The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of

scholars A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...

in the field of

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a professional and learned society for scholars involved in the academic study of religion. It has some 10,000 members worldwide, with the largest concentration being in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. AAR members are university and college professors, independent scholars, secondary teachers, clergy, seminarians, students, and interested lay-people.

History

AAR was founded in 1909 as the Association of Biblical Instructors in American Colleges and Secondary Schools. The name was changed to National Association of Biblical Instructors (NABI) in 1933. The American Academy of Religion was adopted as the organization name in 1963 to reflect its broader, inclusive mission to foster the academic study of all religions. Over its long history, AAR has broadened its scope to reflect contemporary values of its membership, such as responding to feminist scholarship and women in religion, increased attention to religions beyond Christianity, differentiation between theology and/or religious reflection within the academic study of religion as a cultural/historical/political phenomenon, and engagement with the public understanding of religion. Stausberg suggested that "Probably because of its more encompassing and open policy and its strategy to position itself as the default home for Religious Studies in the United States, the AAR has been a success story." Presidents of the AAR have included well-known scholars such as Judith Plaskow,

Mark Juergensmeyer Mark Juergensmeyer (born 1940 in Carlinville, Illinois) is an American Sociology, sociologist and scholar specialized in global studies and religious studies, and a writer best known for his studies on comparative religion, religious violence, an ...

, Wendy Doniger, Emilie Townes, Peter J. Paris, Rebecca Chopp, Elizabeth A. Clark and Ann Taves.

Publications

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

publishes ''

Journal of the American Academy of Religion The ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', formerly the ''Journal of Bible and Religion'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The ''JAAR'' was es ...

'' on behalf of the AAR. ''Religious Studies News'' is the quarterly newspaper of record for the organization; it transitioned from a print to online-only publication in 2010. AAR also publishes ''Reading Religion'', an online publication featuring book reviews by scholars in religious studies and other related fields. AAR publishes five book series through

: Academy; Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion; Religion, Culture, and Theory; Religion in Translation; and Teaching Religious Studies. AAR presents awards each year to notable books in the study of religion. It offers three categories of Awards for Excellence: Analytical-Descriptive Studies, Historical Studies, and Constructive-Reflective Studies.

Annual meeting

AAR hosts an annual meeting each year in November. The AAR annual meeting is the world's largest meeting for religious studies scholars. Over 400 events, including meetings, receptions, and academic sessions, occur on the AAR program alone; hundreds more, hosted by affiliated societies and institutions, occur over the course of the meeting. The location of the meeting changes each year. The annual meetings of the AAR are attended by about half their membership "(some 4,500 in 2014), which make these meetings by far the most important social arena for academic interaction" in comparison with meetings of other North American academic societies for the study of religion. The AAR annual meeting program is developed entirely by volunteers involved in program units representing disciplines and sub-disciplines within the field.

Other activities

AAR offers activities on a regional level for its members. Professional development resources such as research grants, career services, and scholarships are some of the member benefits. AAR also advocates the importance of the critical study of religion on institutional and national levels.

Presidents

The president is part of the board of directors, which is elected by AAR members each September and takes up their post at the close of each annual meeting. * 1910–1925: Charles Foster Kent * 1926: Irving Francis Wood * 1927: Eliza H. Kendrick * 1928: Walter W. Haviland * 1929: Ralph K. Hickok * 1930: Irwin R. Beiler * 1931: Laura H. Wild * 1932: Chester Warren Quimby * 1933:

James Muilenburg James Muilenburg (1 June 1896 – 10 May 1974) was a pioneer in the field of rhetorical criticism of the Old Testament. Muilenburg was born in Orange City, Iowa, and studied at Hope College, the University of Nebraska, and Yale University. He ta ...

* 1934: Elmer W. K. Mould * 1935: Florence M. Fitch * 1936: S. Ralph Harlow * 1937: Frank G. Lankard * 1938: Mary E. Andrews * 1939: William Scott * 1940:

Harvie Branscomb Bennett Harvie Branscomb (December 25, 1894 – July 23, 1998) was an American theologian and academic administrator. He served as the fourth chancellor of Vanderbilt University, a private university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1946 to 1963. P ...

* 1941: Katherine H. Paton * 1942–1943: Edgar S. Brightman * 1944: Floyd V. Filson * 1945: Mary Ely Lyman * 1946: J. Paul Williams * 1947: Rolland E. Wolfe * 1948: * 1949: Vernon McCasland * 1950: Virginia Corwin * 1951: Mary Francis Thelen * 1952: Charles S. Braden * 1953: Carl E. Purinton * 1954: W. Gordon Ross * 1955: Arthur C. Wickenden * 1956: A. Roy Eckardt * 1957: Robert M. Montgomery * 1958: H. Neil Richardson * 1959: Lauren Brubaker Jr. * 1960: Lionel Whiston Jr. * 1961: Robert V. Smith * 1962: Fred D. Geally * 1963: Clyde A. Holbrook * 1964: Ira Martin * 1965: James Price * 1966: William Hordern * 1967: John Priest * 1968: J. Wesley Robb * 1969:

Jacob Neusner Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books. Neusner's application of form criticism� ...

* 1970: Claude Welch * 1971: James Tunstead Burtchaell * 1972: Robert Michaelson * 1973: Charles Long * 1974: Christine Downing * 1975:

William F. May William May may refer to: Politicians * William L. May (1793–1849), U.S. Representative from Illinois * William May (Northern Ireland politician) (1909–1962), unionist politician in Northern Ireland * William May (MP for Tavistock), English po ...

* 1976: Preston Williams * 1977: Schubert M. Ogden * 1978: John Meagher * 1979:

Langdon Gilkey Langdon Brown Gilkey (February 9, 1919 – November 19, 2004) was an American Protestant ecumenical theologian. Early life and education A grandson of Clarence Talmadge Brown, the first Protestant minister to gather a congregation in Salt ...

* 1980: William Clebsch * 1981: Jill Raitt * 1982: Gordon D. Kaufman * 1983:

Wilfred Cantwell Smith Wilfred Cantwell Smith, (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later ...

* 1984: Ray Hart * 1985: Wendy Doniger * 1986: Nathan A. Scott Jr. * 1987:

John Dillenberger John Dillenberger (1918–2008) was professor of historical theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He was instrumental in forming the Graduate Theological Union which he headed during its first decade, first as dean f ...

* 1988: Martin E. Marty * 1989: Robert Wilken * 1990: Elizabeth A. Clark * 1991: Judith Berling * 1992: Robert Cummings Neville * 1993: Edith Wyschogrod * 1994: Catherine Albanese * 1995: Peter Paris * 1996: Lawrence Sullivan * 1997: Robert Detweiler * 1998: Judith Plaskow * 1999: Margaret R. Miles * 2000: Ninian Smart * 2001: Rebecca Chopp * 2002: Vasudha Narayanan * 2003: Robert Orsi * 2004: Jane Dammen McAuliffe * 2005: Hans J. Hillerbrand * 2006: Diana L. Eck * 2007: Jeffrey Stout * 2008: Emilie Townes * 2009:

* 2010: Ann Taves * 2011:

Kwok Pui-lan Kwok Pui-lan (, born 1952) is a Hong Kong-born feminist theologian known for her work on Asian feminist theology and postcolonial theology. Academic life and career Kwok was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents who practiced Chinese folk relig ...

* 2012: Otto Maduro * 2013:

John Esposito John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an American academic, professor of Middle Eastern studies, Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic S ...

* 2014: Laurie Zoloth * 2015: Thomas Tweed * 2016: Serene Jones * 2017: Eddie Glaude * 2018: David P. Gushee * 2019: Laurie L. Patton * 2020: José I. Cabezón * 2021: Marla F. Frederick * 2022: Mayra Rivera * 2023: Amir Hussain

References

External links

* {{authority control 1909 establishments in the United States Learned societies of the United States Professional associations based in the United States Religious studies conferences Theological societies Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies