Irving Hexham

Irving R. HexhamFRHistSFRAI(born 14 April 1943) is an English-Canadian academic who has published twenty-three books and numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews.Currently, he is Professor of Religious Studies at theUniversity of Calgary,Alberta, Canada, married toKarla Poewewho is Professor Emeritus ofAnthropologyat the University of Calgary, and the father of two children. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship.

Irving Hexham FRHistSFRAI
Born	Irving R. Hexham (1943-04-14)14 April 1943 Whitehaven,England
Nationality	Canadian English
Spouse	Karla Poewe ​ (m.1988)​
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Lancaster University of Bristol
Thesis	Totalitarian Calvinism(1975)
Doctoral advisor	Kenneth Ingham
Academic work
Discipline	Religious studies
Institutions	Bishop Lonsdale College Regent College University of Manitoba University of Calgary
Doctoral students	Douglas E. Cowan
Main interests	African-initiated churches Afrikaner nationalism neo-Calvinism neo-Paganism new religious movements political religion religion and politics world Christianity
Website	people.ucalgary.ca/~hexham

Biography

Hexham was born inWhitehaven,Cumberland,England. After leaving school at the age of fifteen he spent six years (1958–1964) as an apprentice gas fitter with the North Western Gas Board, and obtained hisCity and Guildsand advanced diplomas in Gas Technology. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was offered a management position with the Gas Board. During his industrial career he also served as a union representative.

Hexham qualified for university matriculation by correspondence study and entered theUniversity of Lancasterin 1967 where he majored inreligious studieswith minors in history and philosophy. He graduated with honours with aBachelor of Artsdegree in 1970. He then proceeded to post-graduate studies, obtaining his MA "with commendation" inreligious studiesand theology from theUniversity of Bristolin 1972. His MA was based onanthropologicalmethods and theories and involved a short dissertation onGlastonbury.He obtained a PhD in history from the University of Bristol in 1975. His PhD thesis was onAfrikaner Calvinismand the origins ofapartheidas an ideology. In the course of his studies he lived in theRepublic of South Africaand studied the languages of German andAfrikaans.His MA supervisor was F. B. Welbourn; his PhD supervisor was Kenneth Ingham. When he was in South Africa Elaine Botha atPotchefstroom Universitywas appointed his local supervisor by the University of Bristol.

Hexham is anevangelical Anglican.

Academic career

Hexham has held a number of posts in various tertiary institutions of higher learning. He was an assistant professor at Bishop Lonsdale College,University of Derby,England from 1974 to 1977. He also served as a course tutor in theOpen Universityat Derby (1975–77). Hexham then relocated to Canada and assumed the post of assistant professor atRegent College,Vancouver (1977–80). He became an assistant professor in religious studies at theUniversity of Manitoba,Winnipeg (1980–84), and then an assistant professor in religious studies at the University of Calgary (1984–88). He was promoted to the rank of associate professor at Calgary (1988–92), and in 1992 assumed the post of Full Professor in religious studies.

Hexham is a Fellow of both theRoyal Anthropological Institute,and theRoyal Historical Societyhas been a member of various professional organizations including the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion,American Academy of Religion,Association for the Sociology of Religion, South African Institute of Race Relations, South African Society for Mission Studies, and the Berliner Gesellschaft fuer Missionsgeschichte of which he was a founding member withUlrich van der Heyden.Recently he was elected a Fellow of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

Hexham has lectured in undergraduate and post-graduate programs covering topics such ascults,sectsandnew religious movements,history of religion,sociology of religion,African history and religions, religion and society in South Africa,millenarianmovements, theology and politics, Christianity and culture, missions and society, religion and ethics,fundamentalismand charismatic religion, methods in the study of religion, and the philosophy of religion.

His academic interests are listed as political religions; nationalism and religion;Afrikaner nationalism;Nazism;new religious movements; world religions in modern society; world Christianity and Christian missions, African initiated/independent churches; modern religious thought; while his research interests are said to be Ancestral neo-Paganism, the New Right, and political religions in Germany.

He served as a contributing editor to theJournal of Theology for Southern Africa(1981–1993), and is on the Editorial Board ofStudies in Religion.

Hexham has written or co-edited a number of works treating various facets of religion in South Africa including African independent churches, Afrikaner Calvinism, and Zulu religion. He has compiled reference works such as theConcise Dictionary of ReligionandPocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements.He has co-written two analytic works on the phenomenon of new religions and cults, and co-edited a pioneering work on the development of Christian contextual missions and new religious movements. Currently, as can be seen from his recent publications, Hexham is working on issues related to Germany.

Among his graduate students areDouglas E. Cowanof the University of Waterloo, Mark Mullins of Sophia University in Tokyo, and Kurt Widmar of the University of Lethbridge.

Contribution to scholarship

Hexham began his academic research with a study ofNew Agethought inGlastonbury.He continued his research with a study of the origins of the ideology ofApartheid.Later he pioneered the study of theamaNazaretaby publishing the completescripturesof this importantAfrican Independent Churchwhich in the past was often consideredpagan.Alongside hisSouth Africanstudies Hexham also published extensively onNew Religious Movements,Theology, theHistory of Christian Missions,and, more recentlyNational Socialism.

His contributions to scholarship were recognized by the award of an academicFestschrifton 23 May 2008 in the Faculty of Theology at theHumboldt Universityin Berlin.

Selected essays

Published reports

• Religious Extremism in Africa, for UNHCR Emergency & Security Service, Geneva, September 2002, pp. 37
• A Review of the Current State of Religious Magazines and Newspapers in Canada, "Ottawa,Department of Canadian Heritage,Ottawa, October 2002, pp. 55, assisted by Joanne Emond-McCullum who worked on the French Canadian publications section.

Refereed academic articles:

• "Just Like Another Israel",Religion(London), 1977, 7/1, pp. 1–7.
• "Calvinism and Culture", CRUX (Vancouver), December 1979, pp. 14–19.
• "Dutch Calvinism and the Origins of Afrikaner Nationalism",African Affairs(London), Spring, 1980, pp. 195–208.
• "Christianity and Apartheid: An Introductory Bibliography",Reformed Journal(Grand Rapids), April 1980, pp. S1-S11.
• "Lord of the Sky-King of the Earth: Zulu Traditional Religion and Belief in the Sky God",Studies in Religion(Waterloo), Vol. 10, 3, 1981, pp. 273–285.
• "Conversion and Consolidation in an English Town: The Freaks of Glastonbury: 1967–1982",Update(Aarhus), March 1983, pp. 3–12.
• "Science Fiction, Christianity and Technic Civilization",Word and World(St. Paul), Vol. IV. No 1, Winter, 1984, pp. 35–42.
• "Religion in Southern Africa",Religious Studies Review,(Waterloo), June 1985, Vol. II, No.4, pp. 370–378.
• "The Soul of the New Age", with Karla Poewe-Hexham,Christianity Today(Chicago), 2 September 1988, pp. 17–21.
• "Charismatic Christianity and Change in South Africa", with Karla Poewe-Hexham,The Christian Century(Chicago), 7–24 August 1988, pp. 738–740.
• "African Religions: Recent & Lesser Known Works",Religion,(Lancaster), Vol. 20; 1990, pp. 361–372.
• "On Plagiarism and Integrity in Scholarly Activity",Humanist: Humanities Computing,5:4, 3 April 1992, received electronically via [email protected], 5.0814. This article was published electronically and was later cited inLingua Franca,September/October 1992, pp. 18–20, andCollege & Research Libraries,Vol.53, No. 5, September 1992, p. 455.
• "Isaiah Shembe: Zulu Religious Leader",Religion,27:4, October 1997, pp. 361–373, this is a revised English version of 33.
• "Verfassungsfeindlich: Church, State and New Religions in Germany",Nova Religio:The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.Vol. 2, No. 2, 1999, pp. 208–227.
• "Suicide or Murder in Uganda?"Religion in the News,August 2000:7–9 + 24.
• "New Religions and the Anti-Cult Movement in Canada",Nova Religio,2 April 2001, Vol. 4, No.2, pp. 281–288.
• "Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's New Religion and National Socialism," with Karla Poewe, in theJournal of Contemporary Religion,London, Vol. 20, No. 2, May 2005, pp. 195–215.
• "Inventing 'Paganists': a Close Reading ofRichard Steigmann-Gall's the Holy Reich, "theJournal of Contemporary History,January 2007 pp. 59–78.
• "The Völkisch Modernist Beginnings of National Socialism: Its Intrusion into the Church and Its Antisemitic Consequence," with Karla Poewe, inReligion Compass,2009, pp. 676–696.

Selected books

• The Irony of Apartheid: The Struggle for National Independence of Afrikaner Calvinism Against British Imperialism,(Texts and Studies in Religion, Vol 8), Lewiston,Edwin Mellen,1981, pp. 239,ISBN0889469040
• Religion, Economics, and Social Thought,withWalter Block,Vancouver,The Fraser Institute,1986, pp. 573
• Understanding Cults and New Age Religions,withKarla Poewe
  • Eerdmans Pub Co, paperback, 1986, pp. 170,ISBN0802801706
  • Regent College Publishing;2nd edition, paperback, 1998, pp. 184,ISBN1573831212
• Zulu Religion: Texts and Interpretations. Vol. I: Traditional Zulu Ideas about God,Lewiston, Edwin Mellen, 1987, pp. 455.
• The Concise Dictionary of Religion,Regent College Publishing,1993, Paperback, pp. 248,ISBN1573831204
• The Scriptures of the amaNazaretha of Ekuphakameni,translated from the Zulu by the Rt. Rev. Londa Shembe and Hans-Jürgen Becken, with introductory essays by Irving Hexham and G.C. Oosthuizen, Calgary, University of Calgary Press, 1994, pp. xlix + 144.
• The Story ofIsaiah Shembe– History and Traditions Centered onEkuPhakameniand Mount Nhlangakazi: Volume One of the Sacred History and Traditions of the amaNazaretha,translated from theZuluby Hans-Jürgen Becken, edited with G.C. Oosthuizen, Lewiston, Edwin Mellen Press, 1996, pp. 258,ISBN0773487735
• New Religions as Global Cultures,withKarla Poewe,Boulder,Westview Press,1997, pp. 180,ISBN0813325080
• The Christian Travelers Guide to Britain,Grand Rapids, Zondervan, April 2001, pp. 245,ISBN0310225523
• The Christian Travelers Guide to France,(ed.) by Mark Konnert, Peter Barrs and Carine Barrs, 2001, pp. 224,ISBN0310225884
• Christian Travelers Guide to Germany,with Lothar Henry Kope, Zondervan, 2001, pp. 240,ISBN0310225396
• Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements: Over 400 Groups, Individuals & Ideas Clearly and Concisely Defined,IVP Academic,2002, Paperback, pp. 120,ISBN0830814663
• Understanding World Religions,Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2011, pp. 512.

References

Bibliography

• Hexham, Irving (1975).Totalitarian Calvinism: The Reformed (Dopper) Community in South Africa, 1902–1919(PhD thesis). Bristol, England: University of Bristol.OCLC1053659020.
• Johnson, Philip (2002)."Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach".Sacred Tribes.1(1).ISSN1941-8167.Archived fromthe originalon 15 December 2005.Retrieved7 April2020.
• Lumley, Elizabeth, ed. (1996).Canadian Who's Who.Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Oosthuizen, G. C. (1977).The Theology of a South African Messiah.Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
• Van der Heyden, Ulrich; Feldkeller, Andreas, eds. (2008).Border Crossings: Explorations of an Interdisciplinary Historian; Festschrift for Irving Hexham.Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

External links

• Official website
• Biographical profileat InterVarsity Press