Hugh Bayard Urban is a professor of
religious studies at
Ohio State Universities Department of Comparative Studies and author of eight books and several academic articles, including a history of the
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...
, published by
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
in 2012.
Early life, education and family
Urban is the son of a psychologist and
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
professor and was brought up in a devout
Episcopal family, received his PhD in
history of religions
The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves th ...
from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
and is married to
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
lecturer Nancy Jesser. They have one child.
Academic research
Urban's academic focus began with the
religions of India
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The preamble of Indian co ...
and expanded to his studies of
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
s in both the United States and Europe, with his stating that the knowledge and power used by religions to keep information hidden from others had always fascinated him
and of which he has written many academic books and articles about.
Scientology scholarship
In 2006, Urban wrote an article for the
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
The ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', formerly the ''Journal of Bible and Religion'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The ''JAAR'' was e ...
(published by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
on behalf of the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profes ...
) titled "Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America".
By 2011, Urban had expanded his research into the practices of the Church of Scientology, incorporating his information into a new book titled ''
The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion''
(published by
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
) which received praise:
*
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of ''Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific ...
, founder of
The Skeptics Society
The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit, member-supported organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. The Skeptics Society was co-founded by Michael Sh ...
and a columnist for
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
, called Urban's book "the most scholarly treatment of the organization to date."
* Rachel Aviv of the
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
said that Urban's book "chronicles the way Hubbard reacted to legal and political challenges to his authority by attempting (largely successfully) to conceal his theories from the public."
*
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
called the book "a fascinating and oftentimes mind-bending account of how penny-a-word sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard doggedly pursued the religion angle in his quest to create the worldwide Church of Scientology."
Urban also observed that Church of Scientology founder
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianeti ...
formed many of his theories from those previously written about by the early to mid 20th century
astral projection
Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
pioneer
Sylvan Muldoon
Sylvan Muldoon (February 18, 1903October 15, 1969) was an American esotericist who promoted the concept of astral projection. According to Muldoon, astral projection is an out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of an astral body ...
in his (Muldoon's) 1951 book The Phenomena of Astral Projection
co-written with
Hereward Carrington
Hereward Carrington (17 October 1880 – 26 December 1958) was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, ...
.
Bibliography
*''Songs of Ecstasy: Tantric and Devotional Songs from Bengal'' (2001) (New York: Oxford University Press)
*''The Economics of Ecstasy: Tantra, Secrecy and Power in Colonial Bengal'' (2001) (New York: Oxford University Press)
*''Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion'' (2003) (University of California Press)
*''Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism'' (2006) (University of California Press)
*''The Secrets of the Kingdom: Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration'' (2007) (Rowman & Littlefield)
*''The Power of Tantra: Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies'' (2009) (I.B. Tauris/ Palgrave MacMillan)
*''
The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion'' (2011) (Princeton University Press)
See also
*
Scientology and other religions
The relationship between Scientology and religious groups is very complex. While Scientology claims that it is fully compatible with all existing major world religions and that it does not conflict with them or their religious practices, there are ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Hugh
American religion academics
American spiritual writers
Living people
Ohio State University faculty
Researchers of new religious movements and cults
Year of birth missing (living people)