About the Author

Bryan Ronald Wilson is Reader Emeritus in Sociology, University of Oxford. From 1963 to 1993 he was also a Fellow of All Souls College and in 1993 was elected an Emeritus Fellow.

For more than forty years he has conducted research into minority religious movements in Britain and in the United States, Ghana, Kenya, Belgium and Japan and other countries. His work has involved reading publications of these movements, and wherever possible, associating with their members in the meetings, services and homes. It has also entailed sustained attention to, and critical appraisal of, the works of other scholars.

He holds the degrees of B.Sc (Econ) and Ph.D. of the University of London and the M.A. of the University of Oxford. In 1984, the University of Oxford recognized the value of his published work by conferring upon him the degree of D. Litt. In 1992, The Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, awarded him the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa. In 1994, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.