W. Michael Ashcraft

I am a Professor of Religion at Truman State University in Missouri, U.S.A. I earned my PhD in American Religious History from the University of Virginia. I specialize in the study of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in the United States. These movements are also called alternative religions, cults, sects, and new religions. My first book was a historical/ethnographic study of a Theosophical community in California. My second book was a historical review of the development of the field of New Religions Studies. I have co-edited a book of documentary readings with Dereck Daschke. I have also co-edited with Eugene V. Gallagher a multi-volume project called 'Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America.'