About the author
Hugh Bayard Urban is a professor of religious studies at Ohio State University's Department of Comparative Studies and author of eight books and several academic articles, including a history of the Church of Scientology, published by Princeton University Press in 2012. He received his PhD in history of religions from the University of Chicago. == Early life, education and family == Urban is the son of a psychologist and Pennsylvania State University professor and was brought up in a devout Episcopal family. He is married to Nancy Jesser, who also teaches in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. They have one child. == Academic research == Urban's academic focus began with the religions of India and expanded to his studies of new religious movements in both the United States and Europe, about which he has written many academic books and articles. He has said that the knowledge and power used by religions to keep information hidden from others had always fascinated him.
💬 What our editors say about Hugh B. Urban's books
“Urban delivers a comprehensive academic history that rigorously charts the evolution of sexual magic in the West. The text is intellectually dense, relying on historical analysis rather than practical instruction or mystical…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism
