Biography and education
Joseph Laycock is an associate professor of religious studies at Texas State University. He holds a MTS from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD from Boston University. He has written several books on new religious movements and American religious history. He is also a co-editor for the journal Nova Religio. He currently serves on the Programming Committee for the American Academy of Religion.
Teaching Interests
Research Interests
Featured scholarly/creative works
- LAYCOCK, J. P. (2022). New Religious Movements: The Basics. United States: Routledge.
- Laycock, J. P. (2018). Vampirism: Modern Vampires and Embattled Identity Claims. In The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History (pp. 177–189). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
- Laycock, J. P. (2015). Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds. University of California Press.
- Laycock, J. P. (2014). The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken, a Marian Apparition, and the Struggle to Define Catholic Tradition. Oxford University Press.
- Laycock, J. P. (2025). “Biblical Demons In Contemporary Culture". In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters (pp. 385–401). New York: Oxford University Press.
Featured awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: University Humanities Research Excellence Award, Texas State University. March 1, 2025 - August 22, 2025
- Award / Honor Recipient: Alpha Chi National College Honor Society, Favorite Professor, Spring 2016., Alpha Chi National College Honor Society, Alfred H. Nolle Chapter. May 1, 2016
- Award / Honor Recipient: Presidential Distinction Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities (Philosophy), Texas State University College of Liberal Arts. 2015
- Award / Honor Recipient: Golden Apple Award for Scholarly/Creative Activity, Texas State University. 2015
- Award / Honor Recipient: Tenth Annual Thomas Robbins Award for Excellence in the Study of New Religious Movements. 2012

Featured service activities
- Other
TGH Litigation LLC
- Organizer
Religious Studies Program Coordinator
- Member
Curriculum Committee
- Member
Research Committee
- Member
AAR Guide Star for Undergraduate Religious Literacy
- Editor
Nova Religio