Thomas Robbins (October 13, 1943 – August 31, 2015) was an American author and an
independent scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...
of
sociology 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 and work
Thomas Robbins was born October 13, 1943. He had a sister.
In his youth, he was a follower of the guru
Meher Baba
Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spirituality, spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following o ...
.
Robbins obtained a B.A. in government from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1965, and a Ph.D. in Sociology, at the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
in 1973.
He subsequently held teaching or research positions at
Queens College (CUNY), the
New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...
,
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and the
Graduate Theological Union
The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American Seminary, theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded ...
.
He edited several anthology volumes on new religious movements. His scholarship was independently financed.
Among Robbins' early work are notable studies comparing contemporary and historical controversies, such as the mass suicides among the
Russian Old Believers and those that occurred in
Jonestown
The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, an American religious movement under the leadership of Jim Jones. Jonestown became in ...
in 1979, or present-day agitation against "
cult
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 ...
s" and similar controversies surrounding
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
,
Mormonism
Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationism, Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to va ...
and
Freemasonry
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
in the early nineteenth century.
[William H. Swatos, Peter Kivisto: ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society'', Rowman Altamira, 1998, ]
pp. 427–428
/ref> From the mid-1980s, Robbins became increasingly focused on legal and church-state issues related to 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 ...
s.mind control Mind control may refer to:
Psychology and neurology
* Brainwashing, the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques
* Brain–computer interface
* Hypnosis
* Neuroprosthetics, the technology of cont ...
by therapeutic and religious groups.anti-cult movement
The anti-cult movement, abbreviated ACM and also known as the countercult movement, consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of religious groups that they consider to be ...
's views on brainwashing
Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
.[William H. Swatos, Peter Kivisto: ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society'', Rowman Altamira, 1998, ]
p. 62
/ref>
Robbins died August 31, 2015.
Publications
Articles and book chapters
* D. Anthony and T. Robbins, "Law, Social Science and the 'Brainwashing' Exception to the First Amendment," ''Behavioral Sciences and the Law'' 10(1992):5-30
* D. Anthony and T. Robbins, "Religious Totalism, Violence, and Exemplary Dualism," in ''Terrorism and Political Violence'' 7(1995):10-50
* T. Robbins, "Religious Mass Suicide Before Jonestown," ''Sociological Analysis'' 41(1986):1-20
* T. Robbins and D. Anthony, "Cults, Brainwashing and Counter-Subversion," ''Annals'' 446(1979):78-90
* T. Robbins and D. Anthony, "Sects and Violence," in ''Armageddon at Waco'', ed. S. A. Wright (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995): 236-259
* T. Robbins and D. Bromley, "Social Experimentation and the Significance of American New Religions," ''Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion'', Vol. 4 (Greenwich, Conn.: JAI, 1992): 1-29
* T. Robbins and R. Robertson, "Studying Religion Today," ''Religion'' 21(1991):319-339.
Books
* D. Anthony and T. Robbins (eds.), ''In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America'', Transaction Publishers, 1981, 1990, 1996,
* R. Anthony, J. Needleman, T. Robbins, ''The New Religious Movements: Conversion, Coercion and Commitment'', Crossroad Publishing Company, 1983,
* T. Robbins, W. C. Shepherd, J. McBride (eds.), ''Cults, Culture, and the Law: Perspectives on New Religious Movements'', American Academy of Religion, Studies in Religion, No 36, Scholars Press, 1985,
* T. Robbins and R. Robertson, ''Church-state Relations: Tensions and Transitions'', Transaction Publishers, 1987,
* T. Robbins, ''Cults, Converts, and Charisma: the Sociology of New Religious Movements'', Sage Publications, 1988,
*
* B. Zablocki and T. Robbins (eds.), '' Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field'', Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2001,
* P. C. Lucas and T. Robbins (eds.), ''New Religious Movements in the 21st Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective'', New York, Routledge, 2004,
Notes
External links
Profile at the International Cultic Studies Association website
Archived 8 Aug. 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Thomas
1943 births
2015 deaths
Harvard College alumni
American sociologists
Researchers of new religious movements and cults
Independent scholars
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni