Johannes Aagaard

{{short description|Danish theologian and evangelist (1928–2007)}}

Johannes Monrad Aagaard (29 April 1928 – 23 March 2007) was a Danish theologian and evangelist. He was a professor of missiology at the University of Aarhus. He founded the Department of Missiology and Ecumenical Theology and the Center for New Religious Studies at the University of Aarhus.{{Cite journal |last=Geertz |first=Armin W. |last2=Rothstein |first2=Mikael |date=April 2001 |title=Religious Minorities and New Religious Movements in Denmark |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.298 |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=298–309 |JSTOR=10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.298 }} He was active in the Christian countercult movement as the founder of the Dialog Center International, an international educational organization concerned with groups it defines as cults and other new religious movements.{{Cite web |title=In memoriam: Johannes Aagaard (1928–2007) |url=https://www.cesnur.org/2007/aagaard.htm |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=www.cesnur.org}}Contemporary missiology: an introduction, Johannes Verkuyl, W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1978, p. 26{{Cite journal |last=Mortensen |first=Viggo |date=2007 |title=Johannes Aagaard |journal=Mission Studies |volume=24 |pages=7–8}} He was a former president of the International Association for Mission Studies.{{Cite journal |date=2007 |title=Johannes Aagaard |journal=International Bulletin of Missionary Research |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=141}} He was a member of the Faith and Order Commission and was on the board of the Theological Educational Fund. He co-founded and chaired the Nordic Network for Missiology and Ecumenical Studies.{{Cite journal |date=2008 |title=In Memorial: Aagaard, Johannes |journal=The Ecumenical Review |volume=60 |issue=1/2 |pages=190}}

Aagaard had traveled to Asia and was concerned about Buddhism and other Eastern religions, which he felt were gaining influence in Europe.Sharing Jesus in the Buddhist world, David S. Lim, Steve Spaulding. William Carey Library, 2003, pp. 57–66 In 1973, Aagaard founded the Danish Dialog Center, which was part of the Dialog Center International, which was later greatly influential in promoting a negative public opinion of cults in Denmark and other European nations. He regarded Scientology as being especially dangerous, but later in his life stated that Islam was an even greater threat. Other concerns included Satanism and New Age groups. Aagaard cooperated with both religious and secular anti-cultists, but opposed deprogramming of cult members since he felt that it was ineffective and often counterproductive. He retired from the Dialog Center in 2002.Exploring New Religions, George D. Chryssides, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-8264-5959-6}}, p. 353Rothstein, Mikael in Regulating New Religion in Denmark in Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe, edited by James T. Richardson, Springer, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-306-47887-1}}, pp. 229–231

He was married in 1954 to {{Ill|Anna Marie Aagaard|et}} (b. 1935), the first Danish woman to obtain a doctorate in theology.{{cite web |url=https://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/1670/ |title=Anna Marie Aagaard (1935– ) |work=Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon |language=da |access-date=25 September 2021}}