Professor Peter B. Clarke

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Professor Clarke studied history at Oxford University and researched for his doctorate at King's College, University of London. He has taught at universities in Africa, including the University of Ibadan Nigeria, Brazil and Japan. He joined King's College London in 1978 where he was the Professor of the history and sociology of religion in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies, and where he founded the 'Centre for New Religions' in 1982.

His present academic work consists of teaching the anthropology of religion at Oxford University, where he is also supervising a number of D.Phil (Ph.D) theses.

Peter Clarke's research field covers the study of modern Islam in Europe and Africa, new religious movements (NRMs) from a global perspective with special reference to modern Japanese religions outside Japan and African-Brazilian religions, and religions and the environment. He founded Journal of Contemporary Religion in 1984 and is its co-editor with Dr Elisabeth Arweck.

Prof Clarke has written and edited more than 20 books, including Religion Defined and Explained (MacMillan, 1993) with co-author Professor Peter Byrne, and contributed numerous articles to learned journals. Recent publications include the editing of and contributions to: Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements (Routledge, 2006); New Religions in Global Perspective (Routledge, 2006); Japanese New Religions in Global Perspective (Curzon, 2000); A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements: With Annotations (Japan Library, 1999); New Tends and Developments in African Religions (Greenwood, 1998); New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam (Luzac Oriental, 1997); New Religious Movements in Western Europe: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood, 1997) with Dr Arweck; and Japanese New Religions in the West (Japan Library, 1994) with co-editor Jeffrey Somers. He has recently (2009) edited with Peter Beyer 'The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations' (Routledge), and he also edited 'The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion' (2009) for Oxford University Press.