Hugh B. Urban

Short Biography

Hugh B. Urban is a professor in the Department of Comparative Studies and the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religions at Ohio State University. He is primarily interested in the role of secrecy in religion, particularly in relation to questions of knowledge and power. His primary areas of research include South Asian traditions and contemporary NRMs. He is the author of books including: Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religions (2003), Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (2006), and The Secrets of the Kingdom: Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration (2007).