Benjamin Ethan Zeller is an American historian of religion and author who studies new religious movements. He is a professor and chair of religious studies at Lake Forest College. Zeller graduated with a BA degree in religious studies from the University of Rochester in 1999 and received an MTS degree from Harvard University in 2002. He earned a PhD in religious studies from the University of North Carolina in 2007.

Zeller has authored two books on new religious movements: Prophets and Protons and Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion. The latter was the first monograph on Heaven's Gate. He has edited or co-edited several other books, including the Handbook of UFO Religions. Zeller is most well known for his work on the UFO religion Heaven's Gate; he was the academic consultant to the 2018 Heaven's Gate podcast and appeared in the 2020 documentary series, Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults.

Education and career

Benjamin Ethan Zeller^[1] graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies from the University of Rochester in 1999; he went on to receive a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University's Harvard Divinity School in 2002.^[2][3] He earned a PhD in religious studies from the University of North Carolina in 2007.^[2][3]

Zeller is a historian of religion,^[4] and was an assistant professor at Brevard College from 2007 to 2012.^[2][3] In 2012, he was a Fulbright Fellow at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. He is a professor and chair of religious studies at Lake Forest College.^[3][5][6] He is on the editorial board of the academic journal Nova Religio,^[7] and is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the International Society for the Study of New Religions.^[3]

Works

Zeller's works largely focus on new religious movements (NRMs),^[4][8][9] on which he has authored two books.^[10][11] His first book, Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America, was published in 2010 by New York University Press. Zeller spent five years researching for the book, talking with several members of the NRMs profiled.^[2] It examines the relationship between several NRMs and their relationship to scientific advances and developments; he argues that contrary to some popular beliefs, the relationship between science and religion is not always in contradiction. It mainly focuses on three NRMs in three sections: the Unification Church, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and Heaven's Gate.^[11][12][13]

He has also edited or co-edited several edited volumes.^[9][14][15] In 2014, he was one of four co-editors of Religion, Food, and Eating in North America, published by Columbia University Press. He authored the last chapter, discussing and analyzing locavorism and vegetarianism.^[15][16][17] That year, with George D. Chryssides he edited the 2014 book The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements, published by Bloomsbury Publishing.^[8][14][18] In 2021, he edited the Handbook of UFO Religions, published by Brill; in the introduction he discusses the history of the study and scholarship of UFO religions.^[9][19][20] In 2023, he and Marie W. Dallam co-edited Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America, published by Columbia University Press.^[21]

Bibliography

• —— (2010). Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9720-4.
• ——; Dallam, Marie W.; Nielson, Reid L.; Rubel, Nora L., eds. (2014). Religion, Food, and Eating in North America. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-16030-8.
• Chryssides, George D.; ——, eds. (2014). The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4411-9005-5.
• —— (2014). Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion. New York University Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-0381-1.
• ——, ed. (2021). Handbook of UFO Religions. Boston: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-43437-0.
• Dallam, Marie W.; ——, eds. (2023). Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-20444-6.

References

External links

• Official website