Régis Dericquebourg (born 1947) is a French

sociologist of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of Quantitative research, quantit ...

Life

Education

Dericquebourg studied psychology at the

University of Lille The University of Lille (, abbreviated as ULille, UDL or univ-lille) is a French public research university based in Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai (1559), and resulted from the merger of three universities ...

. He holds a doctorate in psychosociology with his thesis (1979) on

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

entitled ''Les Témoins de Jéhovah dans le Nord de la France. Dynamique d'un groupe religieux minoritaire et rapports à l'institution'' at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

(EPHE-Sorbonne), under the direction of Jean Seguy. He holds and a postgraduate degree DESS (Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées) in clinical psychology from the

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Pari ...

. From 1999 he holds the

Habilitation to Supervise Research In France, the Habilitation à diriger des Recherches (HDR, lit. Habilitation to Direct Research) is a diploma that "sanctions recognition of the candidate's high scientific level, the originality of his or her approach in a field of science, his o ...

earned with the thesis ''La construction d'un objet de recherche : les religions de guérison'' at Paris, Sorbonne, under the supervision of Jean Séguy and Philippe Laburthe-Tolra.

Research

He then turned to the study of religious movements that practice spiritual healing (

Antoinism Antoinism is a healing and Christian-oriented new religious movement founded in 1910 by Louis-Joseph Antoine (1846–1912) in Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Seraing in Belgium. With a total of 64 temples, over forty reading rooms across the world and tho ...

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...

, Invitation to Life, Universal Alliance), and has published articles and a book about them. Although some of these movements have been considered sects, he prefers to speak of healing churches. Dericquebourg's "

participant observation Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (including cultur ...

" sociology differs from that of the media and anti-cult associations, whose alarmist treatment he judges. He took part in a collective work on Scientology, sponsored and published by Scientology itself, with contributions from international academics. He is a member of the Group for the Study of Religions and Secularity at the National Center for the Scientific Studies in Paris, and a professor at the

Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III The Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III () was a French university. Since 1974, the main campus of University of Lille III was located in Villeneuve d'Ascq in eastern Lille, at ''Pont de Bois'' metro station, and includes 21,000 students. ...

. He published five books, many sociological articles in collective books, encyclopedias, and journals and regularly participated in conferences of sociology. His contributions are mainly on Jehovah's Witnesses, healing in religion, and

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...

Healing-oriented religions

One of Dericquebourg's main contributions to the sociology of religions is the creation of a new category of religions, "religions de guérison" (healing-oriented religions). This category should avoid the debates about which movements are genuine religions and which are

cults Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ha ...

by focusing on healing as the main feature, and reason of success, for a number of religions very different between each other. In his 1988 book ''Les Religions de guérison'', Dericquebourg proposed the category based on his analysis of

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

and Invitation to Life, claiming that seeking healing is the main motivation for joining all these four groups.Mentel, Deirdre and Mossière, Géraldine, ”Tendances actuelles des rituels, pratiques et discours de guérison au sein des groupes religieux contemporains. Quelques réflexions,” ''Ethnologies'', vol. 33, no. 1, 2011, pp. 5-18.

Main works

* ''Les Religions de guérison'', 1988, Paris : Cerf * ''Les Antoinistes'', 1993, Paris-Turnhout : Brépols () * ''La Christian Science'', 1999, Leumann, Torino: Elledici * ''Croire et guérir — Quatre religions de guérison'', 2001, Paris : Dervy * ''Ces protestants qu’on dit Adventistes'', with Fabrice Desplan, 2008, Paris : L'Harmattan * ''Georges Roux dit "le Christ de Montfavet". Ecologisme, ésotérisme et guérison'', 2012, Bruxelles: E.M.E.

References

External links

*
Official site
*
Curriculum and list of publications by Dericquebourg
on the site of the Observatoire Européen des religions et de la laïcité * 1947 births Living people French sociologists Sociologists of religion Researchers of new religious movements and cults French male writers {{reli-sociologist-stub