Douglas E. Cowan

Douglas Edward Cowan (born August 14, 1958) is a Canadian academic in religious studies and the sociology of religion and currently holds a teaching position at Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Prior to this appointment he was Assistant Professor of Sociology & Religious Studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

Cowan was born in Canada and received his undergraduate tertiary education at the University of Victoria where he was awarded the B.A. degree in English literature. He then proceeded to theological studies and received the M.Div (Honours) from St. Andrews Theological College. His doctoral work, which involved an examination of the Christian countercult movement through the prism of the sociology of knowledge and propaganda theory, was undertaken through the University of Calgary.

While Cowan currently describes himself as a methodological agnostic, he was ordained to the Christian ministry in the United Church of Canada, and held pastoral positions during his doctoral studies. After graduating with the Ph.D in 1999 Cowan received a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology/CJC and the UMKC Center for Religious Studies. During 2005 he relocated from the USA to his current teaching post at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.