Religious Bodies in the U.S.: A Directory

by J. Gordon Melton

First Published in 1992. This title is the first volume in the 3-volume series titled Religious Information Systems Series. This updated directory recognised that the number of religious groups would not remain static as population increases, urbanization, and immigration continue to provide a nurturing environment for new religious expressions. This new edition will fill an information gap and provide basic data about each religious group and be regularly updated as changes in the religious community dictate (annually or bi-annually).

326 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion and New Religious Movements with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion.

His areas of research include major religious traditions, new religions and alternative religions, Occultism and Parapsychology, New Age, and vampirology.

Melton has been criticized by several scholars for what they see as conflicts of interest in his reporting of some of the groups he studies.