Background
Cowan was born in Canada and received his undergraduate tertiary education at the University of Victoria where he was awarded the Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.
Cowan was born in Canada and received his undergraduate tertiary education at the University of Victoria where he was awarded the Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.
University of Victoria.
Prior to this appointment he was Assistant Professor of Sociology & Religious Studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He then proceeded to theological studies and received the M.Div (Honours) from Saint Andrews Theological College. His doctoral work, which involved an examination of the Christian countercult movement through the prism of the sociology of knowledge and propaganda theory, was undertaken through the University of Calgary.
After graduating with the Doctor of Philosophy in 1999 Cowan received a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology/Confédération des Jeunes Chercheurs and the UMKC Center for Religious Studies.
During 2005 he relocated from the United States of America to his current teaching post at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.