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American Academy of Religion

120 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratings

The audio feed of American Academy of Religion (AAR), the world's largest scholarly and professional association of academics, teachers, and research scholars dedicated to furthering knowledge of religions and religious institutions in all their forms and manifestations. Featuring interviews with award-winning scholars and sessions recorded during the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion.

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Episodes

Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible with Rhiannon Graybill

March 18, 2024 15:46 - 21 minutes - 39.5 MB

Rhiannon Graybill joins Kristian Petersen to discuss her award-winning book, Texts after Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2021).

AAR 2022 Presidential Address - Mayra Rivera

December 21, 2022 17:49 - 43 minutes - 78.9 MB

AAR 2022 Presidential Address - Mayra Rivera by American Academy of Religion

AAR Presidents Address - Mayra Rivera

December 15, 2022 17:09 - 43 minutes - 78.9 MB

AAR Presidents Address - Mayra Rivera by American Academy of Religion

Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran with Niloofar Haeri

December 12, 2022 18:22 - 32 minutes - 60.2 MB

Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran with Niloofar Haeri by American Academy of Religion

Building on Jonathan Z. Smith's Study of Religion with Sam Gill

September 13, 2022 17:44 - 25 minutes - 47.3 MB

Sam Gill joins Kristian Petersen to discuss his award-winning 2021 book, The Proper Study of Religion: Building on Jonathan Z. Smith (OUP, 2020).

Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China

May 16, 2022 18:15 - 31 minutes - 58.5 MB

Yuhang Li joins Kristian Petersen to discuss her award-winning book, Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China (Columbia University Press, 2021).

The Death of Children in Late Antiquity with Maria E. Doerfler

April 04, 2022 18:38 - 27 minutes - 50.7 MB

Maria E. Doerfler joins Kristian Petersen to discuss her award-winning book, "Jephthah’s Daughter, Sarah’s Son: The Death of Children in Late Antiquity"(University of California Press, 2020). Through the book, Doerfler plumbs the fragmentary historical record for evidence of how members of Christian communities in Late Antiquity responded to the deaths of children.

Aztec Religion and Art of Writing with Isabel Laack

January 27, 2022 18:38 - 28 minutes - 52.5 MB

Aztec Religion and Art of Writing with Isabel Laack by American Academy of Religion

Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism with Kathryn Tanner

December 09, 2021 21:00 - 18 minutes - 34.7 MB

Kathryn Tanner joins Kristian Petersen to discuss her award-winning 2020 book, "Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism." Through the book, Tanner suggests Christianity can challenge the culture of finance capitalism that permeates our lives by guiding us to reflect on social inequalities and identity-building—concepts which she argues are at the core of Christian faith and practice. In the interview, she discusses how "Christianity and specific forms of it could gum up the works of cap...

AAR 2021 Presidential Address - Marla Frederick

December 09, 2021 03:19 - 1 hour - 55.2 MB

2021 AAR President Marla Frederick delivers her presidential address to a crowd at the 2021 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX.

Competing Constructions of Religious Freedom in Allied-Occupied Japan

October 14, 2021 18:30 - 26 minutes - 48.3 MB

Despite the Japanese constitution guaranteeing religious freedom since 1889, after World War II, the United States-occupiers deemed that guarantee flawed. In this conversation with, Jolyon Thomas, author of "Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan" shares how the US imposed a new framework of religious freedom onto the Japanese, one that favored some traditions more than others. Thomas's "Faking Liberties" was co-winner of the AAR's 2020 Analytical-Descriptive Studies ...

State and Religious Rituals of Religion and State among the Buryat People

June 24, 2021 19:30 - 22 minutes - 40.8 MB

The fall of the Soviet Union provides the cultural space for a revival of the religious practices of the Buryat, an indigenous people of southern Siberia who live on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, just north of the Mongolian border. Justine Buck Quijada, author of "Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets: Rituals of History in Post-Soviet Buryatia" (Oxford University Press, 2019) joins Kristian Petersen to discuss her research into how the Buryat people recontextualize the rise and fall of the Sov...

The Little Ice Age and Devotional Practices in the Transforming Landscape of Northern India

May 20, 2021 19:30 - 23 minutes - 42.5 MB

Sugata Ray's 2019 book "Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850" won AAR's Religion and the Arts Book Award in 2020, the award's inaugural year. In this interview with Kristian Petersen, Ray talks about his book and explains how a landscape transformed by the Little Ice Age became part of evolving conceptualizations, rituals, and aesthetics involved in devotional practices of Northern Indian worshippers of Krishna. Sugata Ray is associate prof...

A Counternarrative of Buddhism in Modern History with Matthew W. King

April 01, 2021 22:45 - 22 minutes - 41.9 MB

Through a case study of Zava Damdin, a monk living on the frontier of Mongolia at the end of the Qing empire (early 20th century), Matthew King invites scholars to consider non-Eurocentric ways of studying religion in modern history. King is associate professor in transnational Buddhism in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and he is the author of "Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire" (Columbia Universit...

Caretaking and Childrearing in Modern Jewish Theology with Mara Benjamin

February 18, 2021 20:37 - 24 minutes - 45.8 MB

Mara Benjamin, Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College, experimented with genre in her 2018 book "The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought," blending an academic approach to analyzing the concept of childrearing in Jewish intellectual history and offering her own intervention, informed by personal experience, to this undertheorized area in Jewish intellectual history. In this interview, she talks about realizing her role in expanding this ...

The Flying House of Loreto and the Growth of Catholicism with Karin Vélez

December 17, 2020 20:30 - 18 minutes - 33.5 MB

Karin Vélez explains how the 12th century myth of the flying house of Loreto, which tells the story of the home of the Virgin Mary flew away from the Holy Land and settled on the coastal town of Loreto, Italy, served as narrative grounding for the expansion of Catholicism through varied, voluntary, independent devotional movements across the world. Vélez is assistant professor of pre-1800 global history at Macalester College and the author of "The Miraculous Flying House of Loreto: Spreading...

The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages with Geraldine Heng

September 17, 2020 18:48 - 25 minutes - 46 MB

Geraldine Heng discusses the obstacles in conceptualizing race in premodernity and the evidence for racialized thinking in the European medieval period. Heng is professor of English and comparative literature, with a joint appointment in Middle Eastern studies and women’s studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also the founder and director of the Global Middle Ages Projects. In this interview, she talks with Kristian Petersen about the research in her book The Invention of Race...

"The Fetish Revisited" with J. Lorand Matory

July 30, 2020 07:00 - 34 minutes - 63.6 MB

The construction and use of the fetish framework in European social theory is the focus of J. Lorand Matory's book, "The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make." In this conversation, Matory explains how social theorists based in Enlightenment principles deployed simplistic interpretations of Afro-Atlantic religious traditions as a way to prove to their European audiences the similar "foolishness" of European political, economic, and religious policies. Matory is Lawr...

Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz on the Nepalese Hindu Goddess Svasthani

June 18, 2020 20:31 - 26 minutes - 48.3 MB

Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz talks about the textual and limited iconographic history of the mysterious Nepalese Hindu goddess Svasthani. Birkenholtz's book documenting her research into the goddess and the puranic texts that develop around her, "Reciting the Goddess: Narratives of Place and the Making of Hinduism in Nepal" (Oxford University Press, 2018) won the AAR's 2019 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Textual Studies. For a full transcript of this intervie...

Religious Studies and the 2020 Election: Tips for Sharing Scholarship with the Public

June 16, 2020 14:15 - 1 hour - 34.8 MB

Webinar recording from June 9, 2020. The discussion focused on how scholars of religion can share work related to the study of religion and this election season. Co-presenters were David Campbell, professor at the University of Notre Dame; Iva E. Carruthers, general secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference; Robert P. Jones, CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute; Terrence Johnson, associate professor of religion and politics at Georgetown University; Vincent Lloyd...

AAR 2019 - Making a Match: Finding the Right Publisher for Your Work

May 28, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 147 MB

This session brings together editors from scholarly and trade presses, both large and small, to share their perspectives on the acquisition and editorial processes that bring a book from its research stage to market. Editors will share how scholarly authors can find their best publishing fit, what acquisition editors are looking for, strategies for pitching a book, and how to identify audience(s). They also discuss how they build strong relationships with authors in order for their books to m...

AAR 2019 - The Art of Writing AAR Proposals

May 21, 2020 19:00 - 31 minutes - 43.9 MB

Have you been struggling to get proposals accepted to the AAR Annual Meeting? Come to this session to get some tips and ideas about how to better frame your research to increase your chances of acceptance. The presenter, Elissa Cutter, has been reviewing proposals as part of the Religion in Europe Unit since 2012. As a current chair of that unit, she now has several years of experience in reviewing proposals and forming sessions. In this session, she will let you know some of the main pitfall...

2019 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion Forum: Wade Clark Roof

May 14, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 117 MB

Wade Clark Roof is the 2019 winner of the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. Having passed away suddenly on August 24, 2019, he will receive the award posthumously at this year's Marty Award Forum. Roof was Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he founded and directed the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life. Trained as a sociologist of religion, and the auth...

AAR 2019 - The 50th Anniversary of Black Theology and Black Power: Looking Back, Moving Forward

May 07, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 117 MB

This session celebrates the 50th Anniversary of James Cone’s Black Theology and Black Power, published March 1, 1969. This panel features prominent thinkers who address the significance of Cone’s first book, the relevance of black theology and the legacy of the James Cone. Adam Clark , Xavier University, Presiding Panelists: - Eddie S. Glaude, Princeton University - Gary Dorrien, Columbia University, Union Theological Seminary - Eboni Marshall Turman, Yale University This session was recor...

AAR 2019 - Conversation with Kate Bowler & Laurie Patton on Becoming a Public Intellectual

April 30, 2020 19:00 - 57 minutes - 79.4 MB

After Kate Bowler’s 2013 book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, became an unexpected public hit, she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of 35. Kate was faced with the ironic situation of “being an expert on “health wealth and happiness while being ill.” Her 2018 memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason, is a memoir exploring that existential irony, and the ways in the American belief that tragedy is a test of character shaped her own response to illness. Now a ...

2019 AAR Presidential Address by Laurie Patton - “And Are We Not of Interest to Each Other?”

April 23, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 86 MB

A Blueprint for the Public Study of Religion. In addition to its traditional goal of fostering excellence in the academic study of religion, the AAR’s recently revised mission statement includes a new goal of enhancing the public study of religion. But what is the public study of religion? How might we collectively (and inevitably imperfectly) define it? This AAR address will offer a blueprint. I suggest that such a public study of religion involves a renewed curiosity about, and disciplined ...

AAR 2019 - Women and Publishing

April 16, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 120 MB

Submissions by women to journals and books series, including JAAR, are lower by percentage than the percentage of women in the field of religious studies. This panel brings together women successful as editors and authors to discuss the reasons for this and offer advice and support to women in the field for their publishing agendas. Andrea Jain, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, Presiding Panelists: - Zayn Kassam, Pomona College - Elaine Maisner, University of North Caroli...

AAR 2019 - Book Panel: "Who Owns Religion?" by Laurie Louise Patton

April 09, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 113 MB

Laurie L. Patton is 2019 President of the American Academy of Religion, President of Middlebury College, and a scholar of South Asian history and culture. Her forthcoming book, "Who Owns Religion? Scholars and Their Publics in the Late Twentieth Century" (University of Chicago, December 2019), examines the cultural work of the study of religion through a discussion of extreme cases—the controversies of the late 80s and 90s—where the work of scholars was passionately refuted and refused by the...

AAR 2019 Book Panel: "Who Owns Religion?" by Laurie Louise Patton

April 09, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 113 MB

Laurie L. Patton is 2019 President of the American Academy of Religion, President of Middlebury College, and a scholar of South Asian history and culture. Her forthcoming book, "Who Owns Religion? Scholars and Their Publics in the Late Twentieth Century" (University of Chicago, December 2019), examines the cultural work of the study of religion through a discussion of extreme cases—the controversies of the late 80s and 90s—where the work of scholars was passionately refuted and refused by the...

AAR 2019 - Death to the Term Paper! Building Better Assignments and Assessments

April 02, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 149 MB

The Teaching and Learning Committee facilitates an engaging, hands on workshop, helping participants build assignments that are creative, more plagiarism resistant, and, importantly, that also assess course outcomes. In this recorded workshop, participants identify the key components of a successful assignment; explore strategies for designing creative scaffolded and staged assignments; describe the purpose and features of a capstone project; discover how to effectively consider outcomes in a...

2019 AAR Award-Winning Religion Journalists: What We Covered in 2018 and What's Next

March 27, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 121 MB

The American Academy of Religion presents its annual Journalism Award to recognize outstanding contributions to religion reporting in the previous year. This session celebrates journalistic excellence as it relates to the public understanding of religion, drawing insights from previous awardees, members of the award jury, and partners from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Panelists will discuss partnerships and opportunities to advance the public understanding of religion amidst the ...

AAR 2019 - How to Get Published in Religious Studies Journals

March 26, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 152 MB

This panel brings together five editors of religious studies journals to discuss the nuts and bolts of journal editing, with the aim of making the process more transparent. The panel will be of particular interest to graduate students and junior faculty who are new to the activities of scholarly publishing. Andrea Jain, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, and S. Brent Plate, Hamilton College, Presiding Panelists: - Elizabeth Ann Pritchard, Bowdoin College - Johan Strijdom, U...

AAR 2019 - Aurora, a New E-Learning Platform: An Information Session with Co-Creator, Maren Wood

March 13, 2020 15:34 - 1 hour - 82.6 MB

AAR 2019 - Aurora, a New E-Learning Platform: An Information Session with Co-Creator, Maren Wood by American Academy of Religion

AAR 2019 - Career Services for Non-Academic Careers

March 13, 2020 15:29 - 1 hour - 160 MB

When humanities scholars talk about exploring and pursuing “alt-ac” and “post-ac” careers, two concerns often dominate the conversation: 1) Graduate studies in the humanities don’t prepare us for or aren’t relevant to non-academic career paths, and 2) We don’t know where to look for or how to apply for non-academic jobs. Whether you are a scholar thinking about non-academic careers or a faculty member interested in supporting students engaged in such searches, join our panel of career service...

AAR 2019 - Considering Careers and Success outside of Academy: A Book Discussion with Kelly J. Baker

March 13, 2020 15:05 - 1 hour - 123 MB

Not every PhD becomes a professor. Some never want to, but a growing number discover too late that there's little room in the academy for them or it's not a good fit for what they want their careers to be. They also might find that they are not prepared for a job hunt outside of the ivory tower. But religious studies scholars can shift into work outside the academy. Join Kelly J. Baker, co-editor of the 2018 book Succeeding Outside the Academy: Career Paths beyond the Humanities, Social Scien...

AAR 2019 - Presenting at the AAR/SBL Annual Conference Made Easy

March 13, 2020 15:03 - 35 minutes - 48.2 MB

Dr. Mary E. Hunt has authored guidelines entitled Be Brief, Be Witty, Be Seated for presenting a conference paper that are posted on the AAR website. Come hear Dr. Hunt review and update the guidelines in a digital age. Join in a brown bag discussion on best practices an engaging conference presentation that will showcase you and your work to best advantage. Panelists: - Elizabeth Ursic, Mesa Community College - Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual This session was...

AAR 2019 - Housing, Health, and Equity: Government as a Site for Intersectional Justice

March 12, 2020 20:09 - 1 hour - 151 MB

In the face of increasing policy paralysis in Washington, regional and local governments have emerged as critical engines for progress on thorny issues from climate change and economic inequality to housing, homelessness, and racial equity. And despite the overall decline of religious affiliation in the United States, local policymakers increasingly are working closely with faith-based community partners and negotiating with multireligious and multiracial organizing coalitions. This panel, fe...

AAR 2019 - Preparing Scholars of Religion for Non-Academic Careers: What’s a Faculty Member to Do?

March 12, 2020 18:49 - 1 hour - 105 MB

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvious and religious studies faculty are exploring how graduate programs can — and should — prepare ...

The Aural Experience of the Hagia Sophia with AAR Book Award Winner Bissera Pentcheva

November 07, 2019 21:29 - 25 minutes - 46.9 MB

Bissera V. Pentcheva, winner of AAR's 2018 Award for Excellence in Historical Studies for her book "Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium" talks about how digital technology, as applied to the ancient and medieval aural experience of the Hagia Sophia, makes it possible for historians to see, feel, and hear primary textual and liturgical sources in new ways.

Religion in the Life and Work of Langston Hughes: A Conversation with Wallace Best

October 10, 2019 20:15 - 24 minutes - 44.3 MB

Countering the narrative that Langston Hughes was uninterested in religion, scholar and author Wallace Best describes the poet as an "avid and eclectic churchgoer" who returned time and again to the question, construction, and meaning of salvation in American religious history. Wallace Best's book "Langston's Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem" won the 2018 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Textual Studies category, presented by the American Academy of Re...

Modernity's Commitment to Reality with Nancy Levene, 2018 AAR Book Award Winner

September 16, 2019 21:03 - 23 minutes - 43.3 MB

Nancy Levene, professor of religious studies at Yale University, joins Kristian Petersen in a conversation about her book, Powers of Distinction: On Religion and Modernity, which won AAR's 2018 Award for Excellence in Constructive-Reflective Studies.

Conversion in America: A conversation with Lincoln Mullen

April 18, 2019 11:00 - 21 minutes - 39.1 MB

Lincoln Mullen, author of "The Chance of Salvation: A History of Conversion in America," joins Kristian Petersen in a conversation about the spectrum of religious identity in American history and how the phenomena of conversion is an opening which allows scholars to study a variety of religious groups—and their relationships to each other. Mullen is the winner of the 2018 Best First Book in the History of Religions.

Contingency Possibilities: Career Options within and beyond the Academy

March 07, 2019 11:00 - 2 hours - 190 MB

This joint panel explores ways in which contingency may be constructive (and the ways contingent faculty work can be made more humane and viable) as part of a larger discussion about non-tenure-track and “alt-ac” paths. Lynne Gerber, Harvard University, Presding Panelists: - Simran Jeet Singh, New York University - Megan Goodwin, Northeastern University - Hussein Rashid, Barnard College - Matthew Bingley, Georgia State University The session was recorded on November 19, 2018 in Denver, Col...

Career Services for Nonacademic Careers (2019)

March 07, 2019 11:00 - 1 hour - 151 MB

When humanities scholars talk about exploring and pursuing “alt-ac” and “post-ac” careers, two concerns often dominate the conversation: 1) Graduate studies in the humanities don’t prepare us for or aren’t relevant to non-academic career paths, and 2) We don’t know where to look for or how to apply for non-academic jobs. Whether you are a scholar thinking about non-academic careers or a faculty member interested in supporting students engaged in such searches, join our panel of career service...

Preparing Scholars of Religion for Nonacademic Careers: What’s a Faculty Member to Do? (2019)

March 07, 2019 11:00 - 1 hour - 136 MB

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvious and religious studies faculty are exploring how graduate programs can — and should — prepare ...

Beyond the Ivory Tower: Putting Religion Expertise to Work outside the Academy

March 07, 2019 11:00 - 1 hour - 121 MB

The panelists in this session showcase the work of current AAR-Luce Religion and International Affairs Fellows. Reflecting on their experiences in a variety of policy-shaping institutions, these four fellows will consider how their scholarly expertise has been applied outside the academy. How does knowledge about religion function outside traditional academic settings? What are the opportunities for religion researchers to engage policymakers and other public institutions? What are the obstac...

Seeing the Myth in Human Rights with author Jenna Reinbold

February 28, 2019 16:30 - 21 minutes - 38.6 MB

Jenna Reinbold, winner of the 2018 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Analytical-Descriptive Studies, discusses her book "Seeing the Myth in Human Rights" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).

Considering the Sudanese Islamic State with Noah Salomon

January 17, 2019 20:04 - 21 minutes - 38.7 MB

Noah Salomon, author of "For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan's Islamic State" (Princeton University Press, 2016) and winner of AAR's 2017 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of analytical-descriptive studies, talks to Kristian Petersen about his fieldwork in Sudan, the attempts at a unified Sudan prior to the 2011 partition, and tradition of the Islamic nation-state.

Faculty Members on Preparing Scholars of Religion for Non-academic Careers

June 14, 2018 20:45 - 1 hour - 114 MB

In recent years as the job market for tenure-track academic positions has tightened and the use of contingent faculty has exploded, increasing numbers of graduate degree seekers are intending to pursue nonacademic careers. While some areas of study present obvious nonacademic options, for scholars in the humanities, nonacademic career opportunities and the best preparation for them may not be obvious and religious studies faculty are exploring how graduate programs can - and should - prepare ...

Populism through the Lens of Religion and Race

May 24, 2018 21:07 - 1 hour - 151 MB

This discussion explores the impact of religion and race on American populism across the ideological spectrum. Papers explore the interplay of religious and secular forces on the #BlackLivesMatter movement, including a theological exploration of the death of Michael Brown and an examination of how Millennial activists are blurring secular/religious boundaries. The session juxtaposes these topics with examinations of white conservative populist expressions. Papers explore populist elements wit...

Books

The Ivory Tower
1 Episode