Richard L. Dowhower

Richard L. Dowhower is a Lutheran pastor, as well as an educator and religious scholar. He was actively involved in educating both his parish and the public about what he defined as "cults". In 1979, testified at a hearing on cults convened by the Pennsylvania state legislature, and also before his own denomination's Department of Church in Society.
Career
Dowhower received his A.B. from Thiel College, followed by a Doctor of Divinity in 1958.
He has presented to U.S. Navy chaplains in Philadelphia in 1979, in Groton-New London, Connecticut, in 1981, and at their school in Newport, Rhode Island in 1985-198, and 1990. The United States Navy Chaplains School lists Dowhower as a "Subject Matter Expert" on the subject of destructive cults.
He has served as a consultant to the Government of Germany on their "Commission on So-Called Sects and Psycho Groups". In March 1998 he met with the commission as Maryland House Joint Resolution #22 was in the midst of the legislative process.<ref name="religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu"/>
Publications
Books
*Cults on Campus: Continuing Challenge, 1996, Contributor
*Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse, W. W. Norton & Company, 1995, Contributor
*Lord, speak to us that we may: A devotional guide for church councils and committees, 1989
Other
*"The necessary urgency for growth": A keynote address by Richard L Dowhower, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 1986
Articles
*"Cults on Campus", September 1995 issue, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
*, Cult Observer, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1994).
*"Confronting the Cults," a two-part article, LCA Partners, (Feb. and Apr. 1982)
*"The Dangers of Pseudo-Religious Cults, a Statement of Pastoral Concern for Parents and Youth by Catholic and Protestant Religious Leaders.", Pennsylvania Conference on Interfaith Cooperation, 1979

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