HADDEN, Jeffrey K(eith) 1936-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born August 22, 1936, in Salina, KS; died of pancreatic cancer January 26, 2003, in Charlottesville, VA. Sociologist, educator, and author. As a sociologist, Hadden was particularly interested in the study of religious movements and their effect on politics and society. After earning his B.A. from the University of Kansas in 1959 and an M.A. in 1960, he attended Cornell University for a year and then completed his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1963. During the 1960s and early 1970s he taught sociology at Purdue University, Case Western University, and Tulane University before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia in 1972, where he would remain for the rest of his academic career. Hadden's early writings, such as The Gathering Storm in the Churches: The Widening Gap between Clergy and Laymen (1969), often focused on the relationship of Christian leaders and laity as it was revealed through social and political forces, but in later years Hadden became interested in the influence of new religious movements in American society. With the establishment of the Internet he created a Web site that provides information on over 150 religions around the world. Hadden's hope was that the dissemination of information about various religions would curtail ignorance and hatred between those of different faiths. Some of his other books include the collaborative works Prime Time Preachers: The Rising Power of Televangelism (1981), Prophetic Religions and Politics (1986), and Secularization and Fundamentalism Reconsidered (1989).

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Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 28, 2003, p. B7.