"Now, there are over 2,000, and I find every one of them incredibly interesting." "In 1900 there were 330 different religious groups," he said. Sauntering through the aisles of his collection of 40,000 volumes, now housed at UC Santa Barbara, he tried to explain his need to classify religions, the myriad ways people recognize a higher power.
The research specialist with the department of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara has written 30 books and co-written or edited 17 more, all of which are expansive and eclectic, and weave a colorful and diverse history of the currents of spiritual worship and tensions around the world. Then, for fun, there's "The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead."Įrudite and eternally curious, Melton, 64, is one of the nation's foremost authorities on religion (and vampires too, but more on that later).
Gordon Melton it's true: He really does have an encyclopedic mind.Īfter all, Melton is the author of the Encyclopedia of American Religions, the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology and the Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. SANTA BARBARA - It's often said of academics, but for J. He's also been known to sink his teeth into the study of vampires. Gordon Melton is known for his encyclopedias of spiritual beliefs.
0 kommentar(er)
