Peter J. Schuurman

Peter Schuurman (Ph.D. University of Waterloo, Religious Studies) lives in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He is the executive director of Global Scholars Canada and adjunct professor at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario. He has written numerous review articles on megachurches and charisma, available here https://redeemer.academia.edu/PeterSchuurman. He also has a collection of writings that stem from his role as contributing editor to The Christian Courier--a Canadian venture in Christian journalism.

Most of his writing centers on the nexus of culture and religion, and at times more specifically on church, academics, and faith. This interest comes from a number of degrees in sociology, as well as a passion for ethnography. His specific expertise would be in religious studies, evangelicalism, megachurches, charisma, world religions, spiritual formation, leadership, Reformed theology and to some degree in media studies.

Schuurman straddles and sometimes bridges two cultural worlds: that of the secular Religious Studies milieu and that of the Christian community he inhabits and often writes for. Sometimes this comes with tension, but mostly creative tension. Says Schuurman: "Such diverse conversations can keep me nimble, and hopefully a little more humble." Max Weber wrote about the idea of verstehen, which means more than intellectual understanding; it means understanding the meaning of action from the actor's point of view. "This is my aspiration in my writing," says Schuurman, "even if I sometimes miss the mark."