017, he co-edited an edited volume titled Scientology in Popular Culture alongside Susan Raine, published by Praeger. It received positive reviews from commentators in Nova Religio, Choice, and the International Journal of Cultic Studies.

Satanic ritual abuse

Kent has researched testimony of individuals that have alleged Satanic ritual abuse, in a period from the 1930s to 1980s (also known as the Satanic panic). Kevin J. Christiano notes in the book Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments that Kent's research "shows that the Bible and biblical themes provide the primary references for the articulation of abuse," noting that "purported cult ceremonies particularly used biblical references and metaphors." Sociologist Anson Shupe and Susan J. Darnell characterised Kent as "eccentric," stating that research and police enquiries into the allegations of satanic ritual human sacrifice had proved them to be unfounded. He wrote a two part journal article on Satanic ritual abuse for the journal Religion in 1993. Christopher Partridge said of this article that Kent "accepts uncritically the stories of alleged victims about satanic abuse the problem is that there is absolutely no concrete evidence that such rituals are practiced and no evidence that Satanists are interested in carrying out such inversions of obscure biblical texts."

Responding to this article, Jean La Fontaine criticized it, saying that though Kent made "an effort to seem objective," the article was not and that it strongly suggested the reliability of the testimonies; she argued that the main objective in writing the article had been to validate these stories. She said Kent's dataset was unusual and criticized the fact that the number of people interviewed was not made clear; she further criticized Kent's failure to analyze other possible origins for these stories as "at best an academic weakness of the article and at worst a strong indicator that the veracity of the informants had been accepted in advance." In a rejoinder to Kent's article on satanic ritual abuse, David Frankfurter argued that Kent "accepts every detail of every story as if photographed, while denying the reader any sense of the interviewees' clinical history, symptoms, religious affiliation, and association with other people claiming or postulating Satanic abuse," and that Kent himself was guilty of dubious research ethics and a lack of scholarly objectivity, having only been granted the interviews in turn for assistance in interpreting their memories. Frankfurter argued that any analysis drawn on this data was subject to "gross methodological problems" which Kent ignored; he argued the Satanic panic was a continuation of previous witch-hunts, and said there was little forensic evidence for any of these claims and that many of the convictions of supposed participants had been often overturned.

From Slogans to Mantras

Kent's book From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam Era was published in 2001 by Syracuse University Press. In the book, Kent explored how political activists from the period of the Vietnam War later turned to alternative religious movements including Hare Krishnas, Transcendental Meditation, Scientology, and the Unification Church. Publishers Weekly described From Slogans to Mantras as a "lucid and economical study," noting that Kent had examined the convergence between the interest of American youth in radical politics and protest and the pursuit of "unusual, cultish, spiritual traditions." James A. Overbeck wrote in Library Journal that the work is recommended for academic and public libraries, mentioning that Kent utilized personal narratives and alternative press in the book.

Doni Whitsett reviewed the book in Cultic Studies Review, writing that it contained informative content, and is an easy read free of sociological jargon which made it more accessible to non-expert readers. However, Whitsett also stated that it would have been interesting to compare those who did not choose the route of the ex-members described in the book and to analyze the differences inherent in these two subsets of individuals. Jill K. Gill reviewed the book in Humanities and Social Sciences Online and also commented on its readability, stating that it was succinctly written and engaging. Peter W. Williams reviewed the book in The Journal of American History and provided a less positive review, saying that the book was a "mildly interesting and useful footnote to the sixties" but that he wished the book had gone further than that. In 2003 it was cited by Choice as an outstanding academic title that should be owned by every library, with the reviewer calling it an "engaging and articulate book" with a "fairly compelling social psychological account" of the topic.

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Kent's book From Slogans to Mantras was listed as one of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles that should be owned by every library. Kent was recognized by his students at the University of Alberta in 2009. He received a "Graduate Student Supervisor Award" from the Graduate Students' Association on March 12, 2009. In April 2010, Kent received the "Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award" given by the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He stated he would utilize the 1,000 USD award to "update the department's DVD collections in the sociology of deviance and the sociology of religion."

Works

—— (2001). From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam Era. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-2948-6.
Caparesi, Cristina; Di Fiorino, Mario; ——, eds. (2001). Costretti ad Amare: Saggi sui Bambini di Dio/The Family (in Italian). Forte dei Marmi: Centro Studi Psichiatria e Territorio.
——; Raine, Susan, eds. (2017). Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy. Praeger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-3249-9.

References

^ Zablocki, Benjamin; Robbins, Thomas (2001). "Contributors". Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. University of Toronto Press. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-8020-8188-9.
^ "Kent, Stephen". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
Goodyear, Dana (January 14, 2008). "Château Scientology". The New Yorker. Letter from California. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
^ Simpson, John H. (2006). "The Politics of the Body in Canada and the United States". In Bearman, Lori G. (ed.). Religion and Canadian Society: Traditions, Transitions, and Innovations. Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-55130-306-2.
Hexham, Irving (April 2001). "New Religions and the Anticult Movement in Canada". Nova Religio. 4 (2): 286. doi:10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.281. ISSN 1092-6690.
White, Gayle (July 25, 1998). "'Heaven's Harlot' looks back on Jesus freak days". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. p. D01.
Dawson, Lorne L. (2001). "Raising Lazarus: A Methodological Critique of Stephen Kent's Revival of the Brainwashing Model". In Zablocki, Benjamin; Robbins, Thomas (eds.). Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. University of Toronto Press. pp. 380–381. ISBN 978-0-8020-8188-9.
^ Kent, Stephen A. (1994). "Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God". Journal of Religion & Health. 33 (1): 29–43. doi:10.1007/BF02354497. PMID 24263783. S2CID 24012781.
^ Semuels, Alana (July 24, 2005). "From the outside, looking in". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ISSN 1068-624X. Archived from the original on August 30, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Frantz, Douglas (December 1, 1997). "Distrust in Clearwater -- A special report.; Death of a Scientologist Heightens Suspicions in a Florida Town". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 30, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Reitman, Janet (February 23, 2006). "Inside Scientology: Unlocking the complex code of America's most mysterious religion". Rolling Stone. ISSN 0035-791X. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Sommer, Mark (February 2, 2005). "Outside critics are unacceptable". The Buffalo News. ISSN 0745-2691.
Peters, Paul (May 8, 2008). "Scientology and the Blackfeet". Missoula Independent. ISSN 2642-4665. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Boudjikanian, Raffy (March 5, 2008). "MP denies knowledge of endorsed organization's ties to Scientology". West Island Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Verini, James (June 28, 2005). "Missionary Man: Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology". Salon.com. Spiegel Online. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Strupp, Joe (June 30, 2005). "The press vs. Scientology". Salon.com. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Sancho, Miguel (October 28, 2006). "Scientology – A Question of Faith". 48 Hours. CBS News. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Ortega, Tony (June 30, 2008). "Scientology's Crushing Defeat". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Garcia, Wayne (August 28, 1993). "Scientology's words to hit the airwaves". St. Petersburg Times. pp. 1A, 3A. ISSN 2327-9052. Retrieved August 30, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
Evans, Jim (August 23, 2001). "Scientology Inc". Sacramento News & Review. ISSN 1065-3287. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
Melton, J. Gordon (2003). "A Contemporary Ordered Religious Community: The Sea Organization". In Davis, Derek H.; Hankins, Barry (eds.). New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Baylor University Press. pp. 192–193. ISBN 978-0-918954-92-3.
Goodman, Leisa (2001). "A Letter from the Church of Scientology". Marburg Journal of Religion. 6 (2). doi:10.17192/MJR.2001.6.3752.
Kent, Stephen (September 2003). "Scientology and the European Human Rights Debate: A Reply to Leisa Goodman, J. Gordon Melton, and the European Rehabilitation Project Force Study". Marburg Journal of Religion. 8 (1). doi:10.17192/mjr.2003.8.3725.
Lonelodge, Sarah (January 2018). "Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy". International Journal of Cultic Studies. 9: 76–78. ISSN 2154-7270.
Shriver, G. H. (February 2018). "Scientology in popular culture: influences and struggles for legitimacy". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 55 (6): 732. ISSN 0009-4978.
Westbrook, Donald A. (2019). "Review of Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy". Nova Religio. 22 (3): 150–153. doi:10.1525/nr.2019.22.3.150. ISSN 1092-6690. JSTOR 26770430.
^ Christiano, Kevin J.; Swatos, William H.; Kivisto, Peter (2002). Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments. Rowman Altamira. pp. 318–319. ISBN 0-7591-0035-7.
Shupe, Anson; Darnell, Susan E. (2006). Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-Science, and the American Anticult Movement. Transaction Publishers. pp. 135–136. ISBN 0-7591-0035-7.
Partridge, Christopher (2004). The Re-Enchantment of the West, Vol 2: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture. A & C Black. p. 371. ISBN 978-0-567-04133-3.
La Fontaine, J. S. (April 1, 1994). "Allegations of sexual abuse in Satanic rituals". Religion. 24 (2): 181–184. doi:10.1006/reli.1994.1015. ISSN 0048-721X.
Frankfurter, David (October 1, 1994). "Religious studies and claims of satanic ritual abuse: A rejoinder to Stephen Kent". Religion. 24 (4): 353–360. doi:10.1006/reli.1994.1028. ISSN 0048-721X.
^ "From Slogans to Mantras". Publishers Weekly. 248 (42). October 15, 2001. ISSN 0000-0019.
Overbeck, James A. (December 1, 2001). "From Slogans to Mantras". Library Journal. 126 (20). ISSN 0363-0277.
^ Whitsett, Doni (2002). "Reviews: From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era". Cultic Studies Review. 1 (3). Retrieved August 30, 2024.
Gill, Jill K. (July 2002). "Review of Stephen A. Kent, From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era". H-Net.
Williams, Peter W. (March 2003). "Book Review, From Slogans to Mantras". The Journal of American History. 89 (4): 1616. doi:10.2307/3092694. JSTOR 3092694.
^ Kivisto, P. (2003). Bartlett, Rebecca Ann (ed.). Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 1998–2002. Association of College & Research Libraries. p. 571. ISBN 0-8389-8232-8.
^ "2009 GSA Award Recipients". Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts. University of Alberta. March 16, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
Whalen, C. (April 14, 2010). "Stephen Kent receives the 2010 Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award". News: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts. University of Alberta. Retrieved June 2, 2010.

External links

Official website

v t e Satanic panic
List of satanic ritual abuse allegations
Cases and accused	Cleveland child abuse scandal Country Walk case Faith Chapel Church ritual abuse case Fells Acres day care sexual abuse trial Franklin child prostitution ring allegations Kern County child abuse cases Little Rascals day care sexual abuse trial Martensville satanic sex scandal McMartin preschool trial Oak Hill satanic ritual abuse trial South African satanic panic South Ronaldsay child abuse scandal The Finders Thurston County ritual abuse case Wee Care Nursery School abuse trial
Other events	Fall River murders Ricky Kasso Murders of Sally McNelly and Shane Stewart Death of Jeannette DePalma West Memphis Three
People	Gerald Amirault Anne Johnson Davis Mary de Young Paul and Shirley Eberle Peter Ellis Stephen A. Kent Kee MacFarlane Liz Mullinar Diana Napolis Debbie Nathan Cathy O'Brien Richard Ofshe Lawrence Pazder Dorothy Rabinowitz Valerie Sinason Ralph Underwager Mike Warnke
Publications and media	Jay's Journal Michelle Remembers The Courage to Heal Pace memorandum Indictment: The McMartin Trial Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse Cult and Ritual Abuse Speak of the Devil No Crueler Tyrannies
Related topics	Believe the Children Blood libel Children's Institute Inc. Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome Day-care sex-abuse hysteria Dungeons & Dragons controversies QAnon Dissociative identity disorder False memory syndrome Moral panic National Center for Reason and Justice Maury Terry

v t e Opposition to new religious movements
Concepts	Anti-cult movement Christian countercult movement Cult Deprogramming Doomsday cult Freedom of religion Heresy Heterodox teaching Mind control New religious movement
Secular groups	APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons Cult Awareness Network Cult Information Centre Cultists Anonymous International Cultic Studies Association The Family Survival Trust Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion
Secular individuals	Jean-Marie Abgrall John Gordon Clark Steve Eichel Martin Faiers Leon Festinger Carol Giambalvo Steven Hassan Ian Haworth Galen Kelly Stephen A. Kent Masaki Kito Janja Lalich Michael Langone Saul V. Levine Casey McCann Jesse S. Miller Sayuri Ogawa Ted Patrick Tsutsumi Sakamoto Rick Ross Chris Shelton Margaret Singer Eito Suzuki Alain Vivien Cyril Vosper Louis Jolyon West Lawrence Wollersheim
Religious groups	Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry Christian Research Institute Dialog Center International Dialogue Ireland Evangelical Ministries to New Religions Institute for Religious Research Personal Freedom Outreach Midwest Christian Outreach New England Institute of Religious Research Reachout Trust Spiritual Counterfeits Project Watchman Fellowship Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
Religious individuals	Johannes Aagaard Graham Baldwin Robert M. Bowman Jr. Harold Busséll Gérard Dagon Maurice Davis Alexander Dvorkin Ronald Enroth Mike Garde Robin Garbose Norman Geisler Jan Groenveld Hank Hanegraaff Reinhart Hummel Roger Ikor Bob Larson Paul R. Martin Walter Ralston Martin Robert Passantino
Governmental organizations	610 Office European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism Centre contre les manipulations mentales Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu MIVILUDES Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
Individuals in government	Nicolas About Serge Blisko Georges Fenech Ford Greene Stephen Mutch Catherine Picard Kenneth Robinson Paul Rose Tom Sackville Nick Xenophon
Historical events	About–Picard law Anti-Mormonism Assassination of Shinzo Abe Governmental lists of cults and sects Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate Jason Scott case Arrest of Apollo Quiboloy Persecution of Baháʼís Persecution of Falun Gong Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act Tokyo subway sarin attack Waco siege
Publications	All Gods Children (book) Another Gospel Bounded Choice Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control Captive Hearts, Captive Minds The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions Churches That Abuse Combating Cult Mind Control Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion Cults in Our Midst Cults of Unreason Deadly Cults The Incendiaries The Kingdom of the Cults The Making of a Moonie Misunderstanding Cults The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left Recovery from Cults Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Twisted Scriptures When Prophecy Fails The Wrong Way Home Zealot: A Book About Cults

Categories: