Peking University, Nov.16, 2012: Dr. J. Gordon Melton’s career as an American religious scholar has spanned over more than 40 years. He currently holds a number of positions, including as a Professor of American Religious History of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies in Religion (ISR) and founder and director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, the latter being responsible for publication of the award-winning Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Belief and Practice. This encyclopedia, edited by Dr. Melton, offers an entry of every country of the world, which is a unique approach. “I wanted to do an encyclopedia of the world, and also do it in such a way that it hadn’t been done before,” says Dr. Melton. Other similar works of his include multiple editions of Melton’s Encyclopedia of American Religions (8th edition, 2009) and most recently, Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations.
As a pioneering scholar in the field of New Religions Studies, Dr. Melton also sits on the international board of the Center for Studies in New Religions (CESNUR), the largest international organization that focuses on new religions and their dynamics. Dr. Melton describes new religions as groups that are most on the margins of society, and are mostly marginalized because they include practices or beliefs that are out of step with the mainstream culture. “But it’s those religions that have become an important dynamic of the whole growth of religion worldwide. That is what we study.”
Dr. Melton’s areas of research include new religions, alternative religions and occultism. When asked if he often faces criticism by orthodox believers, scholars and organizations, he laughed and replied, “That’s one of the central dynamics of my career.”
However, he finds that it is studying virgin territories like these that provide new information. He has also enjoyed trying to bring less well developed fields up to scholarly standards. “When you study things that are marginalized, there’s a tendency for some of your colleagues to marginalize you as well,” says Dr. Melton. “I’ve gotten some criticism but basically most of my colleagues have been very supportive.”
The title of the paper presented by Dr. Gordon in the Beijing Forum 2012 on the second day of the forum is Chinese Pentecostalism: the Birth and Growth of a Uniquely Chinese Version of Christianity. During his discourse, he explained the arrival of the Pentecostalism movement in China from America in the early 1900s, its development in a different setting to form a distinctly unique Christian movement, formation of the True Jesus Church and from there,its emergence as one of the biggest Christian movements to be exported out of China.
When asked during the interview the reason Pentecostalism spread to Christians in China and then to non-Christians, Dr. Melton attributed the arrival of Pentecostalism to China the mistaken notion that baptism of the Holy Spiritbrought with it the ability to speak new languages supernaturally.
“The Pentecostals believed that speaking those languages could help evangelize the world,” said Dr. Melton. These Pentecostals then went to Europe, Africa, India and China with this purpose, with China being the first targeted area due to the fact that it was the largest Christian missionary field at the time. The spread of Pentecostalism in China was driven by the belief that the world was coming to an end which caused an urgency to evangelize, coupled with the experience of speaking in tongues being a supposedly empowering and joyful one.“This idea that the language could be used as a missionary tool gave them some direction to [evangelize],” says Dr. Melton, “but I’m firmly convinced that the reason that Pentecostalism has grown so fast is that it’s fun to be a Pentecostal.”
Another area of research of Dr. Melton’s is vampirology. Having developed an interest in this ancient mythological character in his late teenage years, Dr. Melton has written five books on vampires. The essence of his study in vampirology is the development of a mythology that has now become pervasive worldwide.
“During my lifetime vampires had entered the popular culture in a very powerful way. Halloween is the second most celebrated holiday in America, three vampire movies are at the top of the largest grossing movies in movie history,” he reasons. “It’s been an exercise in intellectual history and in social history.”
Reported by: Candice Liao
Edited by: Zhang Jiang
