James A. Beckford

James Arthur Beckford, FBA (born 1 December 1942) is a British sociologist of religion. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1988/1989, he served as President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, and from 1999 to 2003, as the President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion.

Apart from general writings on the sociology of religion, Beckford has been a prolific author of books and articles on new religious movements and society's responses to them. He has also researched and written about religious issues affecting prison inmates.

In his early career, Beckford held teaching posts at the Universities of Reading and Durham and at Loyola University Chicago. He founded the British Sociological Association's Study Group for the Sociology of Religion in 1975, serving as its chairman from 1978 to 1983. From 1982 to 1983 Beckford was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1982 to 1986, he was the President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 22, and in 1988/1989 served as the President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. He joined the University of Warwick in 1989. From 1999 to 2003, he was the President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion. He has also taught as a Visiting Professor in Paris, at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in 2001, and at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in 2004.

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