The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies 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 and Canada. 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, Wendy Doniger, Emilie Townes, Peter J. Paris, Rebecca Chopp, Elizabeth A. Clark and Ann Taves.

Publications

Oxford University Press publishes Journal of the American Academy of Religion 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 Oxford University Press: 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 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 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 1970: Claude Welch 1971: James Tunstead Burtchaell 1972: Robert Michaelson 1973: Charles Long 1974: Christine Downing 1975: William F. May 1976: Preston Williams 1977: Schubert M. Ogden 1978: John Meagher 1979: Langdon Gilkey 1980: William Clebsch 1981: Jill Raitt 1982: Gordon D. Kaufman 1983: Wilfred Cantwell Smith 1984: Ray Hart 1985: Wendy Doniger 1986: Nathan A. Scott Jr. 1987: John Dillenberger 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: Mark Juergensmeyer 2010: Ann Taves 2011: Kwok Pui-lan 2012: Otto Maduro 2013: John Esposito 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 2024: Jin Y. Park 2025: Leela Prasad

References

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