Encyclopedia of Hinduism

vii

Series editor J. Gordon Melton is the director of

the Institute for the Study of American Religion

in Santa Barbara, California. He holds an M.Div.

from the Garrett Theological Seminary and a

Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Melton is

the author of American Religions: An Illustrated

History, The Encyclopedia of American Religions,

Religious Leaders of America, and several com-

prehensive works on Islamic culture, African-

American religion, cults, and alternative religions.

He has written or edited more than three dozen

books and anthologies as well as numerous papers

and articles for scholarly journals. He is the series

editor for Religious Information Systems, which

supplies data and information in religious stud-

ies and related fields. Melton is a member of the

American Academy of Religion, the Society for

the Scientific Study of Religion, the American

Society of Church History, the Communal Stud-

ies Association, and the Society for the Study of

Metaphysical Religion.

about the editor

K

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