Irving Hexham, Ph.D., is professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Bristol and is an expert in the fields of religion and politics, nationalism, new religious movements, African Christianity and academic fraud. He has authored dozens of articles and written or edited over a dozen books, including The Irony of Apartheid (1981); Understanding Cults and New Age Religions (1986, with Walter Block); New Religions as Global Cultures (1997, with Karla Poewe); and Understanding World Religions (2011).