American Academy of Religion

This roundtable session features a discussion of Frans de Waal's Work on the theme of the development of "moral" practices outside of religion. Dr. Frans B. M. de Waal is one of the world’s leading primatologists, known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. His book, The Bonobo and the Atheist, examines the origins and evolution of morality and the role of religion in human society. He is C. H. Candler Professor in the Psychology Department of Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Center, in Atlanta. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (US), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 2007, he was selected by Time as one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today, and in 2011 by Discover as among 47 (all time) Great Minds of Science. Panelists: Frans de Waal, Emory University Sarah Brosnan, Georgia State University Edward Slingerland. University of British Columbia Robert N. McCauley, Emory University Azim Shariff, University of Oregon Dimitris Xygalatas, University of Connecticut, Presiding This roundtable session was recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on Saturday, November 21 in Atlanta, GA.

Anya Bernstein talks to Religious Studies News about her book Religious Bodies Politic: Rituals of Sovereignty in Buryat Buddhism (University of Chicago Press), which won the American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Analytical-Descriptive Studies. Music is Dexter Britain, "Fresh Monday"(www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

This panel session was added to the 2015 AAR program only a week before the Annual Meeting in response to the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, France. The panel of scholars, whose areas of focus range from interreligious dialogue to political Islam to French secularism to ancient Christianity. They discuss the media, Islamophobia, religious violence, geopolitics, rational actors, and activism. They engage questions including: what are the connections between the Paris attacks, other recent attacks in Europe, and ISIS-inspired attacks in Beirut and Baghdad? What should the role of scholars of religion be in contesting Islamophobia and debating appropriate responses to terrorism? How can scholars of religion help shape attitudes and conversations about Islam, religion and violence in the general public? How might the attacks in Paris, Beirut, and elsewhere open up classroom conversations about broader issues in the study of religion? The panel discussion is followed by a Q&A with the audience. Panel Participants: Sarah Rollens, Rhodes College Stephanie Frank, Columbia College, Chicago Edward E. Curtis, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Jerusha Lamptey, Union Theological Seminary Todd Green, Luther College, Presiding This panel was recorded on November 21 at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta, GA.

In this plenary 2015 AAR president Tom Tweed addresses urgent issues we face within and beyond the academy by asking about how the study of religion is valued. First, he analyzes how it is valued—and devalued—in the public arena and discerns what that can tell us about how to refine the usual arguments for the importance of the study of religion and, thereby, help endangered programs fare better in negotiations with administrators and stakeholders. Second, he encourages the Academy to identify the epistemic, moral, and aesthetic values it enacts to confront two challenges we face in the AAR: how to advance the divisive conversation about divergent approaches and how to enhance our ongoing discussion about professional obligations and professional ethics—from institutions’ duty to report graduate student placement rates to individual researchers’ obligation to adhere to standards of professional conduct. We must remain vigilant in addressing trends that violate shared commitments and endanger professional life—from the recent rise in contingent faculty to the chilling challenges to academic freedom. Finally, a focus on values allows us to address divisions within the academy by reframing the stale debate about the relation between religious studies and theology. By frankly acknowledging our guiding values—and concomitant normative judgments—we will not resolve all differences, but we might gain more clarity about what we share and what we don’t. Serene Jones, of Union Theological Seminary, presides over the session and introduces Tweed. This plenary was recorded at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion on November 22, 2015 in Atlanta, GA.

This conversation focuses on one of the most enduring and difficult issues facing the Academy: what is the relationship between theology and religious studies? 2015 AAR president Tom Tweed presides over the exchange between Ann Taves, a distinguished scholar of religious studies (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Graham Ward, a distinguished scholar of theology (University of Oxford), by asking each to identify the epistemic, moral, and aesthetic values that inform their work.

Recorded at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the AAR in Atlanta, GA. The 2015 annual meeting focused on “Valuing the Study of Religion,” which includes pondering how religion has been valued—and devalued—in public spaces. Addressing a variety of social spaces from the legislature to the streets, this panel analyzes religious responses to racial injustice. In 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of the historic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, attending to injustice seems more morally urgent than ever. Considering both the historical trajectory that led us to this painful moment and the religious resources activists have employed, this conversation brings together notable voices to offer their assessments of the contemporary situation. Ruby Sales, the human rights activist and public theologian who joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and later founded a non-profit organization dedicated to “racial, economic, and social justice,” joins Cornel West, distinguished religion scholar and democratic intellectual, in a conversation with Professor Imani Perry, a celebrated scholar of African American Studies and Law who has written eloquently about racial injustice and “pathways to freedom, equality, and enriched democracy.” Panelists: Imani Perry, Princeton University Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary Ruby Nell Sales, SpiritHouse Project, Atlanta, GA Thomas A. Tweed, University of Notre Dame, Presiding

Leela Prasad, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. She talks to Religious Studies News about her project Moved by Gandhi -- A Documentary Film. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

Mark Rowe, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McMaster University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. He talks to Religious Studies News about his project Female Priests in Japanese Temple Buddhism. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

Brian Pennington, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society and Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. He talks to Religious Studies News about his project Natural Disaster and Divine Agency: Hindu Theodicies of Climate Change. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)

SherAli Tareen, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin and Marshall College, was awarded an American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Individual Research Grant. He talks to Religious Studies News about his project Islam, Tradition, and Democracy: The Case of the Deoband Madrasa. Music is Dexter Britain, “Fresh Monday” (www.dexterbritain.co.uk)