Titles and education
Professor of Sociology of Religion, Hartford International University for Religion & Peace
Co-Director, Hartford Institute for Religion Research
BA, Southwestern University
MDiv, Candler School of Theology
PhD, Emory University
Biographical sketch and interests
My primary research interest is understanding the implications of the pandemic’s impact on congregational life. My other research interests include the study of megachurches, nondenominational congregations, congregational studies, the types and expressions of religious authority and leadership, and the changing religious reality of the nation.
There are quite a few papers about megachurches, including research reports I wrote for the Faith Communities Today project in 2020 and 2023; my studies of megachurches in 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2020; and 1997, 2000, 2010, and 2020, I produced national studies on the rise in nondenominational congregations.
Publications
- The Other 80%: Turning Your Church’s Spectators into Active Participants
- Beyond Megachurch Myths
- Gay Religion
My dissertation, The Kingdom, The Power & The Glory, offers engaging, in-depth research on a megachurch, Chapel Hill Harvester Church (”The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit”).
View Scott Thumma’s CV.