Name Gerard Dagon | Role Author | |
Gérard Dagon (4 April 1936, Strasbourg - 22 May 2011, Gandrange) was a French evangelical Protestant pastor, teacher, author, publisher and long-time Christian counter cultist. He was Master of Divinity at the faculty of Protestant theology in Strasbourg.
He became pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (EPRAL) in 1959, then directed the Union of Evangelical Churches Chrischona (Union des Églises évangéliques Chrischona). He also participated in the creation of the Evangelical Federation of France (Fédération évangélique de France) which he directed for a long time. He founded, alongside others such as Swiss pastor and former member of the ADFI Paul Ranc, the association Vigi-sectes in 1998 who fights against cults from an evangelical perspective. He published books about Protestant movements, about Christian-oriented groups he considered cults because of their supposed biblical errors, and an extensive encyclopedia on Christianity. He listed 150 people who have claimed to be the Messiah from the first century.
Sébastien Fath considered Dagon a "key figure of French evangelical Protestantism since the 1970s, and Émile Poulat qualified him a "pioneer" in the religious issues. Although his works are often used by sociologists, he also received some criticisms. For example, Secretary of the French episcopate for the study of cults and new religious movements Jean Vernette said that Dagon used his anti-cult fight to attract new followers to his church.