Events

2020 Annual Meeting

Your AAR staff continues to work toward holding the Annual Meeting in Boston, Nov. 21-24, 2020. We are aware of the uncertainty and contradictory projections related to the COVID-19 pandemic and with health and safety as a priority, we will continue monitoring the guidance of governments and health experts as we plan and make decisions. Should any changes need to be made related to the 2020 Annual Meeting, we will promptly notify you.

2020 Regional Meetings

Open Registration:

All remaining regional meetings for 2020 have been canceled

Programs & Services

From conducting graduate and undergraduate surveys, to recognizing excellence in teaching and book publishing, to awarding tens of thousands of dollars in research and development grants, the AAR supports its members through a wide variety of programs and services. How can the AAR be of service to you?

Department Services

As a professional association, the AAR collects and analyzes data about the field; monitors trends in the profession that affect individuals and departments; and keeps members apprised of such developments. Through the work of the Academic Relations Committee, the AAR also offers consulting and reviewing services, as well as a guide for conducting a program review and preparing for an outside evaluation.

The Religion Majors website, with generous support of the Teagle Foundation, profiles departments' undergraduate major in religion. Faculty reconceiving their major can explore how colleagues elsewhere describe and structure their programs.

Syllabus Project

The AAR collaborates with the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning to make available course syllabi. For more information or to submit or find syllabi, click here.

Grants & Awards

Each year the AAR provides tens of thousands of dollars in research and regional development grants to members. The AAR also annually bestows the Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion, the Excellence in Teaching Award, the Religion in the Arts Award, and book and journalism awards.

Awards

Book Awards

Journalism Award

Ray L. Hart Service Award

Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award 

Excellence in Teaching Award

Religion and the Arts Award

History of Religions Lectures

On the basis of selections by the AAR's History of Religions Jury, the lectures encourage path-breaking scholarship through a lecture and book series.

Video & Audio Files

Click links at right for AAR Annual Meeting sessions available in video or audio format. To view the AAR-sponsored videoconference "New Scientific Approaches to the Study of Religious Experience" click here. If you have problems viewing the videos, please see here.

Advocacy

There are various federal funding streams that support the scholars affiliated with the American Academy of Religion. As such, the AAR advocates for the increase of these funding streams. One of the key ways it does so is through its membership in the National Humanities Alliance. The AAR has been a member of the NHA since 1983 and a sponsor of its Humanities Advocacy Day since 2001. AAR executive director Jack Fitzmier has served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance since 2012, and in that capacity helps to oversee the Alliance's business and affairs. The NHA is a coalition dedicated to the advancement of humanities education, research, preservation, and public programs, and is supported by more than 140 national, state, and local member organizations and institutions.

Chaplaincy Program

AAR-CERP Annual Chaplaincy Conference: The American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism (CERP) cosponsor G-CARD training for senior officials who oversee chaplaincy in governmental institutions, including statewide and federal prison chaplaincy directors, senior military chaplains, and those who oversee military chaplaincy endorsements.

Past Programs

Past programs of the AAR include the Summer Seminars, which were made possible by generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation. From June 2009 through June 2013, the AAR delivered seminars on Theologies of Religious Pluralism (TRP) and Comparative Theology to theological educators.