North American Association for the Study of Religion

North American Association for the Study of Religion
Name	North American Association for the Study of Religion
Formation	1971
Type	Professional association
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Region served	North America
Leader title	President

North American Association for the Study of Religion is a scholarly professional association focused on the comparative and historical study of religion across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The association convenes researchers, archivists, and educators affiliated with universities, museums, seminaries, and research institutes to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among specialists in theology, anthropology, history, sociology, and religious studies. It functions as a hub linking individual scholars and institutional programs with conferences, peer-reviewed outlets, and collaborative projects.

History

The association emerged in the early 1970s amid parallel developments at Harvard University, University of Chicago, University of Toronto, and McGill University when scholars associated with programs such as the Department of Comparative Religion at Columbia University and the Institute for Advanced Study sought formal networks comparable to the American Academy of Religion and the British Association for the Study of Religions. Founding members included faculty who had worked with centers like the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, curators from the Canadian Museum of History, and editors connected to journals housed at Princeton University and Yale University. Early conferences drew plenary speakers from Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of California, Berkeley, and McMaster University, establishing ties with existing scholarly societies such as the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. Over subsequent decades the association expanded during the 1980s and 1990s alongside institutional developments at Stanford University, University of British Columbia, University of Michigan, and Vanderbilt University.

Mission and Objectives

The association’s charter articulates objectives resonant with professional bodies like the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association: to promote rigorous scholarship on religion, encourage archival preservation in repositories such as the Library of Congress and the Bodleian Library, and support pedagogical innovations enacted at institutions including Harvard Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary. It emphasizes comparative projects involving specialists from Princeton Theological Seminary, Duke University, University of Notre Dame, and University of Pennsylvania, and endorses ethical standards modeled on guidelines from the American Anthropological Association and the American Philosophical Society. The association advocates collaboration with museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and libraries such as the New York Public Library to facilitate access to primary materials.

Membership and Governance

Membership categories mirror those of organizations such as the American Sociological Association and the Association of American Universities, including regular, student, emeritus, and institutional memberships tied to campuses like Boston University and University of California, Los Angeles. Governance rests with an elected council and executive officers drawn from departments at University of Chicago, McGill University, University of Texas at Austin, and York University. Committees overseeing finance, nominations, and publications have included representatives affiliated with Columbia University, University of Washington, Brown University, and the Getty Research Institute. The bylaws prescribe biennial elections and terms similar to practices at Royal Society of Canada and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Conferences and Meetings

The association organizes annual and regional meetings held at venues ranging from campus centers at University of Colorado Boulder and University of Arizona to cultural institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Ontario Museum. Sessions have hosted panels with contributors from Cornell University, Rutgers University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and University of Southern California. Collaborations for joint conferences have occurred with the American Academy of Religion, the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Latin American Studies Association, bringing together scholars who have worked on projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory and archives at the Bancroft Library.

Publications and Communications

The association issues a peer-reviewed journal and a newsletter modeled on comparable outlets such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and the Religious Studies Review. Editorial boards have included scholars from Yale University, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and McGill-Queen’s University Press. Special issues have featured work linked to the collections of the Vatican Library, the Bodleian Library, and the Newberry Library, and have showcased research connected with projects at National Endowment for the Humanities and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Communications utilize listservs and platforms associated with Association of Research Libraries for member announcements and calls for papers.

Awards and Recognition

Annual prizes recognize lifetime achievement, early-career scholarship, and best article or monograph, paralleling awards given by the American Academy of Religion and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Recipients have included faculty from Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Toronto, and Duke University. Special fellowships support archival research at institutions such as the Library and Archives Canada, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the British Library.

Relationships with Other Organizations

The association maintains formal and informal partnerships with scholarly bodies including the American Academy of Religion, the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, the Society for Biblical Literature, and the International Association for the History of Religions. Cooperative initiatives have connected members with cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, government funding agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, and university research centers at University of California, San Diego and McMaster University. Exchanges and joint publications have also involved publishers and presses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge.

Category:Religious studies organizations Category:Learned societies in Canada