Irving Hexham

His contributions to scholarship were recognized by the award of an academic Festschrift on 23 May 2008 in the Faculty of Theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

He served as a contributing editor to the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa (1981–1993), and is on the Editorial Board of Studies in Religion.

Hexham has held a number of posts in various tertiary institutions of higher learning. He was an assistant professor at Bishop Lonsdale College, University of Derby, England from 1974–1977. He also served as a course tutor in the Open University at Derby (1975–77). Hexham then relocated to Canada and assumed the post of assistant professor at Regent College, Vancouver (1977–80). He became an assistant professor in religious studies at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg (1980–84), and then an assistant professor in religious studies at the University of Calgary (1984–88). He was promoted to the rank of associate professor at Calgary (1988–92), and in 1992 assumed the post of Full Professor in religious studies.

Hexham qualified for university matriculation by correspondence study and entered the University of Lancaster in 1967 where he majored in religious studies with minors in history and philosophy. He graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. He then proceeded to post-graduate studies, obtaining his MA "with commendation" in religious studies and theology from the University of Bristol in 1972. His MA was based on anthropological methods and theories and involved a short dissertation on Glastonbury. He obtained a PhD in history from the University of Bristol in 1975. His PhD thesis was on Afrikaner Calvinism and the origins of apartheid as an ideology. In the course of his studies he lived in the Republic of South Africa and studied the languages of German and Afrikaans. His MA supervisor was F. B. Welbourn; his PhD supervisor was Kenneth Ingham. When he was in South Africa Elaine Botha at Potchefstroom University was appointed his local supervisor by the University of Bristol.

Hexham was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. After leaving school at the age of fifteen he spent six years (1958–1964) as an apprentice gas fitter with the North Western Gas Board, and obtained his City and Guilds and advanced diplomas in Gas Technology. After the completion of his apprenticeship he was offered a management position with the Gas Board. During his industrial career he also served as a union representative.

Irving R. Hexham FRHistS FRAI (born 14 April 1943) is an English-Canadian academic who has published twenty-three books and numerous articles, chapters, and book reviews. Currently, he is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, married to Karla Poewe who is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Calgary, and the father of two children. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship.