Susan Jean Palmer (born 1946) is a Canadian sociologist of religion and author whose primary research interest is

new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or 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 of a wider re ...

. Formerly a professor of religious studies at

Dawson College Dawson College is an English-language public college in Westmount and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The college is situated near the heart of Downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on approximately of green space. It is the largest CEGEP in the p ...

Westmount Westmount () is a city on the Island of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is an enclave of the city of Montreal, with a population of 19,658 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Westmount is home to schools, an arena, a pool, a public li ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, she is currently an Affiliate Professor at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. She has authored and edited several books on NRMs.

Early life and education

Palmer was raised in the

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

faith. Her great-grandparents were polygamist Mormons, who moved to Canada from the United States to avoid the U.S. law against polygamy. Palmer received a BA in Honours English at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

before she received her Masters and PhD in Religion from

Career

Palmer was a professor of religious studies at Dawson College in Westmount, Quebec, before becoming she is currently an Affiliate Professor at

, and is also the Principal Investigator on the four-year SSHRC-funded research project, "Children in Sectarian Religions" at

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, where she teaches courses on new religious movements.

Work

Her topics range from apocalyptic activity, prophecy, charisma, communalism, childrearing, racialist religions, to research ethics and methods in studying new religions. Her article "Caught Up in the Cult Wars: Confessions of a Canadian Researcher" has reappeared in several anthologies. Her book '' Aliens Adored'' documents the formation and beliefs of the Raëlian movement, with an eye to how scientific discoveries contribute to the formation of their human cloning theology. Her most recent work has focused on religious freedom issues. '' The New Heretics of France'' explores the state-sponsored persecution of religious minorities.

Personal life

She has two children, a son and a daughter. Outside of her academic interest in religion, she also has an interest in martial arts and choir singing.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Susan J. Canadian non-fiction writers Researchers of new religious movements and cults Canadian occult writers 1946 births Living people Canadian women non-fiction writers Academic staff of Dawson College