Distinguished Speakers Series
16th Annual Distinguished Guest Speaker
Dr. Rebecca Moore, Ph.D.
Rebecca Moore is Emerita Professor of Religion at San Diego State University. She is currently Series Editor for the Cambridge University Press Elements in New Religious Movements and Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, published by University of Pennsylvania Press. Her books Beyond Brainwashing: Perspectives on Cultic Violence (2018) and Peoples Temple and Jonestown in the 21st Century (2022) were published by Cambridge University Press.
"The Myth of the Dangerous Cult: Violence and New Religions"
Often described as cults, new religious movements fascinate and terrify people around the world. NRMs are titillating in large part because their very essence seems filled with deviant beliefs, perverse practices, and dangerous possibilities. Yet this essentialist view of new religions is inaccurate. Eruptions of extreme violence are the exceptions, rather than the rule, for new and minority religions. These groups are generally nonviolent and wish for nothing more than to follow their consciences in peace. Indeed, the greater threat of violence today comes from state actors that seek to suppress religionists whom they consider deviant, criminal, or traitorous.
Event Information
Date: Wednesday, May 7th, 2025
Time: 4pm
Where: TBD
Registration coming soon.
Background
Rebecca Moore has more than thirty years experience teaching, publishing, editing, and lecturing in a variety of settings. She earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Marquette University and has taught as a professor at Montana State University and the University of North Dakota. She retired from San Diego State University in 2015, where she taught for more than 16 years and served as Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Classics and Humanities.
As Professor Emerita of Religion at San Diego State University she maintains an active research and publication schedule. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio, the quarterly journal on new and emergent religions published by University of California Press. She also co-manages the digital archives Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple and co-directs the Women in the World's Religions and Spirituality Project.
Questions and Accommodations
Maureen Christman is the coordinator for the Distinguished Speaker Series.
Feel free to email GHR@wwu.edu if you have any questions or comments.
Previous Distinguished Speakers
“Popular Religion in American Democracy”
Professor of English and Medieval Studies at the University of Connecticut
"Exacting Consent: Silent Consent and Public Voice from Chaucer to the Twenty-first Century"
"A Tale of Three Cities: Valmiki's Ramayana and the Foundations of the Culture, Society and Religion in Early India"
"Buddhism and Human Rights: From 19th Century Reformers to Contemporary Advocates"
"The Muslim Discovery of Printing: A Moment in Global History"
Associate Professor of South Asia Studies and Comparative Religion, University of Washington
"Stretching Religion: Yoga in Philosophy, Temple Architecture, and Gandhi's India"
Professor of German Studies, McGill University
"Representations of Terrorism and Mass-Media"
Republic of China Chair, Department of History and Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia
"Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century: A China Connection?"
"Sibling Rivalries: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"
Previous Department Sponsored Speakers
"Culinary Rage: Feast, Famine, and Gender Subjectivity"
Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian Award-winning international scholar, author, and professor.
Deputy Director of the Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute in Chennai, India.