{{Short description|American sociologist (1928–2024)}} {{Infobox person | name = Benton Johnson | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|08|19}} | birth_place = Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|01|08|1928|08|19}} | death_place = Eugene, Oregon, U.S. | occupation = Sociologist | spouse = Miriam M. Johnson | children = {{hlist |Shannon |Rebekah}} | parents = Guy Benton Johnson<br/>Guion Griffis Johnson }}
'''Guy Benton Johnson Jr.''' (August 19, 1928 – January 8, 2024) was an American sociologist and professor emeritus of the University of Oregon's Department of Sociology.
== Biography == Guy Benton Johnson Jr. was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on August 19, 1928,<ref>{{cite web |title=Guy Benton Johnson Jr. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/1327071:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=1a3177533f02b14f649a0f50d212c027&_phsrc=Dqh6492&_phstart=successSource |publisher=U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–1947 |access-date=31 October 2023}}</ref> the son of Guy Benton Johnson and Guion Griffis Johnson. He was named after his father, but was called "Benny" and continued to use "Benton" in adulthood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/j/Johnson,Guy_Benton.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617134558/http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/j/Johnson,Guy%5FBenton.html |title=Guy Benton Johnson Papers, 1830–1882, 1901–1987 |last=Johnson |first=Guy |date=June 2006 |publisher=University of North Carolina, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library |archive-date=17 June 2010 |access-date=22 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Johnson's father was a sociologist and anthropologist, while his mother was a noted historian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/griffis_johnson.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616110439/http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/griffis_johnson.html |title=Guion Griffis Johnson: A Pioneering Scholar |last=Thomas |first=Harry |publisher=University of North Carolina, University Library |archive-date=16 June 2010 |access-date=22 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While in college, Johnson met Miriam Massey. They married on July 21, 1951.<ref>"Obituaries", ''The Register-Guard'', Eugene, Oregon. 24 November 2007.</ref> Miriam also pursued a successful career in sociology, focusing on family issues and gender roles. Together they had two children.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Miriam Johnson 1928–2007 |journal=American Sociological Association |date=2007-02-01 |first=Stockard |last=Jean |author2=Benton Johnson |volume=36 |issue=2 |url=http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/feb08_R/obit.html|access-date=2010-02-22}}</ref>
Johnson died on January 8, 2024, at the age of 95.<ref>{{cite web |title=Guy Benton Johnson Jr. |url=https://www.registerguard.com/obituaries/?page=2 |website=The Register-Guard |access-date=28 January 2024}}</ref>
== Academic career == Johnson is best known for his work related to the theory and typology of religious movements. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then, in 1954, a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uocatalog.uoregon.edu/liberalarts/sociology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213184419/http://uocatalog.uoregon.edu/liberalarts/sociology |title=Sociology |last=U of O |year=2009 |publisher=University of Oregon |archive-date=13 February 2010 |access-date=22 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While at Harvard, he was a student of Talcott Parsons.
Prior to joining the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon, Johnson taught at Guilford College and the University of Texas at Austin. He has chaired both the University of Oregon's Sociology Department and its Department of Religious Studies.
Between 1972 and 1974, Johnson was Editor of the ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion''. He has served as president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (1980–81), the Association for the Sociology of Religion (1987) and the Religious Research Association (1995–96).<ref>Swatos, William H.; Peter Kivisto. 1998. "Benton (Guy) Johnson", ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society''. Latham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc./Altamira Press ({{ISBN|978-0-7619-8956-1}}), pp. 251–52.</ref>
== Awards == ''Vanishing Boundaries: the Religion of Protestant Baby Boomers'',<ref>Hoge, Dean R.; Benton Johnson, Donald A. Luidens. 1994. ''Vanishing Boundaries: the Religion of Mainline Protestant Baby Boomers''. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press ({{ISBN|978-0-664-25492-6}})</ref> co-written by Johnson, received the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion's annual book award in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sssrweb.org/PastWinners.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206081124/http://www.sssrweb.org/PastWinners.cfm |title=Annual Awards and Grants |publisher=Society for the Scientific Study of Religion |archive-date=6 February 2010 |access-date=22 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== See also == * List of cult and new religious movement researchers * List of sociologists
== References == <references/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Benton}} Category:1928 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American sociologists Category:Sociologists of religion Category:Researchers of new religious movements and cults Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Guilford College faculty Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty Category:University of Oregon faculty Category:People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina