Hugh B. Urban

Hugh Urban is a Distinguished Professor of Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University. He is interested in the study of secrecy in religion, particularly in relation to questions of knowledge and power.

His work focuses primarily on religions of South Asia and new religious movements in the United States. He is the author of numerous books, including: Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion (2003), The Power of Tantra (2010), The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion (2011), and Secrecy: Silence, Power and Religion (2021).

Urban received a B.A. in Religion, Philosophy, and Art from George Washington University and an M.A. in Religious Studies and Ph.D. in History of Religions from the University of Chicago.