Régis Dericquebourg

University of Antwerp

Régis Dericquebourg (born 1947) is a French sociologist of religions.

He wrote his thesis on Jehovah's Witnesses under the direction of Jean Seguy. He holds a doctorate in psychosociology and a postgraduate degree in clinical psychology from the Institute of Paris 7.^[1] He is a member of the Group for the Study of Religions and Secularity at the National Center for the Scientific Studies in Paris, and a professor at the Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III. He published five books, many sociological articles in collective books, encyclopedias, and journals and regularly participated in conferences of sociology. His contributions are mainly on Jehovah's Witnesses, healing in religion, and new religious movements.^[2]

Healing-oriented religions

One of Dericquebourg's main contributions to the sociology of religions is the creation of a new category of religions, “religions de guérison” (healing-oriented religions). This category should avoid the debates about which movements are genuine religions and which are cults by focusing on healing as the main feature, and reason of success, for a number of religions very different between each other. In his 1988 book Les Religions de guérison, Dericquebourg proposed the category based on his analysis of Christian Science, Scientology, Antoinism and Invitation to Life, claiming that seeking healing is the main motivation for joining all these four groups.^[3]

Main works

Les Religions de guérison, 1988, Paris : Cerf ISBN 978-2204029841
Les Antoinistes, 1993, Paris-Turnhout : Brépols (ISBN 2-503-50325-X)
La Christian Science, 1999, Leumann, Torino: Elledici ISBN 978-8801014310
Croire et guérir — Quatre religions de guérison, 2001, Paris : Dervy ISBN 2-84454-076-7
Ces protestants qu’on dit Adventistes, with Fabrice Desplan, 2008, Paris : L'Harmattan ISBN 978-2-296-06838-4
Georges Roux dit "le Christ de Montfavet". Ecologisme, ésotérisme et guérison, 2012, Bruxelles: E.M.E. ISBN 978-2806607805

References

^ "Régis Dericquebourg" (in French). ethnographiques. ISSN 1961-9162. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
^ "Accueil du site > Membres > Membres statutaires > Autres enseignants-chercheurs > DERICQUEBOURG Régis" (in French). GSRL Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcité. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
^ Mentel, Deirdre and Mossière, Géraldine, ”Tendances actuelles des rituels, pratiques et discours de guérison au sein des groupes religieux contemporains. Quelques réflexions,” Ethnologies, vol. 33, no. 1, 2011, pp. 5-18.

External links

(in French) Official site
(in French) Curriculum and list of publications by Dericquebourg, on the site of the Observatoire Européen des religions et de la laïcité