March 2005 Published by the American Academy of Religion Vol. 20, No. 2

Annual Meeting News Teaching Excellence Award ...... 5 Committee on Teaching and Learning Seeks Nominations Remember San Antonio ...... 3 Soggy But Successful Why Study Religion?...... 7 2004 Annual Business Meeting Minutes ...... 3 AAR Launches New Web Site Graduate Student Union Motion Passes 2005 Committee Roster ...... 9 Chairs Workshop ...... 4 Over 100 Members Serve The Privatization of Education News Media ...... 4 Outgoing Committee Members ...... 10 Covered by 25 Journalists Over 20 Members Rotate Off New Program Units ...... 4 Eight New Program Units Government Relations Program Expanding .... 10 Approved Increased Funding and Enhanced Understanding Are the Goals Outgoing Program Unit Chairs ...... 4 Our Thanks to These 29 Memorial Tribute to Langdon Gilkey...... 11 EIS Center Report ...... 5 Major American Christian Theologian Remembered New Statistics on Hiring

Task Force on the Independent Best-Selling and Notable Books ...... 12 Annual Meeting ...... 6 Books and Publishers Highlighted Update Future Annual Meeting 2005 Survey of Undergraduate Programs ...... 12 Dates and Sites ...... 23 Philadelphia in 2005 Follow-up Survey to Provide Longitudinal Analysis REM Book Grant ...... 15 FEATURES Luce Funds Publication of Career Guide A Conversation with the President ...... 13 Lessons in Time Management ...... 19 Hans Hillerbrand Reflects How to Set Priorities Department Meeting ...... 14 Wartburg College Is Featured Fulbright Scholars and American Academy Beyond the Annual Meeting . .15 Racial and Ethnic Minorities of Arts and Sciences Fellow...... 20 Committee AAR Members Earn Distinguished Recognition Research Briefing ...... 16 Temple Hinduism Religion and Theology Indicators...... 22 In the Public Interest ...... 17 Religion Coverage Imperiled Profiles of Doctoral Faculty From the Student Desk ...... 18 Sustaining a Marriage Passages ...... 18 New Religion Gap Eugene TeSelle Religious Voters Mobilized Page 8 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition 2005 2005 Member Calendar AAR Staff Directory Dates are subject to change. Check www.aarweb.org for the latest information. Kyle Cole, PhD Associate Director of Religionsource March May 15. Registration for the Employment November 19–22. Annual Meeting, Information Services Center opens. Philadelphia, PA. Held concurrently with the E-MAIL: [email protected] Religious Studies News—AAR Edition March issue. TEL: 404-727-4725 May 30. Annual Meeting Additional Meeting Society of Biblical Literature, comprising Journal of the American Academy of Religion Barbara DeConcini, PhD requests due for priority consideration. some 8,500 registrants, 200 publishers, and Executive Director and Treasurer March 2005 issue. For more information on 100 hiring departments. AAR publications, see www.aarweb.org/ (For more Annual Meeting information, see E-MAIL: [email protected] November 21. Annual Business Meeting. See publications or go directly to the JAAR home www.aarweb.org/annualmeet/2005/default.asp.) TEL: 404-727-3049 the Annual Meeting Program Book for exact page hosted by Oxford University Press, Joe DeRose time and place. Director of Membership and Technology Services www3.oup.co.uk/jaarel/. June E-MAIL: [email protected] March 1. 2005 Annual Meeting proposals Journal of the American Academy of Religion TEL: 404-727-7972 December due to Program Unit Chairs. June 2005 issue. Toby Director Journal of the American Academy of Religion Administrative Assistant March 1. Book award nominations due from June 15. Membership renewal deadline for December 2005 issue. E-MAIL: [email protected] publishers. For more information see 2005 Annual Meeting participants. December 1. New program unit proposals due. TEL: 404-727-7920 www.aarweb.org/awards/bookrules.asp. July December 9–10. Program Committee meet- Ina Ferrell March 3–4. Mid-Atlantic regional ing, Atlanta, GA. Accounting Manager meeting, New Brunswick, NJ. July 1. New fiscal year begins. E-MAIL: [email protected] December 15. Submissions for the March TEL: 404-727-2331 March 4–6. Status of Racial and Ethnic July 15. Submission deadline for the October 2006 issue of Religious Studies News due. For Minorities in the Profession Committee issue of Religious Studies News—AAR Edition. Carey J. Gifford, PhD more information, see Director of Academic Relations meeting, Atlanta, GA. For more information, see www.aarweb.org/publications/rsn/default.asp. E-MAIL: [email protected] www.aarweb.org/publications/rsn/default.asp. March 5. Religion and Disabilities Task Force TEL: 404-727-2270 December 31. Membership renewal for 2006 meeting, Atlanta, GA. July 31. Deadline for participants to request John Harrison audiovisual equipment at the Annual Meeting. due. Renew online at www.aarweb.org/dues. Director of Finance and Operations/ March 11–13. Southeast regional meeting, Deputy Executive Director Winston-Salem, NC. August And keep in mind E-MAIL: [email protected] March 12–13. Southwest regional meeting, throughout the year… TEL: 404-727-7954 Annual Meeting Program goes online. Dallas, TX. Regional organizations have various deadlines Steve Herrick March 12–14. Western regional meeting, August 1. Change of address due for priority throughout the fall for their Calls for Papers. Director of External Relations receipt of the 2005 Annual Meeting E-MAIL: [email protected] Tempe, AZ. See www.aarweb.org/regions/default.asp. TEL: 404-727-7948 Program Book. March 19. Committee on Publications meet- In the Field. News of events and opportunities Myesha D. Jenkins ing, New York, NY. August 1. Research Grant Applications due. for scholars of religion. In the Field is a members- Administrative Supervisor For more information, see only online publication that accepts brief E-MAIL: [email protected] (For more information on regional meetings, www.aarweb.org/grants/default.asp. announcements, including calls for papers, grant TEL: 404-727-3026 see www.aarweb.org/regions/meetings.asp.) August 15. Membership renewal period for news, conference announcements, and other Aislinn Jones opportunities appropriate for scholars of religion. Annual Meeting Program Director April 2006 begins. Submit text online at www.aarweb.org/ E-MAIL: [email protected] April 1. Notification of acceptance of Annual August 31. Regional development grant TEL: 404-727-8132 publications/inthefield/submit.asp. Meeting paper proposals by program unit chairs. applications due to regional secretaries. Allya Macdonald Openings: Employment Opportunities for Administrative Assistant April 1–2. Upper Midwest regional September Scholars of Religion. Openings is a members- E-MAIL: [email protected] meeting, St. Paul, MN. only online publication listing job announce- TEL: 404-727-7920 Journal of the American Academy of Religion April 2–3. Academic Relations Task Force September 2005 issue. For more information ments in areas of interest to members; issues Shelly C. Roberts meeting, Atlanta, GA. are viewable online from the first through the Academic Relations Program Manager on AAR publications, see www.aarweb.org/ April 6–7. National Humanities Day. publications/default.asp or go directly to the last day of each month. Submit announce- E-MAIL: [email protected] ments online, and review policies and pric- National Humanities Day is an advocacy JAAR home page hosted by Oxford University TEL: 404-727-4707 ing, at www.aarweb.org/openings/submit.asp. Susan Snider event organized by the National Humanities Press, www3.oup.co.uk/jaarel/. Administrative Assistant, Media Referral Alliance and co-sponsored by the AAR and Annual Meeting Program Books mailed to E-MAIL: [email protected] more than 20 organizations to promote sup- members. TEL: 404-727-4711 port for the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information, see September 9. Executive Committee Religious Studies News—AAR Edition is meeting, Atlanta, GA. published quarterly by the American Academy www.nhalliance.org. of Religion in January, March, May, and April 8–9. Rocky Mountain–Great Plains September 10–11. Program Committee October. Letters to the editor and features meeting, Atlanta, GA. examining professional issues in the field are regional meeting, Denver, CO. September 23–24. Regions Committee welcome from all readers. Please send editorial April 8–9. Midwest regional meeting, Religious Studies News—AAR Edition pieces in electronic uncompressed file format meeting, Atlanta, GA. only (MS Word is preferred) to: Chicago, IL. is the newspaper of record for the [email protected]. April 15. Executive Committee meeting, October field especially designed to serve the professional needs of persons Subscriptions for individuals and institutions Philadelphia, PA. Religious Studies News—AAR Edition October involved in teaching and scholarship are available. See www.aarweb.org/ April 15. Regional Secretaries meeting, publications/rsn for more information. issue. in religion (broadly construed to Philadelphia, PA. include religious studies, theology, Deadlines for submissions: Spotlight on Teaching Fall 2005 issue. April 16–17. Spring Board of Directors and sacred texts). Published quarterly January: October 15 October 1–31. AAR officer election March: December 15 meeting, Philadelphia, PA. by the American Academy of May: February 15 period. Candidate profiles will be Religion, RSN is received by some April 29–May 1. Pacific Northwest regional October: July 15 published in the October RSN. 10,000 scholars, by departments meeting, Seattle, WA. Advertising October 15. January 2006 Religious Studies enrolled in the Academic Relations For information on advertising, please see (For more information on regional meetings, News submission deadline. Program, and by libraries at colleges www.aarweb.org/publications/rsn. see www.aarweb.org/regions/meetings.asp.) and universities across North October 15. Excellence in Teaching award Publisher: America and abroad. Religious Studies American Academy of Religion May nominations due. For more information, see News—AAR Edition communicates 825 Houston Mill Road, NE www.aarweb.org/awards/teaching.asp. Suite 300 Religious Studies News—AAR Edition May the important events of the field and Atlanta, GA 30329 October 21. EIS preregistration closes. related areas. It provides a forum for USA issue. members and others to examine critical Editor-in-Chief: Spotlight on Teaching Spring 2005 issue. November issues in education, pedagogy (espe- Carey J. Gifford, PhD Annual Meeting Registration materials mailed November 1. Research grant awards announced. cially through the biannual Spotlight Production Manager: with RSN. on Teaching), research, publishing, Shelly C. Roberts November 17. Executive Committee and the public understanding of May 1. Nominations (including self-nomina- meeting, Philadelphia, PA. religion. It also publishes news about Copy Editor: tions) for committee appointments requested. Louisa T. Whitman November 18. Fall Board of Directors meet- the services and programs of the For more information, see AAR and other organizations, Layout: ing, Philadelphia, PA. www.aarweb.org/membership/volunteering.asp. including employment services and Jill G. Connolly November 18. Chairs Workshop at the May 6–8. Eastern International regional registration information for the AAR © AAR, 2005 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. Free for meeting, Montreal, QC, Canada. Annual Meeting. POSTMASTER: departments enrolled in the Academic Send address changes to Religious Studies News— May 15. Annual Meeting registration & Relations Program. For more information, see For writing and advertising guide- AAR Edition, 825 Houston Mill Road, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30329. housing opens for 2005 Annual Meeting. www.aarweb.org/department/acadrel.asp. lines, please see www.aarweb.org/ Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA. publications/rsn.asp.

2 • March 2005 AAR RSN ANNUAL MEETING NEWS Remember San Antonio!

San Antonio hosted 8,366 meeting atten- expressed their frustration with the online providing “cash-and-carry” stations, such dees, the fourth largest meeting in AAR his- housing system; there were problems with as the outlet in San Antonio’s exhibit hall, tory. Registration was down 5 percent from the software dropping them or not allow- or convincing fast food outlets to remain Atlanta’s record-breaking attendance of ing them to return to registration. open on a weekend, as we did in Atlanta. 8,752 in 2003. Overall satisfaction with the Conferon is aware of these issues and is We make our best effort each year to warn Annual Meeting, however, remained high working on solutions in preparation for local restaurants that we are coming . . . — 95 percent of survey respondents report- the 2005 meeting. The online registration and that our attendees are hungry! The ed they were satisfied or very satisfied. and housing system, however, remained long lines at food venues in San Antonio Many commented on the great location and the most popular method of registration, were partially due to the unseasonably bad said that San Antonio was fantastic. The accounting for 61 percent of all registra- weather. The rain discouraged many meet- hotel facilities, accessibility among meeting tions. A record number of hotel rooms ing-goers from exploring the restaurants locations, meeting-room space, and exhibit were occupied. Over 16,000 total room on the Riverwalk and kept the meeting facilities all received high marks. nights were used throughout the Annual facility restaurants and cafes congested. AN ANTONIO, Texas, gave a warm Meeting, with almost 4,000 rooms occu- (and soggy!) reception for the 2004 Annual Meeting attendees came from all pied on the peak night of Saturday, The Annual Meeting Satisfaction Survey is SAnnual Meeting last November. corners of the world. California was once November 20. sent via e-mail to all AAR members (over Despite the rain, AAR members responded again home of the largest number of 10,000 people) at the conclusion of each positively in the Annual Meeting survey. attendees: 825. Texas was the second Overall, survey respondents gave positive meeting and is offered online at the AAR Survey results are listed at www.aarweb.org/ largest state represented, with 679 mem- reviews of San Antonio, although they did Web site. The number of voluntary annualmeet/2004/survey/results/. bers in attendance. Large numbers also suggest that accessibility to food needs to responses this year was 916. Not every came from New York (470), Illinois (412), be improved. Some commented on the question was answered by each respondent, The 2004 Annual Meeting was the largest and Pennsylvania (361). International long lines at venues or the scarcity of so the percentages were determined from ever in terms of programming. Over 900 attendees visited from over 50 countries, restaurants, especially vegetarian-friendly the number who did respond. The survey sessions took place during the five-day with Canada, the United Kingdom, and options. Other respondents noted that the is voluntary and open to all members. period from Thursday, November 18 to Germany being represented in the largest signage for the cafe in the exhibit hall was Tuesday, November 23. AAR hosted 319 numbers. AAR welcomed 14 Latin unsatisfactory and that the Koffee Klatch The executive office staff would like to sessions — an increase of 38 over the pre- American scholars in response to the 2004 shop in the convention center had limited thank every member who responded. The vious record (2003: 281). The SBL and international focus. The 2005 Annual hours. One of the major concerns when survey continues to be valuable to the Additional Meetings sessions also grew in Meeting will focus on Eastern European planning the Annual Meeting is the acces- Annual Meeting process, for it provides numbers. Survey respondents overwhelm- scholars and scholarship. sibility of food. In the meeting materials the AAR’s Program Committee, Board of ingly approved, with 91 percent reporting we try to list a range of restaurants for Directors, and executive office staff with their satisfaction with the overall quality Registration and housing, handled by the your convenience, including vegetarian an important measure of member satisfac- of sessions. They also responded positively Conferon Registration & Housing and kosher options where available. AAR tion with the Annual Meeting. We value about the opportunity to network with Bureau, received high marks from survey works each year with the city convention this opportunity to hear your comments friends and colleagues; that question respondents. The registration process and tourism bureaus, as well as the meet- and suggestions on how we can continue received a 95 percent satisfaction rate. earned an exceptional 98 percent satisfied ing facilities, to make sure food will be to meet your needs and to offer an excel- or very satisfied rating. Some respondents handy to attendees. Some years this means lent Annual Meeting experience. ❧

American Academy of Religion 2004 Annual Business Meeting Minutes

Marriott Rivercenter Hotel Salon C San Antonio, Texas November 22, 2004

1. Call to Order: President Jane 7. New Business: WHEREAS freedom of speech, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that McAuliffe called the meeting to order A resolution on graduate student expression, and association are the American Academy of Religion at 11:50 AM. unions was brought to the meeting, essential to academic workplaces; members present at the annual business 2. Approval of 2003 Minutes: A motion previously circulated in accordance and meeting on Monday, November 22, was made and seconded to approve with AAR by-laws. Jessica Rudkeski WHEREAS other academic associ- 2004, recommend that the administra- the 2003 minutes. The motion and Professor Eric Gregory offered ations, including the American tions of any university where graduate passed unanimously. context for the motion. A friendly Sociological Association and a assistants seek to form unions work out 3. Memorial List: The President read the amendment to the motion removed committee of the American a fair process for graduate assistants to list of members who were known to specific institutions from the final Political Science Association have decide whether or not to unionize, in have died since the last business meet- sentence. The motion thus read: recently passed resolutions sup- an atmosphere free from intimidation ing. A minute of silence was observed. porting the rights of graduate assis- and coercion. 4. President’s Report: The President WHEREAS, 260,000 teaching and tants to form unions; The motion passed (29 yes; 0 opposed; directed attention to the report of the research assistants are currently BE IT RESOLVED that the 0 abstentions). In response to an Task Force on the Independent identified by the U.S. Department American Academy of Religion inquiry about whether a press release Meeting as indicative of the work of of Education as part of the higher joins with other academic associa- would result from this motion, Jane her presidential year. educational instructional work- tions in supporting the collective McAuliffe noted that any further steps 5. Executive Director and Treasurer’s force; and bargaining rights of graduate assis- would require Executive Committee or Report: Barbara DeConcini directed WHEREAS all individuals per- tants at all universities; Board action. attention to the AAR Annual Report, forming work for colleges and uni- BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED A second motion was brought regard- which reproduces the independent versities are entitled to unionize that the American Academy of ing the possibility of holding meetings audit of the AAR. The Annual and bargain collectively in promo- Religion members present at the outside of the United States as a Report also provides a summary of tion of their interests as employees, annual business meeting on response to the U.S. government’s AAR programming for the year; the including fair wages and benefits, Monday, November 22, 2004, denying Tariq Ramadan’s visa, as well as Executive Director noted Board equity and accessibility to academ- deplore the NLRB decision in to international anxiety about meeting approval of an enhanced government ic opportunities, and suitable Brown, which affects the academic in the United States in current circum- relations and public policy program, teaching conditions; and workplaces where our members are stances. The motion was withdrawn. and directed attention to an initiative WHEREAS, on July 13, 2004, in employed; with the Wabash Center on commu- the case of Brown University, the BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED 8. Adjournment: A motion was made nity colleges. She also thanked National Labor Relations Board that the American Academy of and seconded to adjourn the meet- donors, emphasizing the importance voted along partisan lines to reverse Religion members present at the ing. The motion passed unanimously. of this to AAR success. an earlier, unanimous decision that annual business meeting on The meeting adjourned at 12:15 PM. 6. 2004 Election Results: Jane graduate assistants were entitled to Monday, November 22, 2004, McAuliffe announced the election of organize under the National Labor condemn any retaliation against Respectfully submitted, Hans Hillerbrand as President, Diana Relations Act, and ruled that grad- graduate students by university fac- Susan E. Henking ❧ Eck as President-Elect, Jeffrey Stout uate teaching and research assis- ulty members or administrators for as Vice President, and Michelene tants are not employees eligible to their union activities; Pesantubbee as Secretary. unionize under the Act; and

March 2005 AAR RSN • 3 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Annual Meeting Chairs Workshop a Success Being a Chair in Today’s ible accumulation and the resultant disin- Task Force chair, began the workshop by • Elizabeth A. Say, California State tegration of the professional managerial discussing the politics of knowledge. A University, Northridge: “Institutional Consumer Culture: class. This phenomenon has occurred in morning panel then discussed the increas- Development: Balancing State Navigating in the Knowledge order to manage a consumer and corpo- ing commercialization of the profession Support and State Assistance” rate economy that will be called on to and the university. The individual pan- • Robert C. Neville, Boston University: Factory educate the various sectors of our con- elists and their topics were: “The Commercialization of Print sumer society. “Increasingly, universities VER 30 CHAIRS attended the • Steve Friesen, University of Missouri, Culture” rank their internal colleges and depart- chairs workshop at the Annual Columbia: “Religious Studies: ments on the basis of productivity This Annual Meeting workshop was the lat- Meeting in San Antonio last Production, Reproduction, O schemes designed to measure activities est in a series developed especially for chairs November. The workshop, developed Reduction” that generate revenue even as they pro- of departments. In past years the topics under the guidance of the Academic duce new knowledge.” (Ohmann, ix) • Carol S. Anderson, Kalamazoo have been: Scholarship Service and Stress: Relations Task Force, was based on Richard Changes such as these have challenged the College: “Faculty in Small Colleges The Tensions of Being a Chair (Atlanta, Ohmann’s influential book The Politics of relative autonomy of all academic disci- Who Are Called Upon to Do 2003); The Entrepreneurial Chair: Building Knowledge: The Commercialization of the plines to determine what is worth investi- Everything” and Managing Your Department in an Era University, the Professions, & Print Culture gating. The privatization of human of Shrinking Resources and Increasing (Wesleyan University Press, 2003). • Gerald S. Vigna, Alvernia College: knowledge for business profit has con- Demands (Georgetown, Summer 2003); “Teaching for Citizenship” strained professional knowledge workers, Running a Successful Faculty Search in the The daylong workshop dealt with the and threatens to de-skill them as well. The In the afternoon, another panel discussed Religious Studies Department (Toronto, increasing privatization of education and workshop focused on this commodifica- the commodification of knowledge. The 2002); Evaluating and Advancing Teaching corporatism at colleges and universities tion of knowledge, and how chairs can specific panelists and their topics were: in the Religious Studies Department and how that has challenged the relative administer and promote their departments (Denver, 2001); and Assessing and autonomy of all academic disciplines. It • William K. Mahony, Davidson within such a culture. Advancing the Religious Studies discussed the realignment of industrial College: “Accountability and Department (Nashville, 2000). ❧ capitalism (Fordism) into a society of flex- Warren Frisina (Hofstra University), the Academic Freedom”

News Media at the 2004 Annual Meeting AAR would like to thank EDIA INTEREST in the 2004 Education, Publishers Weekly, Spectrum Annual Meeting was superb, Magazine, Christianity Today, and the following outgoing M with 25 journalists attending. Christian Century. With the exception of one British televi- program unit chairs whose Journalists typically view the meeting as sion journalist, all the other members of an opportunity to interview scholars on a the press were from the United States. variety of topics, rather than as an event terms ended in 2004 Stories about the meeting have been pub- to be reported. Stories from these inter- lished in the San Antonio Express-News and views will continue to be published or Publishers Weekly. Linda L. Barnes, Boston University J. Shawn Landres, University of broadcast during the next few months. (Religions, Medicines, and Healing California, Santa Barbara (Religion U.S. media included journalists from A reception for journalists was held prior Group) in Central and Eastern Europe PBS, Beliefnet, Hallmark and Lightworks to the announcement of the 2004 AAR Consultation) Jon L. Berquist, Westminster John Broadcasting, Clear Channel Radio, San Newswriting Award winners. About 12 Knox Press (Constructions of Philip Lutgendorf, University of Iowa Antonio Express-News, Chronicle of Higher journalists attended. ❧ Ancient Space Seminar) (Religion in South Asia Section) Anne M. Blackburn, Cornell University Susan L. Nelson, Pittsburgh 2005 New Program Units (Buddhism Section) Theological Seminary (Religion, Holocaust, and Genocide Group) Elizabeth M. Bounds, Emory AR’s Program Committee approved The following program units were University (Religion in the Social Leslie Orr, Concordia University the following new program units granted a change of status for the 2005 Science Section) (Religion in South Asia Section) for the 2005 Annual Meeting: Annual Meeting: A Christopher Chapple, Loyola Robert Orsi, Harvard University Christian Systematic Theology Section Marymount University (Religion and (Cultural History of the Study of Western Esotericism Group Ecology Group) Religion Consultation) Law, Religion, and Culture Group Contemporary Pagan Studies Sungtaek Cho, Korea University Jacqueline Z. Pastis, La Salle University Consultation Religions, Medicines, and Healing (Korean Religions Group) (Women and Religion Section) Group Daoist Studies Consultation Mark Csikszentmihalyi, University of Michelene Pesantubbee, University of Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace Death, Dying, and Beyond Consultation Wisconsin, Madison (Confucian Iowa (Native Traditions in the Group Traditions Group) Americas Group) Liberal Theologies Consultation James W. Flanagan, Case Western Timothy H. Polk, Hamline University Queer Theory and LGBT Studies in Proposals for new program units are wel- Reserve University (Constructions of (Kierkegaard, Religion, and Culture Religion Consultation come from all AAR members. Please visit Ancient Space Seminar) Group) Religion and Sexuality Consultation www.aarweb.org/programunit/newunit.asp Peter N. Gregory, Smith College J. Eric Pridmore, Drew University for procedures on how to propose a Signifying (on) Scriptures Consultation (Buddhism Section) (Religion and Disability Studies new unit. ❧ Group) Ruben L. F. Habito, Southern Methodist University (Japanese Marcia Y. Riggs, Columbia Theological Religions Group) Seminary (Womanist Approaches to Volunteering for Committee Religion and Society Group) M. Gail Hamner, Syracuse University Service in the Academy (Feminist Theory and Religious Leigh Schmidt, Princeton University Reflection Group) (Cultural History of the Study of Religion Consultation) Much of the work of the Academy out- ship positions. The Academy encourages Chris Johnson, Gustavus Adolphus side of the Annual Meeting is accom- letters of nomination for committee College (Academic Teaching and the Greg Stassen, Fuller Theological plished through its committees. These appointments, including self-nomination. Study of Religion Section) Seminary (Religion and the Social groups are composed of individuals who These appointments are made by the Sciences Group) Pamela Klassen, University of Toronto contribute their time and talents to the president in consultation with the execu- (Anthropology of Religion Group) Cynthia Stewart, Nashville, TN AAR’s mission of fostering excellence in tive director. For more information about (Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace teaching and scholarship in religion. For AAR’s committees, task forces, and juries, David Kling, University of Miami Group) the ongoing vitality of the Academy’s visit this link from our Web site: (Evangelical Theology Group) work, it is important to continually wel- www.aarweb.org/about/board.asp. Please Robin Darling Young, University of Andrii Krawchuk, St. Paul University come new voices into the conversation send nominations, including a curricu- Notre Dame (Eastern Orthodox (Religion in Central and Eastern and to achieve a broad and diverse range lum vitae or resume, to Myesha D. Studies Group) ❧ Europe Consultation) of member participation in these leader- Jenkins at [email protected]. ❧

4 • March 2005 AAR RSN ANNUAL MEETING NEWS

POSITIONS TO POSITIONS CANDIDATES CANDIDATES Employment Information Job Classifications 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 Administration (e.g., President, Services Center 2004 Dean, Director, Program Director, Coordinator) 1 1 0 0 1:0 1:0 Ancient Near Eastern Languages N/A 0 N/A 0 N/A 0:0 ACH YEAR at the Annual date is required to choose a primary Meeting, the AAR and the SBL classification from among the list Archaeology – Ancient Near East N/A 0 N/A 1 N/A 0:1 E jointly host the Employment shown at right. While they are also Archaeology – Greco-Roman N/A 0 N/A 0 N/A 0:0 Information Services Center (EIS). allowed to choose secondary and ter- Arts, Literature & Religion 0 0 5 3 0:5 0:3 The center is designed to ease the tiary classifications, only the primary communication process between choices are shown here. Therefore, Asian Religions candidates for academic positions and when drawing conclusions from this (general or not listed separately) 3 10 2 7 1:0.7 1:0.7 employers seeking to fill available data, it is important to note that Biblical Languages N/A 1 N/A 1 N/A 1:1 positions. EIS features job postings, many jobs fall under classifications Buddhism 1 2 7 11 1:7 1:5.5 candidate credentials for review, a that candidates are less likely to use to message center, and an interview describe their primary field, but Catholic Studies 1 3 2 0 1:2 3:0 facility. might well select as a secondary or Catholic Theology (all areas) 8 8 8 15 1:1 1:1.9 tertiary specialization (World Central and South American and At the 2004 EIS Center, 115 institu- Religions, for example). Caribbean Religions 1 1 1 0 1:1 1:0 tions conducted interviews for a total Over time, data collected at EIS will of 140 positions. The total number of Christian Ethics 5 5 25 28 1:5 1:5.6 enable one to identify trends in the registered candidates was 442, and field. In fact, the AAR has Christian Studies 3 1 1 2 1:0.3 1:2 the ratio of positions to candidates collected such information since Christian Theology was 1:3.16. A record 29 percent of 1990; however, we changed the (general or not listed separately) 7 5 23 23 1:3.3 1:4.6 registrants answered the optional EIS method of collection in 2003, mean- Satisfaction Survey. The EIS staff is Christian Theology: Practical/Praxis 0 0 8 8 0:8 0:8 ing the information shown here is not carefully reviewing each response to comparable to the data of the past. Christian Theology: identify possible areas for improve- Systematic/Constructive 5 5 35 26 1:7 1:5.2 ment in the future. Additional data, including secondary Critical Studies/Theory/Methods and tertiary classifications and job Each year, EIS gathers data about job in Religion 1 0 5 5 1:5 0:5 data from 1990–2004, are available positions and candidates registered for upon request from Shelly Roberts at Classics N/A 0 N/A 0 N/A 0:0 the center. Each position and candi- [email protected]. ❧ Comparative Religions 3 2 6 7 1:2 1:3.5 Early Christianity/Church History N/A 0 N/A 12 N/A 0:12 Early Judaism N/A 0 N/A 2 N/A 0:2 EMPLOYERS 2003 2004 East Asian Religions Positions Registered 121 140 (general or not listed separately) 4 3 3 5 1:0.8 1:1.7 Total Institutions Registered 98 115 Editorial 0 0 0 0 0:0 0:0 Preregistered 76 89 Epigraphy N/A 0 N/A 0 N/A 0:0 Registered On-site 22 26 Gay/Lesbian Studies in Religion 0 0 1 1 0:1 0:1 Hebrew Bible 9 9 48 34 1:5.3 1:3.8 Ratio of Positions to Candidates 1:3.35 1:3.16 Hinduism 1 0 6 6 1:6 0:6 CANDIDATES 2003 2004 History of Christianity/ Total Registered 405 442 Church History 3 7 24 30 1:8 1:4.3 Preregistered 331 368 History of Religion (general) 0 4 5 5 0:5 1:1.3 Registered On-site 74 74 Indigenous/Native/Traditional Religions 0 4 0 4 0:0 1:1 Female Participants 144 145 Introduction to Religion 0 0 2 1 0:2 0:1 Male Participants 261 237 Islam 7 9 8 7 1:1.1 1:0.8 Did Not Report Gender 0 60 Judaism 1 2 5 2 1:5 1:1 Ratio of Female to Male 1:1.8 1:1.6 Library 0 0 0 0 0:0 0:0 Septuagint N/A 0 N/A 0 N/A 0:0 Missiology 1 0 0 2 1:0 0:2 New Religious Movements 0 0 0 0 0:0 0:0 New Testament 13 12 40 56 N/A 1:4.7 The Committee on Teaching North American Religions 3 4 15 21 1:5 1:5.3 Old Testament 4 1 9 31 1:2.25 1:31 and Learning seeks nominations Other 8 9 4 5 1:0.5 1:0.6 for the 2005 AAR Award for Pastoral Care 1 2 4 1 1:4 1:0.5 Philosophy of Religion 1 1 16 11 1:16 1:11 Excellence in Teaching. Preaching/Ministry 2 3 0 0 2:0 3:0 Rabbinic Judaism N/A 0 N/A 1 N/A 0:1 Nominations of winners of Racial/Ethnic Minority Studies in Religion 1 1 3 5 1:3 1:5 campus awards, or any other Religious Ethics 3 3 10 14 1:3.3 1:4.7 Religion/Theology: Two or awards, are encouraged. More Subfields 6 3 11 13 1:1.8 1:4.3 Second Temple Judaism N/A 2 N/A 4 N/A 1:2 Procedures for the nomination Social Sciences and Religion (e.g., Religion & Society, process are outlined on the Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, AAR Web site at Sociology) 1 1 7 8 1:7 1:8 South Asian Religions www.aarweb.org/awards/teaching.asp. (general or not listed separately) 6 10 5 14 1:0.8 1:1.4 Women’s Studies in Religion 1 0 4 1 1:4 0:1 World Religions 6 6 0 4 6:0 1:0.6 Not Reporting 0 0 47 5 0:47 0:5 Total 121 140 405 442 1:3.35 1:3.16

March 2005 AAR RSN • 5 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition A Message to All AAR Members

HIS YEAR is an important one for Note” box on the first page, www.aar- emerging fields that represent the future of Hans J. Hillerbrand, Duke University planning for the AAR independent web.org. The report addresses the content the academic study of religion as a field. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown TAnnual Meeting in 2008. During the of the Annual Meeting program, suggests University course of 2005, we are asking you to get some new areas of study and concentra- We invite you to reflect on your own experi- Michelene Pesantubbee, University of Iowa engaged in the process of envisioning what tion, and proposes changes in the struc- ence, have conversations with your friends Jeffrey L. Stout, Princeton University our Annual Meeting can become. We appre- tures and processes of the program. The and colleagues at your home institutions, Emilie M. Townes, Union Seminary ciate that some AAR members would have Program Committee needs and actively within your subfields, and at regional meet- Nelly Van Doorn-Harder, Valparaiso University preferred to continue to meet with the SBL solicits your ideas on these topics. We are ings, and work together on shaping the new Glenn E. Yocum, Whittier College every year, but the decision to hold separate asking all AAR members to discuss the Annual Meeting program. meetings has been finalized, meeting locations report in as many venues as possible At this time, AAR has contracted Annual have been booked into 2011, and we are and to send your responses, suggestions, Please send your feedback on the Task Meeting locations and dates through moving forward. There will be a thoroughgo- and proposals to the Program Force Report’s recommendations, your 2011. ing review of the independent Annual Committee for action. suggestions, and your proposals for new Meeting in 2014. In the next several years, we units to the AAR Executive Office at 2005 - November 19–22, Philadelphia, PA have the opportunity not only to increase the It is important to note up-front that the Task [email protected] by August 15, 2006 - November 18–21, Washington, DC number of sessions, but also to reenvision and Force Report’s specific suggestions for new 2005. The Program Committee will hold restructure our Annual Meeting to make it areas of study (pp. 8-9) are descriptive rather a special meeting in September devoted to 2007 - November 17–20, San Diego, CA more reflective of the full range of our schol- than prescriptive. Indeed, as the report con- the Task Force Report, addressing your 2008 - October 25–28, Chicago, IL arly and professional interests, and more cludes, “We strongly believe that the suggestions and considering your propos- diverse and dynamic in presentation styles. Academy will benefit from a broad conversa- als for new program units. 2009 - November 7–10, Montreal, tion about the issues we have addressed. Our Quebec After years of working within a context of specific proposals and recommendations may Yours, 2010 - October 29–November 2, Atlanta, GA severe constraint, members of the Program have some merit, but we are convinced that Committee are excited by these opportu- they will be greatly improved by broad input AAR Program Committee: 2011 - November 18–21, San Francisco, nities for expansion and experimentation. from across the Academy, and that such John C. Cavadini, Notre Dame University CA (same time and place as SBL) But since AAR members, rather than the input will give the membership a positive David S. Cunningham, Hope College Program Committee, are the authors of stake in the future of the Annual Meeting.” Barbara DeConcini, Chair, AAR After 2011, the AAR Annual Meeting will the Annual Meeting Program through our Michel Desjardins, Wilfrid Laurier be held on the first full weekend of program unit process, we need your active To this end, the Program Committee is University November. The AAR has expressed to participation! By now every AAR member seeking proposals for new program units Diana L. Eck, Harvard University SBL our desire that the two associations should have received in the mail a copy of that address 1) areas of pent-up demand; Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Duke meet concurrently every four years. ❧ the Report of the AAR Task Force on 2) scholarly fields that are weakened or Divinity School the Independent Meeting. The report is threatened by the separation of the AAR W. Clark Gilpin, University of Chicago also available on our Web site in the “Of and SBL annual meetings; and 3) new and Divinity School

Components of the Losses in the Independent Meeting Opportunities of the Meeting Independent Meeting We acknowledge that there will be losses postcolonial studies (often pursued by these While the losses are serious, the independ- • Specialized sessions for the constituen- because of the split of the annual meetings. groups) cut across all disciplines, including ent Annual Meeting also provides opportu- cies of a program unit Some of them can be wholly or partially across biblical and religious studies. nities for the Annual Meeting program to These sessions focus on scholarship in a addressed, and some of them cannot. We We also recognize other losses and burdens, address areas of pent-up demand and to particular field, and they are not specifi- stand in solidarity with those who are adverse- such as faculties in the same departments and foster important new conversations. cally designed with a broader constituency ly affected by this decision and commit to schools will not be able to attend one concur- in mind. find ways to provide some remedy. In light of the increasingly global nature of rent meeting; the financial cost of attending the AAR and its intention to notice and • Sessions designed to attract an audience Some of the losses include, but are not limit- two meetings, especially for graduate students, include new areas in the study of religion, in beyond the program unit ed to, networking and the development of junior faculty, and international members; particular in relation to living religious tradi- These might be jointly sponsored ses- communities of discourse over the years with- and the negative impact on book publishers tions and their theological and ethical sions, book forums, sessions on topics or in the structure of the joint meeting; the loss and job searches. The split creates severe chal- dimensions, we identify five areas where new issues of broad appeal, topical issues, ses- of an intellectual home for those whose work lenges for theological schools and seminaries, possibilities are particularly prominent, and sions on teaching in the field, discussion falls in between the AAR and the SBL; possi- whose faculties are split relatively evenly under each we list examples of more specific of films, etc. bilities of generating new knowledge and between the two organizations; the split initiatives that might emerge. We welcome developing new subfields because of work in wreaks havoc with traditional alumni break- • Sessions that promote new intellectual the suggestion of other areas and examples. these overlapping and in-between spaces; and fasts and recruitment programs. conversations opportunities to attend some SBL sessions. • Religious and theological traditions These new conversations might be promot- To provide remedy for some of these losses, For instance, work on comparative sacred Catholic tradition and traditions ed within existing program units by means we suggest the development of new units to texts and the Quran-Bible initiative were Rabbinic Judaism of joint sessions, by developing new pro- provide space for those conversations that sponsored jointly by members of both organi- Systematic theologies (Buddhist, gram units, by special topics forums, or by have already begun and to enable new dia- zations; the split annual meetings make their Christian, Islamic, etc.) member-initiated sessions. logues to happen. In creating these new units, work more difficult. The Study of Islam Constructive theologies we want to clearly indicate that AAR is not • Professional development sessions Section has resisted embracing this compara- anti-Christian, anti-Bible, or anti-theology. • Pluralism and traditions The AAR has been developing special tive initiative because it goes beyond the field But we also need to be careful that we are not Religious hybridity programming for graduate students, new of Islamic studies. The field of Late Antiquity moving from cooperation with the SBL to Multiple religious belonging faculty, women, racial and ethnic minori- was already fragmented, and the split only appropriating their ideas or programs. Such Religious diversity in America ties, teachers, program chairs, and others. exacerbates the situation. The split seriously new units are both an invitation for those Pluralism within single traditions As a professional organization, we need to impedes the work of collaborative groups, who work at the boundaries of the two Interreligious dialogue as an continue and strengthen such services for such as the editorial board of the Journal of organizations to find a home in AAR, and a academic practice our members. Feminist Studies in Religion. We also want to reminder that AAR members need and will Theories of interreligious learning recognize the loss of members who have dual • Socializing/Free time benefit from these areas of scholarly discourse. Comparative theology and ethics citizenship in the AAR/SBL. AAR members highly value the free time • Biblical Hermeneutics • Religions in practice built into our program structure to meet We will also lose the opportunity to learn • The Bible in Racial and Ethnic Evangelical colleges and seminaries with colleagues and friends, or to simply from SBL scholars whose fields include inter- Minority Communities and the study of religions escape the frenetic pace of the meeting. preting biblical texts, history of the Greco- • Hebrew Bible and New Testament in Monasticism Roman world, Rabbinic Judaism and • Book exhibits and publishers Religious Studies Context Moral development Christianity, and Ancient Near Eastern reli- AAR members relish the chance to see • Christian Origins and Early Practical and pastoral theology gions and cultures, and to discuss with them and examine a broad range of publica- Christianity Religious communities and congregations how sacred texts shape religious beliefs and tions in the field, and to order or buy at a • Rabbinic Judaism, Early Christianity, Religious practice, worship, and practices and form religious communities. We bargain price those of special interest. The and the Hellenic World liturgical reflection understand that making meanings of sacred program needs time and space for mem- Spirituality texts is important in reinterpreting religious As always, the task force makes these sugges- bers to visit the exhibits and to converse identities and projecting new moral visions in tions to stimulate conversation and encour- • Connections with other disciplines with publishers. some religious traditions. Women and racial ages all members of the AAR to propose pro- Race, gender, and the study of religion • Employment Information Services minorities will be especially affected because gram unit initiatives that will help restore Religion and immigration There are years when these services are they are further marginalized because of the fields threatened or undermined by the split Religion and politics critical for members either seeking a job smaller number as a result of the split. annual meetings. Religion and technology or seeking to hire a colleague. Moreover, feminist, ethnic, contextual, and Sociology of religion • Other emergent themes

6 • March 2005 AAR RSN NEWS

Editor’s Note: This Web site is part of the AAR’s Strengthening College and University Religion & Why Study Religion? Theology Programs initiative, supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. We encourage you to take a look at the Web site: www.studyreligion.org. We also encourage every religion and theology department to link it to their department’s site. We are especially AAR Launches a New Web Site Promoting interested in promoting the site to high school students. If you have suggestions regarding how to promote the Web site, please contact Carey J. Gifford in the Executive Offices at the Study of Religion: www.studyreligion.org [email protected]. Brad Herling, Boston University

Starting this year, the AAR has added to its repertoire by introducing the “Why Study Religion?” Web site (www.studyreligion.org). Anyone who has taught a The site is designed to offer high school stu- religion course knows that dents and undergraduates a rationale for the students often come to the important role studying religion plays in any “ well-rounded undergraduate curriculum. It topic with a set of provides its audience with basic information about the intellectual content of the field, preconceived notions about the requirements in both religion courses what religion is. Thus the and for religion majors, and career options question ‘Why study for those who make religion the focus of undergraduate study. In bringing this mate- religion?’ immediately begs rial together, it is hoped that the site will for a definition. provide a valuable reference work and con- Brad Herling is a full-time instructor in versation-starter for chairs and undergradu- the Core Humanities Curriculum at ate advisors in religion departments. Boston University and part-time instructor As the author of the site’s content, I was of religion and philosophy at Emerson guided by extensive recommendations quickly get a sense of theories and positions Next the site faces that last, crucial miscon- College. After receiving his BA from made by the Academic Relations Task ” on the matter, inviting more in-depth dia- ception (“Studying religion is impractical”) Wesleyan University, he worked as an Force and the Executive Office. But the logue and inquiry. in detail. In the “Where Can I Go with It?” administrative assistant for the AAR for greatest challenge was communicating the two years and then took up graduate stud- section, the reader finds information about contours and concerns of the field to the In addition, the site addresses the com- ies in the philosophy of religion at Boston the preparation studying religion offers for “target audience” in a nontechnical manner pelling nature of contemporary inquiry in University, from which he received his PhD professional success. Naturally the site dis- — without seeming patronizing or conde- the field in a subsection called “Pressing in January 2004. The dissertation, which cusses both academia and religious profes- scending. Cat McEarchern, a doctoral can- Concerns in the Study of Religion.” Here he has begun to revise for publication, sions as options, but most of the emphasis didate in religious studies at the University the reader finds a series of brief essays on treats the reception of the Bhagavad-Gita falls on the skills that the study of religion of Stirling in Scotland and an accomplished influential themes and approaches, including by German intellectuals at the beginning of imparts to its students, including (multi)cul- Web site designer, took charge of the 1) the broad search for meaning and struc- the 19th century. tural literacy, direct observation, analytical design and was faced with a similar chal- ture; 2) the social and ethical aspect of reli- skills, original interpretation, critical intelli- lenge: construct a site that was visually gion; 3) the interdisciplinary nature of the gence, and empathetic imagination. The appealing, easy to use, and interactive as field; 4) the relation between religion and page outlines potential career choices, and often as possible in order to connect with violence; 5) global/multicultural NDERGRADUATES are under a some informal “Where are they now?” data younger, Web-savvy surfers. consciousness and studying religion; 6) the lot of pressure these days to make from a variety of institutions is presented, connection between religion and identity; 7) the right choices. For most, the We started with a simple structure, based giving an indication of the successful career U the pursuit of transcendent experience; 8) the idea of college as a four-year moratorium on the queries that we in the field often paths students of religion have taken up. study of ritual and practice; and that allows free-floating inquiry (and a lot hear from our students: “Why study reli- 9) religion as aesthetically manifested in high Finally, the site also includes an extensive of trial and error) is simply not an option: gion?” “What will I study?” “Where can I art and popular culture. These themes echo bibliography. Pertinent texts and Web sites for many of the students we teach, every go with a religious studies major?” This the concerns that drive much scholarly work are listed in a dozen different categories, decision is intimately linked with a profes- interrogative framework seemed to be the in the field and the subject matter often offering surfers a “summer reading list” — sional future. best way to cut to the chase: if a high encountered in religion coursework. and an immediate place to start in the school senior or college freshman is consid- study of religion. With so much seemingly on the line, the ering enrolling in a religion class, or hears Making her way through some of this study of religion often faces some rather for the first time about majoring in reli- content, the surfer starts to get a sense of This content is framed by an engaging, easy- direct questions from its potential “clien- gion, these are the questions that assert what the study of religion is and why she to-use interface that opens with an atten- tele”: “I’m studying to be an engineer, so themselves immediately. might want to pursue it, but in the tion-grabbing flash page. The clean design why should I take a religion course?” “I “Misconceptions” section, she finds out concept emphasizes clarity and straightfor- The opening page presents an initial state- don’t want to become a priest or some- what it is not. On this page, the site lists wardness: categories are clearly delineated ment on the content of the site, essentially thing, so why should I study religion?” “I’m some of the “greatest hits” of presump- and the text is easy to access and read. Often previewing it. Indeed, why should we study religious, so I know all I need to know tions people sometimes make about the one simply rolls the cursor over the top of religion? Why should an 18-year-old with about religion, don’t I?” “I’m interested in academic study of religion, including “You various labels to get the relevant informa- an essentially secular worldview, or a religion, but what am I going to do with a have to be religious to study religion,” tion. When it comes to design, the site is a prospective science major, take a religion religion major?” And so on. The examples “Professors will try to make you become treat to view and, according to our early class? Why should a religiously committed proliferate. religious when you study religion,” feedback, sends the right message: this is a student engage religion as an academic “Studying religion will make you become savvy Web site, but the focus is on dispens- For scholars in the field, brusquely pragmatic object of study? What does studying reli- less religious,” “Studying religion involves ing solid information that is helpful for stu- questions like these can be somewhat embar- gion have to do with getting a well-round- wild speculation and leads to muddy dents and faculty alike. rassing. In the current cultural and geo-polit- ed undergraduate education? A succinct thinking,” and the oldie-but-goodie, ical climate, the importance of studying reli- opening answer: religion marks a set of Overall, work on the Web site has been “Studying religion is impractical.” This hit gion is self-evident, especially for young peo- powerful and persistent phenomena that directed towards assisting undergrads with parade is certainly not exhaustive (we all ple. Isn’t it? have always been with us, and despite the their decisions. Our students do face signif- have our personal favorites), but here it’s power of Western secular and scientific icant pressure these days — for some of us, Students often don’t know just how impor- possible that some of the ground can be worldviews, it seems to be getting more remembering less freighted undergraduate tant they are, especially when they present cleared for those who are new to the field. influential, not less. In many professions days, it looks like too much pressure too their teachers with fundamental intellectual there’s every chance that religion will come In the second major section of the site, early. But at the very least, many of our challenges. When it comes to the life of a dis- into play. And for everyone, knowing about “What Will I Study?,” students get a more students are taking their educational deci- cipline like the study of religion, which is still religion is simply an aspect of being an detailed account of the work they might do sions very seriously. a relatively new field, the fresh, youthful con- informed citizen and member of one’s in religion classes and what is expected of cerns of those who join in this enterprise keep In response, our initial case to students should community. those who decide to become religion majors. us on our toes — and let us know how well be just as earnest. No number of Web sites The page offers links to directories of religion our scholarly work is connecting with emer- But this response to the “why” question can replace the engaging argument for the departments, a survey of course offerings at gent realities in the world outside of academe. needs further articulation. Anyone who has academic study of religion made by a faculty American colleges and universities, links to In many ways, the field depends on inviting taught a religion course knows that students member that first day in the classroom — or individual syllabi for religion courses, and a young people in and allowing them to ask often come to the topic with a set of pre- the excited word-of-mouth passed by junior sampling of what representative departments basic questions about it. How might religious conceived notions about what religion is. and senior religion majors to their younger require for the religion major. In addition, studies scholars and departments of religion Thus the question “Why study religion?” colleagues. But the “Why Study Religion?” several testimonials from religion majors past best invite students into their classes, and thus immediately begs for a definition. In a sepa- site adds to the resources available to faculty and present are included, indicating (from into the conversation? And how do we begin rate page, our site presents an array of possi- and students, offering yet another invitation the student’s perspective) how valuable work to answer naive but insightful questions about bilities both traditional and contemporary to the field that will hopefully meet many of in the field has been to them. pursuing the academic study of religion? in a highly interactive context. Surfers can our prospective students where they are. ❧

March 2005 AAR RSN • 7 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition The New Religion Gap

Mark Silk, Trinity College John C. Green, University of Akron

Mark Silk is associate professor of religion ing. In contrast to the 6-percentage-point turns out to be between frequent-attend- women had a favorable view of the and public life and director of the Leonard religion gap in the 1992 congressional ing men and less-frequent-attending Christian Right. That contrasts with only E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College. vote, frequent attenders preferred women. In 2000, the former voted three about one-fifth of the less-regular-attend- He edits the center’s magazine, Religion in President George H. W. Bush to Clinton to one for Bush; the latter, three to one ing men and women. by a margin of 14 points. for Gore. The rest of the adult population the News, which published accounts of the The same pattern held for views on pro- — frequent-attending women and less- religion gap that formed the basis for this However, in the 2000 presidential contest, life and feminist groups, with some gen- attending men — were evenly divided. article. He is also co-editor of Religion by the frequent attenders chose George W. der-based nuance: regular-attending Region, a series of nine volumes on reli- Bush over Vice President Al Gore by 20 As of this writing, it is not possible to say women were modestly less “pro-life” than gion and public life in America published percentage points — just 2 points higher how these four categories performed dur- their male counterparts, while less-regular- by AltaMira Press, and is most recently than the religion gap in that year’s ing the 2004 election, because the exit attending men were less “feminist” than author of “Numa Pompilius and the Idea congressional voting and identical to the poll data have not yet been fully released the comparable women. of Civil Religion in the West,” which 2002 gap. One plausible explanation is for independent analysis. There is, howev- appeared in the Journal of the American On the other hand, roughly 40 percent of that, in the late 1990s, an increasing num- er, every reason to think that the basic Academy of Religion in 2004. both regular- and less-attending men felt ber of frequent attenders transferred their pattern holds, though with some shifting positively about the National Rifle John C. Green is professor of political sci- moral disapproval of Clinton onto his towards Bush across the board. Association. But for both regular- and ence and director of the Ray C. Bliss party as a whole. Institute of Applied Politics at the What social realities lie behind the cate- less-attending women, the level of support University of Akron. He is co-editor of However we explain the religion gap, at gories? Frequent attenders tend to be older was some 20 percentage points less. Marching to the Millennium: The the dawn of the 21st century it was sub- than their less-regular-attending counter- Similarly, more than half of each category Christian Right in the States, stantially larger than the familiar “gender parts. They are also more likely to be mar- of women held a favorable view of teach- 1980–2000, published by Georgetown gap,” in which women tend to vote ried and live in the South. Frequent- ers’ organizations, while views from both University Press, among many other works. Democratic and men Republican. In the attending women are more likely to be groups of men were some 15 percentage 2000 congressional vote, which featured homemakers. But the frequent and less points less favorable. an 18-percentage-point religion gap, frequent attenders differ little in education These competing axes of cultural conflict ELIGION has long been a critical women preferred Democrats to or income. help explain the partisan breakdown of factor in American elections. But Republicans by 10 points. None of the above is meant to suggest the four critical gender-and-religion cate- until recently it has made its R Both gaps appear to be products of value that religious affiliation has ceased to mat- gories. Regular-attending men voted impact by way of affiliation. Northern conflicts that arose in the 1960s. In the ter when it comes to voting patterns. To strongly Republican in large part because mainline Protestants have voted New Deal era of the 1930s and the 1940s, the contrary, white evangelical Protestants of their consistently conservative views on Republican since the Civil War, for exam- neither worship attendance nor gender and Mormons vote strongly Republican, sexual morality, guns, and education. ple, while since the New Deal, Jews have was a particularly important factor at the while African-American Protestants and Their political opposites, the less-attend- been solidly in the Democratic camp. ballot box, but to the extent they mat- Hispanic Catholics vote strongly ing women, were just as strongly tered, they showed the opposite of the sit- Democratic, regardless of attendance levels Democratic because of their consistently In recent years, however, another aspect of uation today: women were moderately and gender. liberal views on abortion, guns, and public religion has become politically significant: more Republican than men, while those education. commitment, or the extent to which citi- But within the largest religious identity who attended religious services regularly zens are actively engaged in their faith. groupings, the gaps matter a good deal. In The other categories were evenly divided slightly favored the Democrats. Americans who say they attend worship at 2000, no religious group supported Bush at the ballot box precisely because of their least once a week are now much more Women’s partisan preference switched dra- over Gore more strongly than white evan- crosscutting values. Regular-attending likely to vote for Republicans, while less matically in the 1964 election, going from gelicals, yet while nearly 90 percent of reg- women were pulled in a Republican direc- regular attenders, including those who a pro-Republican margin of 6 percentage ularly attending male evangelicals voted tion by traditional morality, but their wor- claim to be nonreligious, gravitate toward points to a pro-Democratic margin of 4. for Bush, only 77 percent of their female ries about guns and education pushed the Democrats. This presumably reflected concerns about counterparts did. Regular-attending main- them in a Democratic direction. For less- GOP presidential candidate Barry line Protestants, the next most favorable attending men, guns and schools led Beginning in late 2003, new analyses of Goldwater’s bellicose posture on the war group for Bush, showed an astonishing toward the GOP — but hostility to exit poll and other survey data revealed in Vietnam and, perhaps, support for the gender gap of 36 percentage points (92 morals regulation pointed to the the existence of this religion gap — or Great Society programs of President percent for Bush among men versus 56 Democrats. “God gap,” as the news media preferred to Lyndon Johnson as well. percent among women). Among regular- call it — and showed that it grew dramat- Because value conflicts create swing voters, attending Catholics, who were less pro- ically in the 1990s. The gap can be meas- Over the next several elections, women’s regular-attending white Catholic and Bush overall, the gender gap was a much ured in various ways, but perhaps most preferences bounced around from moder- mainline Protestant women and less- smaller 11 percentage points (63 percent clearly by looking at the party preferences ately to marginally pro-Democratic. After attending white Catholic and evangelical for Bush among men versus 52 percent of frequent (once a week or more) wor- the 1980 Carter-Reagan election, when men were up for grabs in last year’s among women). ship attenders. they favored Carter over Ronald Reagan election. by 7 percentage points, women for two Less-attending men were substantially According to the Voter News Service What can we say about what actually decades preferred Democrats by solid mar- more supportive of Gore, with Catholics (VNS), which conducted exit polls on happened? gins, the largest of which was a 13-per- the most Democratic (48 percent), fol- behalf of news organizations through the centage-point differential for President lowed by evangelicals (39 percent) and To the extent that it is now available, the 2002 election, in the 1992 congressional Clinton over Bob Dole in 1996. then mainliners (26 percent). Among the news from the religion-gap front in 2004 election, frequent worship attenders pre- less frequent attenders, the gender gap was was that George W. Bush was able to ferred Republican to Democratic candi- Notably, George W. Bush reduced his also substantial: 21 percentage points for reach beyond his base of frequent wor- dates for the House of Representatives by deficit among women from 12 percent Catholics, 20 for evangelicals, and 34 for shipers to pick up a majority of voters 53 to 47 percent. By the 2002 congres- points in the 2000 election to 3 in 2004. mainliners. who said they attend religious services “a sional election, this 6 percent gap had bal- Whether this signals a temporary down few times a month.” This group, which he looned to 20 percentage points, with fre- tick or a permanent end to the gender gap Indeed, the most consistent voting pattern lost to Al Gore in 2000, emerged as the quent attenders voting 60 percent in favor remains to be seen. across these denominational lines occurred religion gap’s new swing vote. of Republican House candidates, versus with less-attending women, among whom As for the religion gap, its watershed 40 percent for Democrats. 59 percent of the evangelicals, 60 percent Bush also made small gains among those moment was the 1972 Nixon-McGovern of the mainliners, and 69 percent of the who said they attend services a few times a How to account for that growth? One election, when regular attenders’ prefer- Catholics gave their votes to Gore. year or not at all. Since those claiming to possible explanation is the 1997 Lewinsky ence for the Republican candidate leaped attend once a week or more voted for affair that culminated in the impeachment from 1 percentage point to 10. This is In order to understand the political Bush at about the same rate as in 2000, and subsequent acquittal of President perhaps best understood as a choice by the dynamics of this complex system it is nec- the upshot was a slight decrease in the Clinton. Although the country as a whole traditionally religious in favor of Nixon’s essary to look at cultural attitudes that cut overall religion gap, as measured by the did not favor removing Clinton from “silent majority” and against the counter- across differences of gender, attendance, difference between the percentages of his office, a sizable number of frequent wor- cultural McGovernites. and religious identity — and push voters vote coming from frequent as opposed to ship attenders may have been sufficiently in one partisan direction or the other. The pro-Republican religion gap shrank less frequent attenders. distressed by the affair to change their vot- These attitudes can be discerned from the progressively during the two Carter cam- ing habits. survey data showing voters’ views of Because these results derive from the now- paigns, stabilizing through the 1980s in prominent interest groups. notorious 2004 election-day exit polls, In this regard, it is worth noting that in the mid-single digits. But then, in the they must be viewed with some caution.1 1992 frequent attenders were considerably 1992 presidential vote, it shot up from 5 Political groups dedicated to promoting But given how well they track the results more likely to vote for Democratic House to 17 percentage points. “traditional family values” united men and from the earlier, more accurate exit polls, candidates than they were for Democratic women according to level of attendance. It is highly significant that, when gender there is reason to believe they provide a presidential candidate Clinton, who at the Thus, 58 percent of regular-attending and religious attendance are combined, time was dogged by charges of womaniz- men and 52 percent of regular-attending See RELIGION GAP p.21 the critical gap in partisan preference

8 • March 2005 AAR RSN NEWS 2005 Committee Roster

Standing Committees Susan E. Henking, Teaching Religious *Jason Steuber, University of Missouri, Studies Series, Hobart and William Kansas City Executive Committee Smith Colleges Jacob Kinnard, Cultural Criticism Series, Graduate Student *Hans J. Hillerbrand, Chair, Duke Iliff School of Theology *Kimberly Bresler, Chair, Princeton University *Kevin Madigan, Texts and Translations Theological Seminary Carol S. Anderson, Kalamazoo College Series, Harvard University *Richard Amesbury, Valdosta State Francis X. Clooney, Boston College *Anne E. Monius, Texts and University *Diana L. Eck, Harvard University Translations, Harvard University *Bradley L. Herling, Boston University Richard Amesbury Kimberly Bressler Karen McCarthy Eugene Gallagher, Connecticut College James Wetzel, Reflection and Theory in *Melissa Johnston-Barrett, Emory Brown Kwok Pui Lan, Episcopal Divinity School the Study of Religion Series, Colgate University Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University *Maurice Lee, Yale University University Glenn E. Yocum, JAAR Editor, Whittier Myesha D. Jenkins, Staff Liaison, Michelene Pesantubbee, University of Iowa College American Academy of Religion *Jeffrey Stout, Princeton University Carey J. Gifford, Staff Liaison, American Barbara DeConcini, Staff Liaison, Academy of Religion Religion and Disabilities American Academy of Religion Regions Committee Kerry Wynn, Chair, Southeast Missouri Finance Committee State University Richard Carp John Cavadini Miguel A. Stacy Patty, Chair, Lubbock Christian Kent A. Eaton, Bethel Seminary, San De La Torre Barbara DeConcini, Chair, American University Diego Academy of Religion Linda Barnes, Boston University Mary Jo Iozzio, Barry University *Robert D. Flanigan Jr., Spelman *Jacqueline Pastis, La Salle University F. Rachel Magdalene, Appalachian State College John P. Harrison, Staff Liaison, American University Eugene V. Gallagher, Connecticut College Academy of Religion J. Eric Pridmore, Drew University Margaret Healy, Rosemont College Joe DeRose, Staff Liaison, American Mark Lloyd Taylor, Seattle University Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Academy of Religion International Connections Committee Religion in the Schools Michael James Donahue Diana L. Eck Committee Desjardins Kwok Pui Lan, Chair, Episcopal Divinity Marcia Beauchamp, Chair, California Mary McGee, Chair, Columbia University School Institute of Integral Studies Elias Bongmba, Rice University Karen Baker-Fletcher, Southern Methodist Betty DeBerg, University of Northern Jonathan Brockopp, Pennsylvania State University Iowa University *Miguel A. De La Torre, Hope College Bruce Grelle, California State University, *Jin Hee Han, New York Theological Laura E. Donaldson, Cornell University Chico Seminary Daisy L. Machado, Texas Christian Stephanie McAllister, Brookline High Richard Jaffe, Duke University University School Robert D. Nancy Frankenberry Chester Gillis Nancy M. Martin, Chapman University Anthony Pinn, Rice University Diane L. Moore, Harvard University Flanigan Jr. John P. Harrison, Staff Liaison, American Steve Herrick, Staff Liaison, American Timothy L. Morehouse, Trinity School Academy of Religion Academy of Religion Steve Herrick, Staff Liaison, American Nominations Committee Status of Women in the Academy of Religion Peter J. Paris, Chair, Princeton Profession Committee Book Awards, Awards for Theological Seminary Rebecca T. Alpert, Chair, Temple Excellence Harold G. Coward, University of Victoria University M. David Eckel, Coordinator of Juries, *James Donahue, Graduate Theological Mary C. Churchill, University of Iowa Princeton University Fred Glennon Jin Hee Han Bradley L. Herling Seminary *Alice W. Hunt, Vanderbilt University Myesha D. Jenkins, Staff Liaison, *Nancy Frankenberry, Dartmouth College Janet R. Jakobsen, Barnard College American Academy of Religion *Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown *Stephanie Mitchem, University of University Detroit Mercy Analytical–Descriptive Studies Barbara DeConcini, Staff Liaison, Karen Pechilis Prentiss, Drew University Catherine M. Bell, Santa Clara University American Academy of Religion Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, University Laurie L. Patton, Emory University Program Committee of Florida Steven Wasserstrom, Reed College Aislinn Jones, Staff Liaison, American Barbara DeConcini, Chair, American Academy of Religion Constructive–Reflective Studies Hans J. Hillerbrand Alice W. Hunt Melissa Academy of Religion Johnston-Barrett Linell E. Cady, Arizona State University *John Cavadini, University of Notre Teaching and Learning Julia A. Lamm, Georgetown University Dame Committee Dale S. Wright, Occidental College *Michael Desjardins, Wilfrid Laurier Eugene V. Gallagher, Chair, Connecticut University College Historical Studies Diana L. Eck, Harvard University Nicola Denzey, Harvard Divinity School Anne M. Blackburn, Cornell University Hans J. Hillerbrand, Duke University Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, Emory Bruce B. Lawrence, Duke University Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University Laurie Maffly-Kipp, University of North University Tazim Kassam, Spotlight Editor, Syracuse Carolina at Chapel Hill Maurice Lee Kevin Madigan Jane Dammen *Michelene Pesantubbee, University of McAuliffe University Iowa Sheila McGinn, John Carroll University Best First Book in the History *Jeffrey L. Stout, Princeton University *Timothy M. Renick, Georgia State of Religions Emilie Townes, Union Theological University *Karen McCarthy Brown, Chair, Drew Seminary Carey J. Gifford, Staff Liaison, American University *Nellie Van Doorn-Harder, Valparaiso Academy of Religion John Carman, Harvard Divinity School University Thomas P. Kasulis, Ohio State University Glenn E. Yocum, Whittier College Ursula King, University of Bristol Ad hoc Committees, Stephanie Mitchem Anne E. Monius Jacqueline Pastis Public Understanding of Religion Task Forces, and Juries Gerald J. Larson, Indiana University Committee emeritus, UCSB emeritus *Bruce B. Lawrence, Duke University Dena S. Davis, Chair, Cleveland-Marshall Academic Relations Myesha D. Jenkins, Staff Liaison, College of Law *Fred Glennon, Chair, Le Moyne College American Academy of Religion Michael Barkun, Syracuse University *Richard Carp, Appalachian State *Shaun Casey, Wesley Theological University Research Grant Jury Seminary *Chester Gillis, Georgetown University Ellen T. Armour, Rhodes College David G. Hackett, University of Florida Laurie L. Patton, Emory University John Berthrong, Boston University Michelene Timothy M. Renick James Steuber Debra Mason, Religion Newswriters *Chung-fang Yu, Columbia University Kathleen M. Erndl, Florida State Pesantubbee Association Carey J. Gifford, Staff Liaison, American University Sarah Pike, California State University, Academy of Religion R. Marie Griffith, Princeton University Chico Patricia O’Connell Killen, Pacific Steve Herrick, Staff Liaison, American Employment Information Services Lutheran University Academy of Religion Advisory Barbara DeConcini, Staff Liaison, Publications Committee Shelly C. Roberts, Chair, American American Academy of Religion ❧ Academy of Religion Francis X. Clooney, Chair, Boston College Jeffrey L. Stout Nellie Chung-fang Yu Wade Clark Roof, University of * indicates newly appointed or elected Van Doorn-Harder Kimberly Rae Connor, Academy Series, California, Santa Barbara (photo, if available, at right) University of San Francisco

March 2005 AAR RSN • 9 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition

AAR would like to AAR Expanding Government Relations thank the following outgoing Program Committee, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, tors of chaplaincy programs for federal EGINNING this year, the AAR will New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and state prison systems. Prison officials’ Task Force, and expand its efforts both to increase Tennessee, and Virginia — the AAR will lack of familiarity with particular religious government funding of the field of Jury members B encourage the formation of advocacy net- practices has led to denial of religious religion and to enhance public officials’ works. In support of more government rights for inmates, resulting in inmate law- whose terms understanding of religion and their appreci- funding of the humanities and social sci- suits and sometimes violence. The topics ation of the work that religion scholars do. ended in 2004: ences, including religion, participants in of the four briefings were African- The decision to expand these efforts was these networks will e-mail their members American Islam, Native American reli- made by the AAR Board of Directors at the of Congress and participate in delegations gions, neopaganism, and religious plural- Carol Anderson, Kalamazoo November Annual Meeting. that will meet annually with local congres- ism. The briefings were so well received College (Regions) For more than two decades, the AAR has sional staff. In 2006, AAR members that the AAR plans to brief prison chap- Grace G. Burford, Prescott joined the National Humanities Alliance attending the Annual Meeting in lain officials again in 2005. In addition, College (Teaching and in advocating increased federal funding of Washington, D.C., will be encouraged to the Academy is looking into holding brief- Learning) the National Endowment for the meet congressional staff on Capitol Hill. In ings for other federal officials, such as Humanities (NEH). Since the mid-1990s, addition, the AAR plans to organize public Congressional staff and State Department Mark Csikszentmihalyi, the AAR has organized meetings to edu- forums in Washington, during the Annual staff whose areas of work include govern- University of Wisconsin, cate FBI officials and, more recently, direc- Meeting and beyond, that will showcase ment policy regarding religion. Madison (Publications) tors of prison chaplaincy programs. religion scholarship while further educating The AAR may also try to influence how Sheila Greeve Davaney, Iliff those who help shape public policy. These The AAR now aims to increase the number religion is covered in secondary school School of Theology forums will be designed to attract an audi- of our members actively advocating more textbooks. Because of the large popula- (Nominations) ence that includes congressional and feder- government funding of the academic study tions of California and Texas, publishers al agency staff, think-tank staff, journalists, Frederick Denny, Colorado of religion. The Academy also plans on tend to make the textbooks for those states local academics, and the public. University (Executive) expanding the focus of that effort to the ones used nationwide. As these text- include not just the NEH but other gov- The AAR will work in other ways to books are produced by publishers and Wendy Doniger, University of ernment entities that can provide resources broaden the kinds of government entities reviewed by state authorities, the AAR will Chicago (Book Award: for religion scholars and teachers. for whom religion scholars serve as a look for ways to ensure that the perspec- History of Religions) resource. In November, for example, the tives of religion scholars are adequately In states with the largest concentrations of Steve Friesen, University of AAR organized a set of briefings for direc- included. ❧ AAR members — such as California, Missouri (International Connections) Warren Frisina, Hofstra University (Academic Relations) Regional Susan E. Henking, Hobart and William Smith Colleges 2005 Annual Meeting (Board, Executive, Program, Chairs Secretary) Kathryn Klienhans, Wartburg Workshops Chairs Workshop College (Academic Relations) Sarah H. Lancaster, Methodist N SPRING 2005 two regions will be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Theological School in Ohio offering workshops especially for (Status of Women in the I chairs. These workshops are designed Friday, November 18, 2005 Profession) to support department chairs and other institutional leaders in managing and William Mahony, Davidson strengthening their academic units. College (Board, Southeast Enlarging the Pie: Regional Secretary) In conjunction with the Eastern Debra Mubashshir Majeed, International Regional meeting, a work- Strategies for Managing and Beloit College (Employment shop will be offered on Sunday, May 8, Information Services) 2005, at McGill University in Montreal, Growing Departmental Resources Quebec. The topic is “Tenured Professor Laura Olson, Clemson or Temporary Instructor? Maintaining University (Public the Profession in a Wal-Mart Economy.” Understanding of Religion) • Fund-raising For further information on this work- Robert A. Orsi, Harvard shop, contact G. Victor Hori, Faculty of University (Board, Executive, Religious Studies, McGill University, at • Faculty/personnel development Nominations, Program) [email protected]. Martin Riesebolt, University of In conjunction with the Rocky • Nurturing students Chicago (Book Award: Mountain–Great Plains regional meeting, Analytical–Descriptive a workshop will be held on Thursday, • Budgeting and financial management Studies) April 7, 2005, at the Holiday Inn in Denver, Colorado. For further informa- Elizabeth Say, California State tion, contact Frederick M. Denny, • Growing links to other departments University, Northridge Department of Religious Studies, (Academic Relations) University of Colorado at Boulder, at Alan F. Segal, Barnard College [email protected]. ❧ • Increasing your department’s visibility and Columbia University (Book Award: History of • Institutional credibility Religions) Gwendolyn Z. Simmons, University of Florida (Status of Women in the Profession) This workshop is part of the Terrence W. Tilley, University of Dayton (Academic Relations) Academic Relations Program, which Steven Tipton, Emory supports chairs and other institutional leaders University (Nominations) ❧ in managing and strengthening their academic units.

10 • March 2005 AAR RSN NEWS In Memoriam Langdon Gilkey, 1919–2004

Jeff B. Pool, Berea College

S PROFESSIONAL SCHOLARS Protestants” or “U.S. scientists of things in religious studies gathered in divine” (the other four being Jaroslav A San Antonio, Texas, for the most Pelikan, Robert McAfee Brown, Roger recent national meeting of the American Shinn, and Schubert Ogden) Academy of Religion, several of us (“Pathfinding Protestants,” Time 79 [May His life, actions, publications — indeed, received the sad news that our friend and 25, 1962]; 84, 86). his profound and lasting effects upon the lives of former teacher, Langdon Gilkey, had died If one knew Langdon, one also knew the just one day earlier, on November 19, his family, friends, colleagues, students, and the larger importance of family to him. Dedications “ 2004. Like many others, I knew Langdon to various members of his family appear public world in which he constructed his theology as a former teacher, dissertation supervi- in many of his books. One of his most sor, collaborator on publication projects, and to which he addressed that theology — these recent books, Blue Twilight, even carries and friend. I last visited with him in his things recall our highest regard, most the title of a song that one of his sons, home on December 3, 2001, when I Amos Gilkey, wrote and composed. In the sincere admiration, most profound respect, and interviewed him about his theological per- mid-1950s, on the occasion of his moth- spective on the events of September 11th. deepest affection for this person. er’s death, Langdon wrote an anonymous letter to the editor of Christianity and Langdon’s career as a teaching theologian Crisis, in which he confessed his own lasted more than a half-century, beginning faith: in the early 1950s. During his graduate reality, power, and meaning; but in point- the end of our allotted time” (Langdon studies in the joint doctoral program of I learned that where there is inner respect ing beyond itself to its own infinite Gilkey, Blue Twilight: Nature, Creationism, Union Theological Seminary and and inner love, then outwardly there is ” ground, it is itself transcended, and its and American Religion [Minneapolis: Columbia University, he taught at Union absolute freedom from “mourning” and negative annihilating power is withdrawn. Fortress Press, 2001], 171). Through his Theological Seminary (1949–50) and all its solemnity — the result can be that Through death we transcend both life and own gifts as a theologian, Langdon has Vassar College (1951–54). For the majori- there [are] laughter and stories, and all the death. Death can, therefore, be transpar- allowed the divine power and meaning to ty of his career, Langdon taught at good times that the family can create of ent to the transcendent, to a divine power manifest itself in his own death. His Vanderbilt University (1954–62) and then itself. The deceased is there in loving spir- and meaning that is neither simply life thoughts about death and his own death at the University of Chicago (1963–89). it in the jokes and the good times: Love nor simply death” (Langdon Gilkey, as part of his life have disclosed Langdon’s Upon his retirement in 1989, Langdon and do what thou wilt — this is a word at Through the Tempest: Theological Voyages in essential character, by reflecting and point- and his spouse, Sonja, moved to its greatest with regard to the problem of a Pluralistic Culture, edited by Jeff B. Pool ing to the divine ground itself. What more Charlottesville, Virginia. Until quite death (Langdon Gilkey, “In Faith . . . [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991], 233, appropriate request could we make of a recently, he continued to teach courses at Praise, Thanksgiving and Joy,” 237, 238, 239, 240, 242, 243, 244, 245). theologian than that his or her life itself both the University of Virginia and nearby Christianity and Crisis 16 [December 10, During the initial years of his retirement, would become a symbol of the divine Georgetown University. 1956], 169). Langdon shared with me the importance presence, power, and purpose? Many people who know the work of At this time, when we remember this that this particular meditation on death During Langdon’s tenure as a teacher at Langdon will remember him as a con- insightful theologian and good friend, had grown to have for him. Vanderbilt University, a local religious news structive or systematic theologian. Indeed, Langdon’s own words invite us to step Appropriately, Langdon’s own words editor in Nashville, Edmund Willingham, he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the beyond our own sense of loss and to about the meaning of death for life bring reported on the story in Time magazine Christian doctrine of creation in critical remember how much he has left with us, consolation, peace, insight, and joy, as we that named Gilkey as one of five promi- dialogue with the philosophies of F. H. to remember “the good times,” to laugh, reflect on the life of this person for whom nent “Protestant Pathfinders” in the U.S. Bradley and A. N. Whitehead, which was and to share our stories of this scholar, so many have so much respect, admira- The newspaper article carried this story published in an abbreviated form as his former colleague, and former teacher. tion, gratitude, intellectual and spiritual under the headline “Time Honors VU’s first book under the main title of his dis- In 1979, during a sabbatical leave in the indebtedness, and affection. His own life, Gilkey.” As I remember Langdon’s life and sertation: Maker of Heaven and Earth Netherlands, where Langdon held a like his meditation on death, concluded work, including and especially his own (1959). He always conducted his work on Fulbright Teaching Fellowship at the theonomously, illumined by, and pointing thoughts about the relationship of death to Christian doctrines, however, as an apolo- Catholic University of Nijmegan, he wrote to, the infinite and unconditioned depth life, I want to borrow a portion of the title getic theologian, with a correlational a “theological reflection” or meditation and ground. In 1966, the cover of Time from Willingham’s news story, imbuing it method developed from the work of Paul “on the meaning for our being of our magazine contained in large letters only with a different meaning, in order to con- Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr, his own nonbeing,” in which he identified both the question “Is God Dead?” In that issue, vey my thoughts about our friend and col- teachers — yet this was a method suffused affirmative and negative roles of death in Time again interviewed Langdon about league: Time honors Gilkey. His life, actions, with the distinctive empirical character of its relation to life. According to Langdon, the then-relatively new radical theology of publications — indeed, his profound and the Chicago School. Langdon worked, affirmatively, death as an essential dimen- the death-of-God. Langdon described the lasting effects upon the lives of his family, therefore, as a philosopher of religion as sion of life itself, both “establishes the pos- “basic theological problem” as “the reality friends, colleagues, students, and the larger much as he worked as a constructive the- sibility of the seriousness of life and thus of God” (“Toward a Hidden God,” Time public world in which he constructed his ologian. In this sense, he taught and pub- for its inner reality and depth” (“the con- 87 [April 8, 1966]; 82). The problem of theology and to which he addressed that lished public theology, but theology that dition of seriousness” and “decision”), and the reality of God remained one of the theology — these things recall our highest remained relevant and accountable to, serves as “the paradigm of the authentic central reference points and concerns in regard, most sincere admiration, most pro- even when critical of, the Christian tradi- self,” by aiding us “to recognize our own his thought, teaching, publications, and found respect, and deepest affection for this tions themselves. finitude and live within its bounds” (“the personal experience. Langdon has contin- person. The course of his life and career During his career, Langdon published 15 condition of justice”). Langdon also ued to affirm the notion of theonomous itself, permanently etched in numerous books and several hundred articles, essays, argued that, in its negative role, death death, precisely on the same grounds that ways on 85 years of history, lead me to sug- and reviews. He delivered hundreds of lec- negates life in terms of the categories of he did so almost 25 years ago: “the divine, gest that time itself honors Langdon Brown tures in a variety of academic institutions finitude itself (space, time, causality, sub- revealed in this way through both life and Gilkey. As we remember the life and theo- on many different topics about the inter- stance), the meaning of life, and the death, shares in both being and nonbeing. logical contributions of Langdon, who section of religion and culture. For exam- potential for realizing an authentic life or In the Christ figure and in our own exis- loved sailing and often applied nautical ple, in a four-year period during the early a life liberated from its own guilt for sin. tence, the divine power and meaning are metaphors to theological ideas in his publi- 1980s, Langdon delivered approximately On this basis, he claimed that, in death, manifested through both life and death” cations, I speak for many who wish him 70 lectures or addresses, or participated in humans have three major needs: 1) “the (Gilkey, Through the Tempest, 246). the richest of meaning in the words adieu, debates with creationists and Christian presence of an unconditioned being in bon voyage, and à-Dieu vat. ❧ Much more recently, Langdon’s thoughts fundamentalists, on the single topic of which we may participate both in life and returned to the issue of human finitude religion and science in light of the cre- death”; 2) “the presence of an uncondi- and mortality. “Life and death in God’s ation issue. Langdon’s peers in the teach- tioned meaning in which we may partici- world are thus not completely antithetical, ing of religious studies held him in high pate both in life and death”; and 3) “an and the value of life depends in part on regard, as reflected in his many invitations unconditioned forgiveness and acceptance the presence of death in the good creation to lecture and speak in schools and in which we can participate alike in life — and on our faith and our courage in churches, as well as his election to a term and death.” Langdon concluded his medi- facing the certainty of death. Finally, as president of the American Academy of tation by proposing “the notion of a therefore, we can be content and can Religion (1978–79). The media frequently theonomous death,” wherein “theonomy believe in the message that as God has recognized him as one of the leading points to finite being as essentially given to us all both life and death, so in experts on Christian faith and contempo- dependent on an unconditioned depth or the end the divine Power and Mercy will rary issues. Time magazine once listed ground beyond itself.” Accordingly, “taken give us eternal life when we have come to Langdon as one of five “Pathfinding theonomously, however, death shows its

March 2005 AAR RSN • 11 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Best-Selling Religion Books 2005 Survey of of 2004 Oxford University Press Eerdmans Undergraduate 1. Lost Christianities: The Battles for 1. Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew Hope by Joan D. Chittister by Bart D. Ehrman Programs in Religion 2. My God and I: A Spiritual Memoir 2. Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not by Lewis B. Smedes Make It into the New Testament and Theology in the 3. Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles by Bart D. Ehrman Our Judgment by Rowan Williams 3. The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last U.S. and Canada 4. My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs Acceptable Prejudice by Philip Jenkins by Hans Küng 4. Greed: The Seven Deadly Sins 5. Engaging God’s World: A Christian by Phyllis A. Tickle •Questionnaires to be mailed to all Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living 5. God? A Debate Between a Christian and by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. undergraduate departments in spring an Atheist by William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Westminster John Knox 2005 Liturgical 1. Credo by William Sloan Coffin 2. The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions 1. Who Is Jesus? An Introduction to •Information will be gathered on of the Kingdom in Middle-earth Christology by Ralph C. Wood faculty, students, departments, and by Thomas J. Rausch, S.J. 3. An Introduction to the Old Testament: 2. Not by Bread Alone by Peter Feldmeier programs of study The Canon and Christian Imagination 3. Waiting in Joyful Hope by Mark G. Boyer by Walter Brueggemann •A follow-up survey to the Academy’s 4. Living Liturgy 4. Beyond the Ordinary: Ten Strengths of by Joyce A. Zimmerman, et al. U.S. Congregations by Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce 2000 survey 5. Butler’s Lives of the Saints edited by Paul Burns 5. Luke for Everyone by N. T. Wright •Will provide data for longitudinal HarperSanFrancisco Paraclete analysis of the field 1. The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg 1. Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner 2. Jesus in America by Richard Wightman Fox 2. The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis edited by Paul 3. To the Mountaintop by Stewart Burns Sabatier, with introduction and 4. American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante annotations by Jon M. Sweeney 5. A Faith Worth Believing by Tom Stella 3. Seeking His Mind: 40 Meetings with Christ by M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. Fortress 2004 4. Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of 1. Power Surge by Michael W. Foss Love by Lonni Collins Pratt and Father Daniel Homan, O.S.B. Theologos 2. Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr. 5. Worship without Words: The Signs and 3. The Resurrection of the Son of God Symbols of Our Faith by Patricia Klein Awards by N. T. Wright Announced 4. Why Jesus Died by Gerard S. Sloyan Princeton University Press 5. Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth 1. Saving America: Faith-based Services by Walter Brueggemann and the Future of Civil Society by Robert Wuthnow HE THEOLOGOS AWARDS are given annually by the Association Pilgrim 2. Al-Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation T of Theological Booksellers. The 1. Same-sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical by Ahmed Ali awards represent the unique, professional Analysis by Marvin M. Ellison 3. Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians evaluations of people who sell academic 2. Whose Land? Whose Promise? What by F. E. Peters religious books. Only the bookseller Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel members of the Association are eligible 4. The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and and the Palestinians by Gary M. Burge to vote. Muslims in Conflict and Competition 3. Bad Girls of the Bible: Exploring Women of by F. E. Peters The 2004 winners in the five awards Questionable Virtue by Barbara J. Essex categories are: 5. For the Glory of God: How Monotheism 4. The Indispensable Guide for Smaller Led to Reformations, Science, Witch- Best General Interest Book Churches by David R. Ray Hunts, and the End of Slavery by Rodney Stark Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel 5. The Essential Parish Nurse: ABCs for beyond the West by Lamin Sanneh Congregational Health Ministry Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. by Deborah L. Patterson Yale University Press 1. Jonathan Edwards: A Life Best Academic Book Abingdon by George M. Marsden An Introduction to the Old Testament: The 1. Weary Throats and New Songs: Black 2. One World by Peter Singer Canon and Christian Imagination by Women Proclaiming God’s Word 3. Credo by Jaroslav Pelikan Walter Brueggemann by Teresa L. Fry Brown Westminster John Knox Press 4. American Judaism by Jonathan D. Sarna 2. Reading the Bible for the Sake of Our Children by Dana Nolan Fewell 5. Greek Gods, Human Lives Best Children’s Book by Mary Lefkowitz 3. Teologia: An Introduction to Hispanic Clare and Francis by Guido Visconti Theology by Luis G. Pedraha illustrated by Bimba Landmann Doubleday Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 4. Evolution from Creation to Recreation: 1. God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Conflict, Conversation and Convergence Our Time by Desmond Tutu Book of the Year by Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlett 2. The Creed: What Christians Believe and Credo by William Sloane Coffin 5. Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Why It Matters by Luke Timothy Johnson Westminster John Knox Press Change in the Church by Lovett H. Weems Jr. 3. A Travel Guide to Heaven Publishers of the Year by Anthony DeStefano Brazos Press 4. Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ❧ Church by Philip Yancey ❧ 12 • March 2005 AAR RSN FEATURES A Conversation with the President Hans J. Hillerbrand, Duke University

teenager, I thought this seemed utterly and the Anabaptists was blatantly nixed by pedestrian and philistine. My own notion the senior church historian, who informed was to combine the study of philosophy me that Luther was too complex and diffi- I had enrolled in two and law and then join the new German cult for doctoral dissertation writers. This Foreign Service. And once I had become prompted me to turn to the Anabaptists, courses — one by the ambassador to Moscow or the Court of St. whose Mennonite successors I had theologian Paul Althaus on James, or even Washington, I would star- encountered while an exchange student at “ tle the world with my philosophical Goshen College in Indiana. Martin Luther’s theology, insights. I probably had read too much RSN: How did you come to the U.S.? the other by the religion Plato at too young an age. Who knows? Hillerbrand: Actually, quite uninten- scholar Hans Joachim RSN: At what point did you decide you tionally. As I just mentioned, I had been wanted to become a scholar of religion? Schoeps on ‘what does it an exchange student at Goshen College Hillerbrand: So, I started out in law after graduating from the Gymnasium in mean to be human?’ — school at the University of Erlangen. But Germany, and after my return to and the brilliance of their by the end of my first semester I had been Germany I had stayed in casual contact lectures and the excitement Hans Hillerbrand has been Professor of converted to the study of theology and with the dean of the Mennonite seminary Religion at Duke University since 1988, religion. This grew out of my following at Goshen, H. S. Bender, then a giant of the subject matter where he served as department chair from the widely prevalent practice at German among the scholars of Anabaptism. He persuaded me that my 1988–96. His PhD is from the University universities, at least in those days, to was interested in my Anabaptist disserta- of Erlangen, Germany. He taught at City enroll in ten courses or even more per tion, and when he learned that I had just vocation was not in law. University of New York, where he was semester, and then to be rather leisurely finished my PhD, he secured a one-year Dean of Graduate Studies and Provost and about which to attend, generally not more appointment at Goshen College to replace at Southern Methodist University, where he than a handful. I had enrolled in two a faculty member going on a Fulbright. was Provost and Vice President for courses — one by the theologian Paul Since I was not a Mennonite, there was no Academic Affairs. He has served the profes- Althaus on Martin Luther’s theology, the way to obtain a tenure-track appointment. Hillerbrand: Currently, I am racing sion in a variety of capacities, such as presi- other by the religion scholar Hans Bonnie and I had every intention of to meet a publisher’s deadline to finish a dent of the Society for Reformation Joachim Schoeps on “what does it mean returning after that year. Then came an ” formidable history of the Reformation. I Research and the American Society of to be human?” — and the brilliance of unexpected (and unsolicited!) invitation to did such a history before in more youthful Church History. their lectures and the excitement of the join the faculty of the Divinity School at exuberance (in fact, at the time a reviewer Hillerbrand’s field is the history of subject matter persuaded me that my Duke, and the work there proved to be so observed that “having written a Christianity. He has been on the editorial vocation was not in law. Then began a exciting that the return to Germany was Reformation history at an early stage” of board of such journals as the Journal for dual course of study in theology and reli- postponed year after year. And some 40 my career, I would not be able to say any- Medieval and Renaissance Studies and gion, accompanied by work in intellectual years later, I am still at Duke. Of course, thing new for the remainder of it), but the Journal of the History of Ideas. He is history. with some detours through New York and now I want to bring my mature insights currently co-editor of the journal Church Dallas, and a lengthy stint as an adminis- to bear on the 16th century. In my AAR History. He has published several books on trator. the Protestant Reformation, most recently role this year, I want to do my part to the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of RSN: What has given you the greatest stress the positives of the Annual Meeting Reformation (1996). His extensive service satisfaction in the different roles in which decision, and in my ACLS involvement, I to the AAR has included Chair of the Long I have seen my ‘vocation’ you have served: university administrator, want to make my colleagues on the ACLS Range Planning Committee and Chair of in conveying to my editor, professor, society leader, and scholar? Board ever more aware of the pivotal place the Association of Department Chairs, as of the academic study of religion. students how the present Hillerbrand: What a difficult ques- well as membership on the Finance and the “ Teaching and Learning Committees. He is inextricably linked to tion! When I was an administrator, I was RSN: We understand that, as the AAR’s presently serves on the AAR Executive eager to get back to teaching and writing delegate to the American Council of Committee and is the AAR delegate to the the past. The sentence my — yet when I was teaching, I remembered Learned Societies, you have been elected American Council of Learned Societies, students need to learn by my administrative days with great fond- by your peers to be their chair, and, as where he is also a member of the Executive ness. I think the challenge in each case lies such, will also serve on their board. This is Committee. heart is that ‘we are in the ability to see the broader context of quite an honor — in fact the AAR has historically minded as what we are doing: what higher education never had a delegate serve on the ACLS is all about, what it means to be a teacher, board. Can you tell us more about your RSN: In what kind of religious life, if we are culturally what scholarship is for. service with the ACLS and how you hope any, did you participate as a young man? to represent the AAR? responsible.’ RSN: What is your favorite course to Hillerbrand: Well, in the Germany teach? Hillerbrand: Yes, my recent service on of my youth, you were either Catholic or the AAR Board has been as delegate to the Hillerbrand: Since I have been in Lutheran. Though I grew up in utterly American Council of Learned Societies. the bush many, many times, I have taught Catholic Bavaria, my family was Lutheran. This has been a rewarding experience since a great many courses, lately on The Da It was self-consciously so, but the religious RSN: Describe the period of your doctor- it has brought me into contact with repre- Vinci Code; on Jesus through the centuries; life in my family was rather conventional. al study. With whom did you study” and sentatives of other learned and professional on Bonhoeffer; on film. The film course The main point seemed to be to make what were your areas of greatest interest? societies. I suppose if you serve long enough (“Religion and Film”) was the most fun sure that the difference between Lutherans on a committee you’ll get assignments, Hillerbrand: I did my doctoral work but also the most frustrating pedagogical- and Catholics was never forgotten. So, in which in my case meant that I was elected in Germany at Erlangen. I combined a ly, since I found it quite difficult to inte- my family I learned mainly to value reli- chair of the executive committee of the del- traditional course of study in theology grate my lectures, film clips, films, and gious routine. The real religious influences egates, and this in turn led to my member- with a not-so-traditional course in reli- outside readings into one coherent whole. came from my religion teacher in high ship on the ACLS Board of Directors. gion. My mentor was Schoeps — known But when all is said, my course on the school (religion was and is a major aca- Together with Barbara DeConcini, I have as an influential scholar of the Apostle Protestant Reformation is my favorite. I demic subject in German schools) who the opportunity to make the case for the Paul and early Christianity for whom the know quite a bit and include anecdotes was willing to listen to a 14- and 15-year- academic study of religion to our colleagues study of religion was at once cultural stud- and vignettes that allow me to bring the old’s declaration that Sartre or in other disciplines. ❧ ies. While rather casual in his demands on topic alive. Schopenhauer or Nietzsche had once and doctoral students — he refused to see a for all destroyed the philosophical viability RSN: In what ways is the vocation of single line of my dissertation until it was of theism. He actually not only listened teaching especially rewarding for you? all down (only then to tell me that I had with seriousness, having been part of the wrongly conceptualized the topic) — Hillerbrand: As a Lutheran, the anti-Nazi resistance, he demonstrated to Schoeps made a lasting impression on me word “vocation” means a great deal to me. me that Christian conviction had rele- in two ways: the importance of asking the I have seen my “vocation” in conveying to vance for the world. right questions in scholarship, and seeking my students how the present is inextrica- RSN: How did your parents or your to speak to broader audiences in one’s bly linked to the past. The sentence my extended family influence your career? writings. students need to learn by heart is that “we are historically minded as we are culturally Hillerbrand: My father, I suspect, My favorite area of study quickly turned responsible.” like most fathers of all times and places, out to be the Protestant Reformation of had a definite idea about my vocation — the 16th century, in particular its fringe RSN: Can you tell us a bit about your and that was to follow in his professional groups, such as the Anabaptists. My origi- current research, teaching, or administra- footsteps. As a somewhat precocious nal idea to do a dissertation on Luther tive interests?

March 2005 AAR RSN • 13 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Department Meeting Wartburg College, Department of Religion Kathryn Klienhans, Chair

Interestingly enough, RE 101 also functions as part of the college’s Information Literacy One of my colleagues in the art department once pointed Across the Curriculum emphasis, because of out that art students and religion students have in its focus on critical thinking skills and textu- common an expressivist orientation toward our courses: al interpretation. All students are also “ required to take a second course from because of their personal investment in the material, they among a selection of philosophy and reli- resent being graded on something they consider subjective. gion classes that deal with ultimate questions and ethical principles. is overwhelmingly Christian. The religion ciplines. That makes us natural standard- RSN: How do you attract majors? major consists of eight courses, four of which bearers for the liberal arts — especially for are required: “Literature of Old and New the value of a liberal arts education for our Klienhans: In some ways, that’s easy for Testaments,” “History of Christianity,” preprofessional students. Our religion facul- us. Wartburg’s identity as a college of the ” “World Religions,” and the capstone. ty has made significant contributions in church naturally attracts students interested Students then choose an upper-division Bible many areas of the college’s general education in religion. We currently have 73 majors, course, another history or theology course, program, including the design of our inter- making religion the seventh-largest major at an ethics course, and an elective to complete disciplinary first-year core course and the Wartburg College is one of the 28 colleges Wartburg. At any given time, about half of and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran their major requirements. new honors program. our majors are planning to enter some kind Church in America (ELCA). Wartburg was of church vocation, while the other half are founded in 1852 to serve the needs of the We also offer a number of preprofessional RSN: How would you like to expand the students who’ve chosen religion as a second German immigrant community. Teacher concentrations that build on the basic eight- department’s offerings? major to complement their primary course training and theological education were two course religion major. The Pre-seminary of study. Social work and religion is a popu- of its earliest emphases. Located in Waverly, concentration requires philosophy, biblical Klienhans: Obviously, our biggest need lar combination, for example. Iowa, since 1935, Wartburg College is now languages, history, and literature. The Youth is to add a full-time faculty member with a comprehensive liberal arts institution offer- and Family Ministry concentration requires expertise in world religions. Such a colleague RSN: It must be nice to have a dependable ing primarily the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor almost as many psychology and sociology would strengthen our major and would also stream of students interested in your of Music, and Bachelor of Music Education courses as it does religion courses. Most of be positioned to make significant contribu- department. degrees. Roughly half of Wartburg’s 1,775 the concentrations require several intern- tions to the college’s Diversity Across the students major in business, biology, commu- ships, which are intended both to provide Curriculum emphasis. A world religions nications, and education. Klienhans: Well, yes and no. On the real-world experience and to foster critical position has been part of the college’s long- one hand, a lot of students come to Kathryn Klienhans received a BA in reflection on experience. range staffing plan for a decade, but unfor- Wartburg favorably disposed toward reli- Theology from Valparaiso University, where tunately other priorities keep pushing it out gion. But for a significant number of stu- she was also a Christ College Scholar RSN: What are your strengths as a of the way when it’s time to allocate limited dents, the concept of the academic study of (1980). She received her MDiv from Christ department? resources for new faculty positions. religion is foreign. One of my colleagues Seminary-Seminex (1984) and her PhD in Currently I’m working on a proposal for a Theological Studies from Emory University in the art department once pointed out Klienhans: We’re a fairly young depart- Challenge Grant from the National (1995). She served as a parish pastor in that art students and religion students ment, which generates lots of creative ener- Endowment for the Humanities that would Atlanta, Georgia, and did some adjunct have in common an expressivist orienta- gy. I like to point out that I replaced a retir- endow a distinguished professorship in teaching at the Lutheran Theological tion toward our courses: because of their ing faculty member who’d been teaching at world religious understanding. When I Center–Atlanta and the personal investment in the material, they Wartburg since the year I was born! The became department chair, I didn’t realize Interdenominational Theological Center resent being graded on something they next year we replaced someone who’d been that fund-raising would be part of my job, before coming to Wartburg College in 1993. consider subjective. The double majors are here even longer. All in all, five members of but it is. Her dissertation is a postmodern analysis of often our better students, since studies in the department have been hired since I came Martin Luther’s The Bondage of the Will. their other major have given them an to Wartburg in 1993. We expect that a world religions professor Many of her recent publications are curricu- appreciation for what a discipline is. lar materials for the ELCA. may bring new methodological approaches Although this is the first full-time teaching to the department, as well as content expert- We’re constantly working to communicate job for many members of the department, ise. That’s something we’re open to, but I’m that our identity and function as a college of RSN: How long have you been at we’ve developed into strong teachers. Three sure there will be some growing pains for the the Lutheran church is quite different from Wartburg, and how long have you been of my colleagues have won the college-wide faculty, as well as for our students, as the the popular image of a “Christian” college or department chair? Student Award for Teaching Excellence in religion major becomes more diverse in its a Bible college. We make a point of empha- recent years, and another two of us have scope and its shape. Still, that’s a challenge sizing that Lutheranism was born in a uni- Klienhans: I came to Wartburg in been finalists for that honor. I’m eager to face! versity and has always promoted the value of 1993, as the fourth member of a freestand- education. Some of our students talk about ing religion department. I was the “Lutheran We also have a strong global awareness. One RSN: What other challenges will your having “faith like a child.” Our standard heritage” hire, with responsibilities for most member of the department was born and department be facing in the near future? response is that Jesus instructed his followers of the theology and church history courses raised in India as the child of a medical mis- to love God “with all your heart, and with offered by the department. The next year, sionary. Two other members have extensive Klienhans: During my decade-plus at all your soul, and with all your mind ” Religion and Philosophy combined into a overseas teaching experience, one in Papua Wartburg, the student body has grown from (Matthew 22:37). We’re not interested in single department. I became chair in 1999. New Guinea and the other in Brazil. Not 1,400 to 1,775. If enrollment continues to fostering religious beliefs that can’t stand up surprisingly, we encourage our students to grow, staffing general education courses, par- to intellectual scrutiny. To paraphrase RSN: How large is the department now? study abroad in order to gain a wider under- ticularly RE 101, will become an even greater Socrates, the unexamined faith is not worth How many full-time and adjunct faculty? standing of the world. During the college’s challenge. We just can’t keep hiring more believing. May Term, religion faculty frequently lead Bible faculty whose primary responsibility will Klienhans: There are eight full-time fac- travel courses to Germany, Israel/Palestine, be teaching multiple sections of a single entry- RSN: Would you tell us something about ulty in the department: five in Bible, one in Honduras, and Tanzania. level course. So we may need to rethink how the organization of knowledge in your theology, one in ethics, and one in philoso- we approach the Faith and Reflection require- department? phy. The college pastor also teaches one RSN: What distinguishes your department ment. course each term. Given our small-town from other departments on campus? Klienhans: At the risk of oversimplifying, location, we haven’t had much luck finding RSN: What gives you the greatest satisfac- some days I describe the department as having and retaining qualified adjuncts. Klienhans: The largest majors on cam- tion as a chair? two components: “Bible” and “everything Unfortunately, that means our resources are pus are in preprofessional programs: business, else.” Certainly that’s the easiest way to catego- spread pretty thin at times, especially when biology, communication arts, and education. Klienhans: Helping my colleagues and rize the faculty. Our three most recent hires we need to cover sabbaticals. As a result, we tend to be viewed by some of our students do the best work that they can have been devoted to staffing RE 101, the core our colleagues as mostly a service department, do! I’m an adequate administrator, but I’m a Bible course, in the face of eight years of RSN: What are your core courses? albeit a somewhat privileged one, given the passionate advocate. I want the best for my record-breaking student enrollment. That’s cre- college’s Lutheran identity. I don’t mind the colleagues, our students, and for the institu- ated a significant imbalance in the shape of the Klienhans: All Wartburg students are “service department” designation, although tion as a whole. Often that means thinking department. required to take two “Faith and Reflection” there’s a lot more to it than just staffing the outside the box and trying to broker win- courses as part of their general education Faith and Reflection requirement. win solutions with limited resources. On my Although we are a religion and philosophy requirement. The foundational course is RE best days, I feel a real sense of accomplish- department, it’s most accurate to say that our 101, “Literature of the Old and New I mentioned earlier that religion is the sev- ment in my work. ❧ religion faculty is all trained in Christian the- Testaments,” which covers biblical content enth-largest major at Wartburg. It’s actually ology, rather than in a religious studies from Genesis through Revelation. the largest major among the humanities dis- model. Consequently, the shape of the major

14 • March 2005 AAR RSN Editor’s Note: FEATURES The Henry Luce Foundation has awarded a grant to the AAR’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Religion Committee. Grant funds Beyond the Annual Meeting will be used to publish an online career guide for minority scholars. Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee Kwok Pui lan, Episcopal Divinity School

of learning Korean. She said that she has RSN: Did your committee sponsor a taught many Korean students over the years forum in San Antonio? Status of Racial and and wants to know their culture better. Both Ethnic Minorities in the Kwok: I’m glad you ask the question. Daisy and Orlando have been active in the Profession Committee Yes, we did. We have been in conversation Hispanic Summer Program, a program for with racial and ethnic minority leaders on members: Latina/o seminary students. Daisy co-edited how the AAR independent Annual Meeting Kwok Pui lan (Chair), Episcopal the first anthology of Latina feminism, will affect our scholarship and lives in the Divinity School Religion and Justice: Latina Feminist Theology, Academy. We sponsored a forum to discuss and her dissertation Of Borders and Margins: Karen Baker-Fletcher, Southern the relation between the study of religion Hispanic Disciples in Texas 1888–1945 was Methodist University and the study of scriptures from a racial published by the AAR Academy Series. minority perspective. Speakers included Miguel A. De La Torre, Hope Orlando founded and was first chief editor Charles H. Long, Rita Dasgupta Sherma, College of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology. Tazim Kassam, Vincent Wimbush, Nikky He’s on the national selection committee of Laura E. Donaldson, Cornell Singh, Rudy Busto, and myself. As far as I the Hispanic Theological Initiative and is University know, this was the first time we have the founder and director of the Center for Kwok Pui lan is William F. Cole Professor addressed the topic, and we drew about 100 Daisy L. Machado, Texas Christian the Study of Latino/a Catholicism at the of Christian Theology and Spirituality at participants. University Episcopal Divinity School. Her research University of San Diego. interests include Christian theology, biblical RSN: What other initiatives does your Anthony Pinn, Rice University RSN: Why is the work of this committee hermeneutics, and postcolonial criticism. She committee plan to take? is the author of Discovering the Bible in important for the Academy? Kwok: We will publish a career guide for the Non-Biblical World, Introducing Kwok: I see this committee as crucial in minority scholars, with support from the Asian Feminist Theology, and Postcolonial fulfilling the Centennial Plan’s goal to support RSN: Why does the work of the commit- Luce Foundation. We have been talking Imagination and Feminist Theology. She and encourage diversity within the Academy. tee matter to you? about this for well over a decade. The is the co-editor of Journal of Feminist We have all read about the changing demo- Committee on the Status of Women in the Kwok: I have served on this committee Studies in Religion and serves on the graphics in the U.S., that the number of racial Profession published a survival manual for since 1998, first as a member. In our first meet- Executive Committee of the AAR. minorities will outnumber that of whites in women in religious studies 12 years ago and ing, we shared our experiences as racial minori- about 50 years’ time. The Academy needs to a new version, A Guide for Women in ty scholars in the field, and we found that our be prepared for what such changes will mean RSN: Can you tell us the history of your Religion, came out last November. I myself struggles were so similar. When I started to go to the study of religion in the North American committee? have found such a guide very helpful, espe- to the Annual Meetings as an Asian doctoral context. In Boston where I live, the Asian cially for the newer scholars. We plan to student, I had very few role models to follow. Kwok: We became a standing committee population doubled in the last decade and we publish our career guide online so that it will Many had not heard that there was something in 2002 after eight years as an ad hoc com- have many more Asian restaurants. It is be widely accessible to our members, and to called Asian feminist theology. Most of my mittee. It was set up to study the problems important to understand religious life in these scholars in other fields. We plan also to mentors were white, and they opened many of racial and ethnic scholars in religion and racial and ethnic communities and to develop strengthen our links with minority student doors for me. Now that I am inside the acade- to propose remedies and initiatives for the leadership from their midst. When I first members of the AAR. Frankly, I was not my as a tenured professor, I have the responsi- Academy. Dwight Hopkins and Peter Paris attended the Annual Meeting in 1985, I saw aware that student members make up 28 bility to open the doors wider for others who were chairs of the ad hoc committee, and I very few Asian and Asian-American members. percent of the total membership until I will come after me. The work can be time-con- am the first chair now that it is a standing Now there is a group on Asian-American reli- checked the statistics. They are the future of suming, because I also serve on the Executive committee. gion and culture, and another on Latina/o the Academy, and I will work with the stu- Committee. But I have learned a lot about the religion. Black religious discourse, of course, is RSN: What does your committee do? dent director for joint programming. workings of the Academy and the broader more developed and has a longer history. issues our field faces as a whole, a perspective I Kwok: Our committee serves as a bridge These voices not only have brought new RSN: Tell us more about this career guide. would not have had as only a member. between the Academy and its racial minority knowledge to the Academy, but have also Kwok: This is still in the planning stage. and ethnic members. In 2003 we had about changed the way religious scholarship is done. RSN: Has this work been helpful in your We want it to be a general reference, cover- 1,300 regular members (13 percent of total) scholarship and professional development? RSN: What do you mean by this? ing the range of issues from being a student and 500 student members (19 percent of to the golden years of retirement. When I Kwok: Very much so. It allows me to get students) who self-identified as racial and Kwok: In the past, when we talked about first got my job, I did not know how to to know and work with racial and ethnic ethnic minorities. The actual figures must be Buddhism, few of us thought about negotiate my contract. Such a guide would minority scholars outside the Asian cohort. higher because there are members who have Buddhism in Asian America. If we are doing have been very helpful for me. As a person For example, I co-edited the book not declared their ethnic background. The research on Catholicism in the United States, moves along, some advice on how to balance Postcolonialism, Feminism, and Religious committee meets with the chairs of AAR’s we can’t overlook the fact that a significant the many commitments of a mid-career fac- Discourse with Laura E. Donaldson, a various racial and ethnic groups to identify percentage of those attending the Catholic ulty member will be useful. We will have a Cherokee-Scotch-Irish scholar. I have also emerging issues, organizes programs for Church today are racial and ethnic minorities. group consisting of people of different races been able to share some of my own ideas in racial minority scholars, recommends poli- I have noticed that in recent years, many of and ethnicities from universities, small col- the special topics forums and have received cies and procedures to the Academy, and the books that received the AAR excellence leges, and racial minority schools working valuable feedback. Most importantly, the plays a mediating role when tensions arise. awards have used methodologies that include on this. We also hope to solicit input from committee helps to create a community of race, class, gender, culture, and colonialism in RSN: Who serves on your committee? racial minority members through different discourse that supports the work I am doing their analysis. There is a paradigmatic change channels. so I do not feel so alone. This kind of net- Kwok: We are very fortunate to have in our field in that religion can no more be work is also important for collaborative scholars active in their respective racial and studied as if it is sui generis, without taking RSN: If I were to ask you to name one success work outside the AAR. For example, Karen, ethnic groups serving on the committee. For into consideration how it is embedded in and of your committee, what would it be? Tony, and I attended the meeting of the example, Anthony Pinn is the co-chair of influenced by culture and history. And speak- Kwok: I’ll begin by telling you a story. A Working Group on Constructive Theology the Black Theology Group and Orlando ing from the United States, scholars just can’t few years ago, several AAR committees met after our last committee meeting. It was Espin and Daisy Machado are former co- afford to ignore how race has shaped the con- concurrently during one weekend and we all good to see them as that was the first time I chairs of the Latina/o Religion, Culture, and struction of knowledge in the academy in had dinner together. A white colleague greet- attended the meeting of this group. Society Group. Karen Baker-Fletcher and general, and the field of religion in particular. ed me by saying, “You must be from the Laura E. Donaldson are active in the RSN: What would you say to someone RSN: What has your committee done to racial minority committee.” It didn’t occur Womanist Approaches to Religion and interested in your committee? promote these kinds of conversations? to him that I might serve on some other Society Group and the Native Traditions in committees. One successful thing our com- Kwok: We will be glad to have people the Americas Group. Kwok: Since 1998, the committee has mittee has done was to propose procedures giving input to the career guide and getting sponsored Special Topics Forums at the RSN: What are their specialties? What are to the Board of Directors to diversify the involved in mentoring and other work of Annual Meeting. We think that we need to they working on? leadership of the Academy. The Board the committee; they can contact me at have public forums that bring white scholars accepted our proposal unanimously last [email protected]. ❧ Kwok: Tony was very productive in the and racial minority scholars together and April. The committee has worked closely past two years. He published Terror and facilitate conversations among diverse racial with the President, the Executive office, and Triumph and edited Noise and Spirit, a book groups. We have discussed the impact of the Nominations Committee to identify on rap music, as well as Peoples Temple and racial minority scholars in the study of reli- suitable minority candidates to fill vacant Black Religion in America. Laura is using her gion, the historicity of racial relations in the positions for the officers, committees, and sabbatical to finish her book Postcolonialism U.S., and how identity impacts our scholar- task forces. Unless racial minorities are repre- and Religious Studies. Karen Baker-Fletcher is ship and teaching. These are quite well sented in the leadership of the Academy, our working on a volume on womanist theology. attended, and we have been able to attract a voices and issues cannot be heard and our She visited and lectured in South Korea for diverse crowd. contributions will be limited. the first time last year, and is even thinking

March 2005 AAR RSN • 15 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition

When they commissioned the composition Research Briefing of the SKh in the 15th century, the Brahmins elevated the status of [The Siva temple] consists Bhramarambha to be higher than that of Siva by dedicating 19 chapters to the glory of approximately 2,000 Temple Hinduism: Custodianship, of the goddess, while limiting references to bas-reliefs, which are her counterpart, Siva, to only a few pas- “ carved on the outer surface Cultural Politics, and Religious Identity sages. Through my study of current ritual practices in the Bhramarambha temple, I of a gigantic Prakara discovered that the medieval Brahmin in South India authorities managed to raise the status of enclosure that surrounds Bhramari from that of a local goddess to the temples of Siva and Prabhavati C. Reddy, Northwestern University that of the pan-Indian great goddess Bhramarambha, by introducing a place for Bhramarambha. This revival of the Saiva and Sakta traditions at her within the Sri Vidya theology of the enclosure, measuring 20 Srisailam in the postindependence years of Sakta tradition. feet high by 500 feet wide India? From medieval Telugu works and inscrip- by 600 feet long, depicts Within a given Hindu pilgrimage center, tions, we learn that after taking possession both the devotional practice of pilgrims of the management of Siva temple, the the stories of Siva and and the devotional pilgrimage literature Virasaivas also found ways to heighten the Srisailam, the hagiography focus on glorifying the splendors and spir- fame and status of their chosen deity. In a itual power of the site, while also worship- radical departure from the rich Sanskrit of saints and devotees, and ping its patron deity. In Srisailam, it is legacy, the egalitarian Virasaivas commis- cultic images of the Saiva Siva who has been the patron deity ever sioned poets to compose works in the ver- since the early centuries of the Common nacular Telugu language to glorify only and Sakta traditions. Era. The site is considered one of the 12 Siva and Virasaivism. Today, the contrast- most important Saiva pilgrimage centers, ing performance of the rituals in and has been a nucleus for the develop- Bhramarambha’s temple, which follow the ment of Saiva sectarian schools in South Vedic and Agamic traditions, and the ritu- written in Old Telugu and classical kavya Prabhavati C. Reddy came to India. The centrality of Siva to Srisailam is als in Siva’s temple, which follow the style.6 In addition, there are more than 70 Northwestern University as an Andrew reflected in the main inscriptions, in Agamic and Virasaiva traditions, show Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the on-site Telugu inscriptions, some ”of which Telugu literary works, and in the temple clearly how the earlier changes in the cus- require not only English translations but Department of Religion. She taught a vari- narrative art traditions at Srisailam, all of todianship of the temples have altered the also interpretation of their contents, espe- ety of courses at Northwestern that focus on which are dedicated to the glory of Siva religious practices at Srisailam. cially in regard to the dating of temples comparative religions of South Asia and and Saiva religious culture. Hinduism. Reddy plans to complete her In the process of arriving at my hypothesis and religious developments.7 book on Temple Hinduism by fall 2005. However, when I started working on about these historical shifts, I followed a In addition to the use of vernacular Telugu Srisailam, I discovered that although the research program that included the appli- literature as a means of promoting the site’s major Sanskrit text, the cation of interdisciplinary methodologies Saiva legacy, the Virasaiva rulers extended HE AMERICAN ACADEMY of Srisailakhanda (SKh), provides a lively and the use of different kinds of source their patronage of the Siva temple through Religion awarded me an individual account of Srisailam, it is totally silent materials to explore the relationship the dedication of an extraordinary art research grant in 2002 to conduct about the role of Srisailam in both Siva’s between Saivas and Saktas at Srisailam. As T monument, which I believe was intended fieldwork and research at Srisailam, an sacred history and religious developments mentioned earlier, the Saiva Brahmins and to serve as both a symbol of the Virasaivas’ important Hindu pilgrimage center devot- in Saivism.3 In contrast, the SKh speaks the Virasaivas distinguished themselves in victory over the Saiva Brahmins as well as ed to Siva in South India. The proposed abundantly about Bhramarambha, devot- their choice of languages (Sanskrit vs. an expression of their devotion to Siva. project was to explore the issues pertain- ing 19 of its 64 chapters to her sacred his- Telugu), and in supporting literary compo- This art monument consists of approxi- ing to the role of custodianship and power tory. Yet this, too, represents a historical sitions only in those chosen languages in mately 2,000 bas-reliefs, which are carved dynamics in the articulation of religious anomaly, since the SKh turns out to be the order to promote their sectarian purposes. on the outer surface of a gigantic Prakara identities among competing sectarian only extant source that discusses Since Sanskrit was the language chosen by enclosure that surrounds the temples of communities in medieval Andhra. My Bhramarambha and her history at Saiva Brahmins and Telugu by Virasaivas, Siva and Bhramarambha. This enclosure, research examines the dynamic interplay Srisailam. Since we don’t hear about my research required the consultation of measuring 20 feet high by 500 feet wide between the communities of Saiva ortho- Bhramarambha in either medieval inscrip- textual sources both in Sanskrit and by 600 feet long, depicts the stories of Siva dox Brahmins and Lingayat Virasaivas tions at the site4 or in the vernacular Telugu. and Srisailam, the hagiography of saints when the custodianship over the temples Telugu literature about the site, we must and devotees, and cultic images of the of Bhramarambha and Siva Mallikarjuna ask these fundamental questions: Why Saiva and Sakta traditions.8 at Srisailam changed. One important dis- does the SKh record the history of covery of this research is that the change Bhramarambha so vividly and so exten- While textual and art My training in art history and archaeology in the custodianship of the Siva and sively, while ignoring the history of Siva so enabled me to undertake a systematic Bhramarambha temples in the 14th centu- totally? Why this imbalance in the por- historical approaches have study of these Prakara reliefs, beginning ry also brought about changes in their trayal of two deities who are connected “helped me to reconstruct with the documentation of every relief and respective temple traditions, liturgy, and through their spousal relationship, and the broad structural including the preparation of scroll maps ritual practices. Today, the Brahmin priests whose temples are located within the same and sectional wall drawings. One should manage the Bhramarambha temple under complex? And what historical factors cre- frameworks for the Saiva consider these reliefs as a visual text, a text a brahmanical conservative ideology, while ated these surprising imbalances? and Sakta traditions, that requires careful reading, criticism, non-brahmanical Virasaiva priests main- analysis, interpretation, and synthesis, just To explain my hypothesis, I must begin tain the Siva temple under a liberal Saiva I chose to turn to as we apply these research tools in textual with the fact that a revolutionary Saiva Catholicism. studies.9 The sequential documentation of movement called Virasaivism developed in anthropological methods reliefs thus is essential to enable one to what are now the modern states of The article that I had initially planned to and ethnographic field understand the underlying symbolic Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in South describe my research discoveries has now imageries and cultic ideas; this methodical India between the 12th and 14th cen- research to help me turned into a book project entitled Te mp l e approach also helps to create a textual turies. Founded on an egalitarian ideology, Hinduism: Custodianship, Cultural Politics understand the inner account of the visual narratives, as well as the Virasaivas opposed the brahmanical and Religious Identity in South India 1. I to compare these textual accounts with Saiva orthodoxy, including its caste system mechanism of their cultic began this book project in 2003 during similar stories found in literary and oral and ritualistic religious practices. In the second year of my Mellon postdoctor- practices and multiple traditions. The Prakara art is especially Srisailam, the Virasaiva movement created al fellowship at Northwestern University.2 important for the comparative study of a constant struggle over temple custodian- symbolic variants. My research on the custodianship and Virasaiva cultic practices in textual and ship between the Saiva orthodox power dynamics at Srisailam posed much artistic narrative traditions and for a better Brahmins and the Virasaivas. By the 14th broader questions for further study than I understanding of the position of century, the Virasaivas succeeded in taking had originally foreseen. These questions Virasaivism within the socio-cultural con- over the management of Siva’s temple at include the following: 1) What is temple text of Andhra. Srisailam from the Saiva orthodox Sanskrit sources such as the Srisailakhanda Hinduism? How did Srisailam, as both a Brahmins.5 As the new patron priests of require textual editing and the challenge” of What we see today at Srisailam is the prac- temple and a pilgrimage center, become Siva’s temple, the Virasaivas saw their translating sections into English. The tice of two major theistic traditions of the nucleus for the development of the influence grow immensely, and within a translation of several passages from pub- Hinduism: the Saiva and Sakta traditions. Saiva and Sakta traditions in South India? century or so, the ruling dynasties of lished Telugu works such as the Over a period of more than 1,000 years, 2) What historical factors contributed to Andhra recognized them as the local chiefs Panditaradhya Caritra, Basava Purana, the Saiva and Sakta cults have developed the change in the custodianship of the of the Srisailam region. Navanatha Caritra, Sivaratri Mahatmyamu, into complex multilayered traditions Siva and Bhramarambha temples? 3) Sri Kasikhandamu, Srisaila Sthalapuranamu, through an amalgamation of beliefs and What did the changes in the temple cus- Having lost control of the management of and modern pilgrimage booklets (dating ideologies, which have been influenced by todianship contribute to the religious Siva’s temple, the orthodox Brahmins nev- from the 14th century to the 20th century tribal, folk, regional, and sectarian cults. landscape of Srisailam? 4) What major ertheless continued to be the custodians of CE) was time-consuming and laborious, transformations took place during the Bhramarambha’s temple and her rituals. not least because some of these works are See REDDY p.20

16 • March 2005 AAR RSN Editor’s Note: FEATURES “In the Public Interest,” a regular feature of Religious Studies News, is sponsored In the Public Interest by the Academy’s Public Understanding of Religion Committee. Readership Study, Free Press Challenges Threaten Religion News Debra L. Mason, Religion Newswriters Association

country trying to triage bleeding circula- At other papers, too, longtime religion tions. Scattered stories of small circulation journalists are having their hours spent on increases in newspapers that adopt its religion cut from fulltime to one day a gospel have bolstered its credibility. week. And longtime religion specialists at The Readership Institute two of the three major U.S. news- The Readership Institute work shows that, work shows that, of 22 magazines have never been replaced — a of 22 news topics, readers — much like topic of December religion blog mutter- news topics, readers — religion scholars — rank their satisfaction “ ings, amid complaints about Newsweek with religion news nearly dead last. The much like religion scholars and Time’s story selections for their 2004 findings show that religion and spirituality Christmas religion cover stories. — rank their satisfaction news are of relatively low importance and satisfaction for every demographic. The with religion news nearly exception is in the case of African What’s wrong with dead last. The findings Americans, who ranked religion news as this picture? show that religion and important. But because African Americans are already dissatisfied with daily newspa- Clearly, despite sophisticated and generally spirituality news are of Debra L. Mason, PhD, is a former award- pers, the Readership Institute argues that valid research, the Readership Institute relatively low importance winning religion reporter and executive papers don’t gain many African-American misses the mark in its assessment of the director of the Religion Newswriters readers by improving religion news. importance of religion in newspaper read- and satisfaction for every Association and Foundation. She serves on ers’ lives and readers’ desire to see it in the In the formula to expand news audiences, demographic. AAR’s Committee for the Public mass media. Understanding of Religion. satisfaction is a key variable. So the Readership Institute gives newspapers for- A number of indicators show that readers mulas they can employ to improve reader care — and care passionately — about actions by journalists, including reports IKE IT OR NOT, the single biggest satisfaction, and thus readership. The presentations of religion in the main- about the U.S. Army and the shielding of source of news about religion and Readership Institute also prioritizes news stream media. For instance: confidential sources, are now leading to faith outside of one’s own faith com- into nine topics newspapers should focus L • Cover stories on religion in the major government investigations of journalists” munity is the secular news media. Much on. Incredibly, religion is not among the newsweeklies routinely are among the and, more surprisingly, convictions. has been written and critiqued about the top nine most desirable content areas. biggest newsstand sellers; inadequacies of the media when it comes “All these cases are too often cast as The nine news topics the Readership to reporting on religion, faith, and values • The People magazine cover with Mel instances in which journalists and ‘media Institute says newspapers should enhance — and scholars have responded in ways Gibson and The Passion of the Christ organizations’ are protecting themselves to “grow readership” are, in order: ranging from hostility to nervous partici- sold more issues than any other in the and their friends. But newspapers and net- pation. 1. Community Announcements/ first half of 2004; works will keep making money whether Obituaries/Ordinary People inside information flows like a mighty • Nearly one in five consumer books But two major realities in the news industry 2. Health/Home/Fashion/Food/Travel river or trickles like a sad little creek. Who bought last year dealt with religion or now threaten to move whatever coverage of 3. Government/War/Politics/International is hurt most when citizens fail to learn spirituality; religion has existed in the past — flawed as 4. Natural Disasters/Accidents about bribe-taking, discontented soldiers it may be — out of the public and into the 5. Movies/TV/Weather • A survey by the Pew Internet and or out-of-control intelligence programs? private. The biggest factor is the news 6. Business/Economics/Personal Finance American Life Project last year found You know the answer, and it’s chilling,” media’s quest for greater profitability in an 7. Science/Technology/Environment that 64 percent of 128 million Dionne writes. era of declining newspaper readership. 8. Police/Crime/Courts/Legal Internet surfers — or 82 million In addition to legal threats to state shield 9. Sports adult Americans — used the Internet laws, the Patriot Act has compounded the for some form of spiritual or religious Readership studies These top areas are promoted independent problem, allowing the government to jus- activity; devalue faith news of the rest of the list, which does include tify the removal of thousands of pages of religion as number 11 out of 14 cate- • Seventeen magazine started a faith sec- formerly public information from public The declining circulation of daily newspa- gories. (The other five news content areas tion that includes verses from spiritu- view. Protected documents include investi- pers is the overriding, most urgent con- are, in order: 10. Education; 11. al texts; gations of Mosques and religious institu- cern of every newspaper editor and pub- Parenting/Relationship/Religion; 12. Arts; tions, peace activists and scholars. • A documentary on the historical Jesus lisher in this country. Each year fewer 13. Automotive; and 14. Popular Music.) last spring received CNN’s all-time readers subscribe to newspapers than in Common sense tells us there is plenty of biggest audience for non-news pro- Uneasy partners the past. In 1964, 84 percent of the popu- religion in news about ordinary people, gramming. lation read a newspaper every day. In Like scholars, the media play an important government, politics, and, really, every 2004 it was 52 percent, and next year role in informing the public about religious item on the “Top Nine” list. But having industry leaders expect that number to “Quiet campaign” pluralism and diversity in our country. The largely segregated religion news to drop to less than half the U.S. population. press can apprise us of the role of faith in Saturday sections for more than 100 years, undercuts press The situation is critical when it comes to the lives of our politicians — and the role editors now have a hard time recognizing readers ages 18 to 30. In 1997, 37 percent freedoms, public’s it plays in the development of public poli- that faith and values are woven in all of 18- to 30-year-olds read a newspaper. right to know cy. The media serve as watchdogs against aspects of life. In 2000 it was 26 percent. It’s estimated hubris, greed, and abuses of power in reli- The second threat to reporting about reli- that by 2010, only 9 percent of all young So despite fleeting and superficial attention gious institutions — human flaws that can gion in the public square is perhaps closer adults will read a paper. Media marketing to coverage of religion last fall in the wake cause lasting emotional and spiritual pain to the religion scholar’s heart: the legal gurus know that if you aren’t a reader as a of the U.S. presidential elections — in to the faithful. And the media can inspire threats to interpretations of the First youth, you’re less likely to become one which morals and values ranked as a top us with examples of the everyday saints and Amendment and state statutes that protect later in life. motivating factor among many voters — servants of God. the media from prosecution when shield- the Readership Institute strategy is impact- This reality of declining readership — and ing confidential sources. Freedom of If you have to ask what all this has to do ing the religion beat in concrete ways. thus, declining profitability tied to the speech, freedom of the press, freedom of with religion scholars, think about the advertising dollars higher circulations yield Stephen Scott, former religion editor of religion, and AAR members’ academic U.S. visa revocation case of scholar Tariq — has newspapers searching for their ver- the St. Paul Pioneer Press, became the latest freedom are, at the very least, philosophi- Ramadan. Think about concerns about sion of the Holy Grail. to suffer from a devaluing of the religion cal and legislative siblings that require the academic freedom and the intertwining of beat directly related to the Readership issue of religion and the media stay in the press and religious freedoms enshrined in The newspaper industry’s most powerful Institute’s strategies. The Pioneer Press public and not just the private realm. the First Amendment. It’s messy and com- tonic to date is the work of the Readership eliminated a religion position effective plicated, but it mandates that religion Institute. It brings grim news for people who Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, in September 11, making it among the scholars, at a minimum, pay attention to care about religion’s presence in the public a December 16 column, writes of “a quiet largest newspapers in the country without clampdowns on the press by state and fed- sphere and, specifically, the mainstream campaign being waged against your right a faith specialist. Now the Pioneer Press’s eral governments. press. In my mind, it is the single greatest to know things. God forbid that ordinary competition, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, threat in the 150-plus-year history of the folks should learn more about what gov- Ideally, it means the media and scholars is in no rush to replace its longtime reli- religion beat in U.S. daily newspapers. ernment officials and others among the should consider each other reluctant part- gion editor who retired. At the Boston powerful might be up to.” ners, for a media without religion both The Readership Institute’s $10 million- Globe, a weekly spiritual life column was hurts the credibility of the press and plus body of research — including a sur- killed last summer. In Raleigh, a thought- Like many in the media, Dionne was reduces public validation for the study, vey of 37,000 readers, in-depth content ful Q&A religion column about diverse sounding the alarm about a pattern in funding, and discourse of religion in the audits, and other analyses — creates a theological and religious questions of sub- 2004 — expected to continue in 2005 — public life. ❧ manual of sorts for editors across the stance died. of cases in which traditionally protected

March 2005 AAR RSN • 17 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition From the Student Desk Sustaining a Marriage: Or, Does PhD Have to Mean “Partner Has Departed”? Therese DesCamp, Community Church of Monterey Peninsula

A few years later, on orientation day for The first thing I learned was that I could did I also mention that everyone who was the doctoral program, incoming students not work all the time. It’s important to single ended up in a committed relationship? were invited to speak of their goals. While learn to ignore the voice that tells you that The little secret of academia is that all this my colleagues focused on research and you shouldn’t stop. Just acknowledge the “mind stuff” is sexy. Connecting with publication ambitions, I remember voic- anxiety and set it aside, or you’ll go crazy. someone who is your intellectual peer is ing much more mundane desires. I had For one thing, brains need rest in order to an aphrodisiac. Even if nothing overtly just gotten married, and I wanted to still operate efficiently. For another, relation- sexual ever happens, it’s easy to get more be married — to the same person — ships can’t be put on ice for years. My intimately connected to your classmates when I finished my PhD. spouse and I learned to set a regular date than your partner. Your fascinating aca- every week to relax together and talk. The high percentage of relationship failures demic thoughts may take too long to Even if we were broke, we went out for a in graduate school isn’t surprising when explain to your spouse, or your partner meal. (So what if it was McDonald’s!) I you look at the stresses involved. Long may not get the point, or maybe they also took summers completely off from hours, lack of money, and unrelenting pres- aren’t even interested. studies. (Okay, one summer I took inten- sure take their toll. Since most of us aca- sive Latin for eight weeks. But we still had So point three is that we need to acknowl- demic types base our worth on our intellec- a vacation together.) edge and accept that there’s a seductive tual skills, the doctoral program becomes charge to intellectual pursuits! Don’t have Therese DesCamp received her PhD from the ultimate survivor test. Gone are the Second, be prepared for changes. My prob- all your fun with your colleagues on lunch the Graduate Theological Union in days of breezing through at the top of the lem wasn’t just a lack of time; I was also and study dates and then drag your raggedy Hebrew Bible, with a concentration on class when everyone else is brainy, too. being fundamentally altered. Doctoral ass home too tired to talk to your partner. Intertestamental Literature and Cognitive work transforms one from student to In the beginning, no matter how much I’d Linguistics. She is currently engaged in col- teacher, and I needed to claim a new level In case you’re wondering, yes, it took prepared, it was never enough. Every spare laborative research applying the findings of of personal authority. At the same time, my longer for me to graduate than my com- contemporary cognitive science to the lan- minute was committed. No matter what I husband was also changing. He didn’t stand patriots. Yes, I got a “B” in one class. (I guage of politics and religion, and serves a was doing, I was always aware that I still in his work life or self-assessment, so wrote “Good Enough” in big red letters church in Carmel, California, as co-pastor. should be doing something else, some- we needed to talk together about what we on the grade printout, taped it over my thing more. Time off was an illicit luxury, were learning and feeling, what was excit- computer, and used it as an exercise in and the idea of going away for a weekend ing or scary. This wasn’t easy, and at times humility.) Yes, we went to therapy and HEN I STARTED a master’s was laughable. we needed help. If you think you don’t sometimes I resented the time it took. Yes, program years ago, I had a cir- It took a while for me to realize how dam- have the time or money for therapy, just sit I have some colleagues whose minds fasci- cle of friends who met weekly W aging my compulsive work habits were. down and figure out what a divorce is nate me and who would have looked pret- to meditate and talk. Most of these friends Home life deteriorated to a litany of com- going to cost you. Lots more, I promise. ty good if I’d been single. And finally, yes, were married or in committed relation- plaints about how tired I was and how when I got my PhD this past spring, I was ships, but by the time we finished the pro- There’s one more thing that was illustrated in lonely he was. But eventually we figured still married to my dear husband who sup- gram three years later, not a single one of that circle of friends so long ago. I men- out a few things that worked and I’d like ported, loved, listened to, challenged, and those relationships had survived. tioned that all my married associates got to share them. grew with me through these hard years. ❧ divorced during the master’s program — but

Passages: Life in Retirement

With the freer schedule, I often assume that I I’m still involved in the neighborhood organi- ting go. It may be a shock, but soon it is Eugene TeSelle have plenty of time to take on new responsi- zation that we formed 34 years ago. An urban comforting. bilities, and then I discover conflicts in my neighborhood like ours is a sort of “trip wire,” RSN: If you could design your perfect schedule. But Penny and I do have a chance because when problems come up, we are retirement, what would it look like? to do a bit more traveling, and to visit, or bound to experience them earlier than other host, family and friends. areas. (We also see the importance of federal TeSelle: It may indicate a lack of imagina- legislation, or the lack of it.) We’ve dealt with tion, but I don’t yearn for anything different. RSN: What kinds of conflicts in your desegregation, an interstate segment, battles schedule? For starters, Vanderbilt is wise in giving its over rezoning, bikeways and sidewalks, rela- retirees free parking permits and maintaining TeSelle: For many years I have had a triple tions with Vanderbilt University and Belmont access to its Web site and its library system. identity (outside the family circle, of course) University, and now historic zoning and the For one reason or another, I get to the library as Professor Eugene TeSelle at Vanderbilt “new urbanism.” Folks in the suburbs who almost every day. Occasionally I read books Divinity School, as Reverend Eugene TeSelle thought they were escaping urban problems that I always wanted to know more about, in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and as have found that urbanization follows them, but between scholarship and politics there is Citizen Gene TeSelle, the neighborhood so our neighborhood alliance has more than usually an immediate motive for checking organizer and community activist. 150 groups in various stages of activity. them out. Sometimes people seem puzzled by this com- RSN: What makes for a satisfactory bination, but I like to think that these vari- And then Penny and I are fortunate to be in a retirement? ous roles are more or less consistent. place where we have many attachments; we TeSelle: When I retired in 1999, I didn’t can’t imagine wanting to live somewhere else. Eugene TeSelle is a graduate of the RSN: Tell us how this “triple identity” is experience the sudden change that can cause That kind of move would be the real disrup- University of Colorado, Princeton keeping you so busy. Theological Seminary, and Yale University. problems. I phased out slowly. The year after tion, we think. Of course there are some fac- After teaching in Yale’s Department of TeSelle: There are more scholarly activities retirement I was on the search committee for ulty members who have established a second Religious Studies, he spent 30 years at than I had anticipated. I’ve been working a new dean, and we’re all glad that James home somewhere else during their teaching Vanderbilt Divinity School, retiring in 1999 with Daniel Patte, general editor of the forth- Hudnut-Beumler could come. There has been years and are ready to move there. as Oberlin Alumni/ae Professor of Church coming Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, a wave of retirements from the Divinity RSN: If you could give advice to younger History and Theology. His writings have helping to sketch out what needs to be said School over the last ten years, just as the colleagues who are still teaching, what would been in the history of theology, mostly on and how to sort out the entries. I’ve also been demographers predicted. This fall the Divinity it be? Augustine and Aquinas, and also on the writing a short book on Augustine for a new School had more new faculty members join- Reformed tradition. At Vanderbilt he has series with Abingdon Press featuring retired ing the school than in my own “class of TeSelle: I guess I would emphasize the been chair of the Graduate Department of professors, presumably on the assumption 1969,” which had held the previous record. value of putting down roots somewhere, Religion, the Graduate Faculty Council, and that they will have ripened words of wisdom. either where you have been teaching or in a It’s hard to believe, but the school can thrive the Faculty Senate. pied à terre in a place where you would like And then I’ve been participating in without us. Perhaps it shows that the post- to move. But we in academe have an Presbyterian politics at the national level modernists are wrong and there is objective advantage over most people in the business with the Witherspoon Society (the “liberal reality. Very soon I came to appreciate the RSN: What types of activities are you world, since we can stay active after retire- caucus,” named for the only clergyperson wisdom of a retired French professor who enjoying in your retirement? ment. And in the humanities we don’t even to sign the Declaration of Independence), said he had learned not to comment on any need laboratories like colleagues in the sci- TeSelle: When people ask me what I’m as “Issues Analyst.” It gives me an opportu- issues before the department, since he no ences. We can still enjoy what we have doing after retirement, I say, “Exactly the nity to reflect on all kinds of issues and longer knew the full story or who was on spent our careers studying. ❧ same things, but with a freer schedule.” books as they come up. what side. Retirement inevitably requires let-

18 • March 2005 AAR RSN Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the December 19, FEATURES 2003, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Reprinted with permission. Lessons in Time Management For New Assistant Professors, the Most Difficult Challenge Is Learning How to Set Priorities Lee Tobin McClain, Seton Hill University

Lee Tobin McClain is a professor of English through those years myself, and having now gy committee,” you might say. “Which do that page each day, and more. But by and directs the master’s program in writing watched some junior colleagues sink and you think I should focus on?” If your chair October, when things got busy, writing popular fiction at Seton Hill University in others swim, I offer the following time-man- urges you to take on her pet committee, would fall off my radar. Greensburg, Pennsylvania. agement suggestions. then enlist her help in getting you off anoth- The one thing I did right was to apply to er committee. Be cautious in accepting committee work. speak at several academic conferences a year. HEN NEW FACULTY mem- You don’t want to say no to everything, or to It’s up to you to make sure you don’t get That way, the impending conference paper bers cross paths on campus, guard your time in a miserly way, implying overloaded. When they stop to think about (and the attendant humiliation if I didn’t W there’s a shorthand they share: that it’s more precious than anyone else’s. At it, administrators don’t want junior faculty finish) became as important as class prep, “You making it?” “Busy. You?” the same time, there are duties that everyone members to burn out on committee work. and I did it. “Swamped.” Sometimes, there’s just time tries to dump on junior faculty members. I But they do want to get the institution’s But conference papers aren’t the same as fin- for an exchange of eye rolls. spent years advising the student honor socie- work accomplished. If you get the adminis- ished articles or books. For those, you need a ty, without interest, joy, or thanks, before trators on your side and keep them consistent plan. Scholars who schedule a I thought I was busy as a graduate student, working up the courage to ask my dean to informed, they can help you manage the specific time in their day to write tend to get and I was. But writing a dissertation, teach- put someone else in charge. Her response: “I limited time you have for college service. the work done. When I finally started enter- ing a class, and working a night-shift job to didn’t know you were doing that. Why are Make time to write. Research and writing are ing “read two journal articles” or “draft pay the bills didn’t have the same feel as you doing that? Sure, I’ll find someone else.” part of your job, but they are the part that ini- introduction” into my daily planner — becoming an assistant professor. The former It’s smart to consult with a senior faculty tially seems least pressing. At a small university ahead of “grade papers” or “prepare lecture” took a lot of hours, but they were hours in member before accepting any committee like mine, where the priorities are teaching — I got productive. compartments. As long as I showed up at assignments — especially those that feel and service, it’s easy to forget for months on the right place — the library, the classroom, One assistant professor I work with doesn’t dumped on you. Your standard line, deliv- end about your scholarly work. A few years the data-entry warehouse — I got through. come to the campus until 11 AM each day; ered with appropriate humility, should be: down the road, at promotion time, everyone he devotes his mornings to writing. Another Being a faculty member lumps the hours “That sounds really interesting, but my will suddenly remember that scholarly work lets her research go for weeks, then gets into and the tasks all together, and there is little department chair asked me to talk with her matters as much as teaching and service. And a frenzy and works long, late hours to com- immediate feedback on what’s important to before taking on any committee assign- if you haven’t established some record of schol- plete a project. Although their styles differ, complete. Yes, you have to prepare for class, ments.” Such a line does two things: It alerts arly productivity at that point, time manage- they’re both getting the research done. And but how well? No, you don’t have to write the dumper that you have someone in your ment will be the least of your problems. both are shoo-ins for promotion. the article right away; there’s no deadline on corner who will protect you, and it buys you Getting scholarly articles and books pub- it. As for skipping the weekly meeting of a time to think and consult about whether the Be canny about class preparation. When I lished is maddeningly slow, so you have to pointless committee, well, who really knows assignment will be worthwhile. started as a new assistant professor, I had to send things out years in advance of when how much it will matter? prepare four new courses in my first semes- If it’s your department head who’s imposing you need them to appear on your vita. ter. I knew it was an emergency situation, Managing time as an assistant professor is the new responsibility, you may need to take When you take the long view, writing a page especially given my tendency to overprepare. something for which few new faculty mem- a different approach. “If I join the accredita- a day is a high priority. In my first years as I had to cut myself a few breaks. bers are fully prepared, but it’s crucial to tion review committee, I’m afraid I won’t an assistant professor, I had started each new See McCLAIN p.23 your long-term success. Having blundered have time to do a good job for the technolo- academic year with great intentions to write

March 2005 AAR RSN • 19 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition What Are You ST✭ News Reading? Recently Religious Studies News—AAR Edition asked the Annual Meeting program News of Scholarship units to recommend one to five books and Teaching which they considered influential, pivotal, seminal, or otherwise important publica- tions — publications that someone within the broad field of religion and theology might be interested in, even if the topic is The following members were outside their field of specialization or con- recently announced as centration. From time to time we will 2004–2005 Fulbright publish their lists. This month we are pub- Scholars: lishing the list from the Religion and Popular Culture Group. Carl W. Ernst, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill David Chidester, Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture (University Anna Margaret Gade, Oberlin of California, 2005) College Gary Laderman and Luis Leon, eds., The Charles Brewer Jones, Catholic Encyclopedia of Religion and American University of America Culture, (ABC-Clio, 2003) Frank J. Korom, Boston University Bruce Forbes, ed., Religion and Popular Bruce B. Lawrence, Duke Culture in America (University of University California, 2000) Maria R. Lichtmann, Appalachian David Morgan, Visual Piety: A History and State University Theory of Popular Religious Images (University of California, 1998) Michael Francis Strmiska, Miyazaki International College Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity: (Japan) Religion and Popular Culture in America (Yale, 1995) Eric Mazur, ed., God in the Details: The following member was American Religion in Popular Culture recently announced as an (Routledge, 2000) American Academy of Arts & R. Laurence Moore, Selling God: American Sciences Fellow: Religion in the Marketplace of Culture Mark Noll, Wheaton College ❧ (Oxford, 1994) R. Marie Griffith, Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (University of California, 2004) ❧

REDDY, from p.16 the custodianship of Andhra Pradesh A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts Endowment Department. of the Nizam’s Dominions. Edited by P. While textual and art historical approaches Endnotes Sreenivasachar. Hyderabad: Hyderabad have helped me to reconstruct the broad struc- Archaeological Series, 1940, 1952 & 1956. tural frameworks for the Saiva and Sakta tradi- 1 This book will contain some revised versions of Davis, H. Richard. Ritual in an Oscillating tions, I chose to turn to anthropological meth- my dissertation chapters (Reddy, 2000). I would Universe: Worshiping Siva in Medieval India. ods and ethnographic field research to help me like to thank my advisor, Diana L. Eck at Harvard Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. understand the inner mechanism of their cultic University, whose comments and criticism have practices and multiple symbolic variants. benefited me greatly in writing my thesis. Desai, P. B., ed. South Indian Inscriptions. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1948. I conducted fieldwork at Srisailam three times 2 I would like to thank Richard Kieckhefer, over a period of ten years, focusing on the vari- Christina Traina, Barbara Newman, and George Doty, G. William. Mythography: The Study of ous aspects of the site, ranging from the sacred Bond for their support and encouragement during Myths and Rituals. 2nd ed. Tuscaloosa: geography to the annual festivals. The AAR my Mellon years at Northwestern University. University of Alabama Press, 2000. grant enabled me to conduct ethnographic field- 3 The SKh is an unpublished manuscript which Gaurana. Navanatha Caritra. Edited by T. work and research during the annual rituals and forms one of the 25 sections of the Sanatkumara Kotesvara Rao. Hyderabad: Andhra Sahitya festivals of Siva’s Night (siva-ratri). The study of Samhita of the Skanda Purana. The surviving man- Academy, 1984. these rituals and festivals helped me immensely uscript contains 64 chapters and 3,500 verses. in tracing different layers of Saiva tradition, just Grimes, L. Ronald. Ritual Criticism: Case Studies as an archaeologist studies the stratigraphic layers 4 The only exceptions are two inscriptions dated to in Its Practice, Essays on Its Theory. South of earth formations and their contents from an the early 15th century, which each make only a Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1990. excavated trench. This field research further passing reference to the goddess Bhramari. Panofsky, Erwin. Studies in Iconology. New York: expanded my notion of ritual in general, and 5 South Indian Inscriptions (1948): 10: 504. Harper & Row, 1962. made me aware that a ritual not only reflects a social structure, but can also “[become] at times 6 Except for the Basava Purana, all the other cited Reddy, C. Prabhavati. Reconstructing the of major crisis an instrument for adjusting new works have not yet been translated into English. Mandala Symbolism of Siva’s Lotus Land: norms and values to perennially potent symbolic Srisailam’s Place in Religious India. PhD diss., 7 Most of the inscriptions from Srisailam are pub- forms.” I also have come to see how the Siva’s Harvard University, 2000. lished in South Indian Inscriptions, Vols. 10 and 16. Night ritual represents a continuity of traditional A few are published in Ephigraphia Indica, 10. A Sastry, P. V. P. Srisailam, Its History, and Cult. forms of Saivism while embracing new forms of large number of inscriptions from other parts of Srisailam: 1990. religious, liturgical, ritual, cultural, social, and Andhra, which are useful sources for the religious contemporary nuances of Hindu society. Somanatha, Palkurki. Mallikarjuna history of Srisailam, have been published under the Panditaradhya Caritra. Edited by C. Narayana To sum up, the change of custodianship over series Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (IAP). Rao. Hyderabad: Telugu University, 1990. the temples of Siva and Bhramarambha not 8 For the study of iconology, a branch of art history, only brought about a transformation in the Srikaranagamamu. Edited by A. Sastry Nilakhanta. I drew on the methodology of Panofsky (1962). religious and cultural landscape of Srisailam Srisailam: Srisaila Devasthanam, 1980. but also contributed to changing how the site 9 Turner, 1975, 58–81. Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti- was viewed in the larger society. Even today, Structure. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1969. Srisailam continues to serve as an all-India pil- References grimage site for Siva, as well as a famous Sakta Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. ______. “Ritual as Communication and shrine for the Goddess Bhramarambha. It New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Potency: An Ndembu Case Study.” In Symbols would be interesting to see, however, what and Society: Essays on Belief Systems in Action. Clothey, W. Fred. “Toward a Comprehensive aspects of popular Hinduism have been con- Edited by Hill Carole. Athens: University of Interpretation of Ritual.” Journal of Ritual tributing to the growing popularity of Georgia Press, 1975. ❧ Studies 2/2 (1988): 147–162. Srisailam in recent decades, especially under

20 • March 2005 AAR RSN FEATURES

RELIGION GAP, from p.8 more specific about the extent to which the 2004 religion gap was affected by fac- broadly dependable portrait of the impact tors like gender, region, and turnout of religion on the election. among particular religious groups. But the published reports offer some suggestions. The first part of the accompanying table presents the two-party vote in terms of Most important, the Bush campaign’s frequent (weekly or better) and less-than- extensive mobilization of religious com- weekly worship attenders. These figures munities maintained the support of regu- show a now-common pattern: Bush won lar attenders and expanded their turnout the former and Kerry the latter. in line with the rest of the country. The Specifically, Bush’s margin in 2004 among greater prominence of social issues, espe- the frequent attenders increased by so cially same-sex marriage, surely facilitated small an amount that it is hidden in these efforts. rounding the figures, while among less fre- It is possible that this mobilization of vot- quent attenders Kerry fell 1 percent ers on religious lines — through an appeal behind Gore’s performance in 2000. to their “moral values” — should be cred- The second part of the table unpacks this ited with enabling the president to gather attendance dichotomy into each of its in more few-times-a-month attenders and component parts. It shows that the “few minorities. It is, of course, also possible times a month” attenders shifted their that those groups voted for Bush in higher support from 6 percentage points in favor numbers for other reasons, such as the war of Gore over Bush to 2 percentage points on terror. in favor of Bush over Kerry. At least for this election, the monthly Representing 15 percent of 2004 voters, attenders voted more like the weekly the monthly attenders would have given attenders, and their shift narrowed the Kerry more than 2.5 million extra votes religion gap so as to give Bush a decisive nationwide had they voted for him at the advantage in a very tight election. Closely same rate they voted for Gore in 2000 — divided between Republican and enough to have brought him within 1 Democrat, these pretty regular churchgo- million votes of the president. But to have ers may be the swing vote that determines won, Kerry would have had to have found the outcome of future national elections. some additional support elsewhere. Under the circumstances, the Democrats would be well advised to listen to those What about the dramatic expansion of urging them to do a better job connecting turnout in 2004? That increase occurred with people in the pews. quite evenly up and down the levels of worship attendance, with just a few minor fluctuations. So the big turnout in 2004 Worship Attendance and the Two-Party did not result from a change in the rela- Presidential Vote, 2004 and 2000 tive distribution of worship attenders. Because the electorate was so much bigger 2004 2000 in 2004, the actual number of ballots at Dichotomous each level of attendance expanded consid- Attendance: Bush Kerry Bush Gore erably. Regular As in 2000, the 2004 religion gap extend- attenders* 60% 40% 60% 40% ed across the largest religious traditions, Less regular with Bush doing best among regularly attenders 44 56 43 57 attending white Christians. But in most Expanded cases, Bush gained more among the less Attendance: frequent attenders. In the case of white More than Catholics, for example, the Bush vote weekly 65% 35% 64% 36% increased from 64 percent to 66 percent Weekly 59 41 59 41 among those who went to church more than once a week, but from 51 percent to A few times 59 percent among those who turned up a a month 51 49 47 53 few times a month. The Catholic swing A few times vote swung in Bush’s direction. a year 45 55 43 56 Never 36643466 A change in the wording of exit poll ques- tions between 2000 and 2004 renders comparisons among white Protestants *Regular attenders: weekly or more; imprecise, but a similar pattern appears to Less regular attenders: monthly or less. have held there as well.2 Bush gained slightly among the most active evangelicals Source: 2004 and 2000 Exit Polls (80 percent to 81 percent), but improved more among the monthly attenders (64 1 In 2004, the exit polls were run by percent to 79 percent). He also experi- Edison Research and released as the enced a small improvement among Latino National Election Pool. Catholics and African-American Protestants. 2 In 2000, it asked, “Are you a member of the religious right?” In 2004, it asked, There were a few offsets to the Bush gains. “Are you an evangelical or born-again Not surprisingly, the president appears to Christian?” To compare the two, it was have lost a little ground among voters who necessary to estimate what the “born- said they were unaffiliated or secular.3 again” measure would have been in 2000 And although Bush once again won a based on past surveys that asked both majority of the mainline Protestant vote, questions. it looks as though he made only a tiny 3 The “unaffiliateds” and “seculars” need to gain among the less frequent attenders be differentiated from those who say they (from 52 percent to 53 percent) and, most never attend religious services. The latter, significantly, lost substantial ground who trended slightly towards Bush in among their frequent-attending counter- 2004, include those who, despite their parts (from 62 percent to 54 percent). lack of attendance, nonetheless profess a Mainline Protestants may be the faith religious identity. ❧ group to watch in the future. Until the exit poll data are released in their entirety, it will be hard to be any

March 2005 AAR RSN • 21 Religious Studies News — AAR Edition Religion and Theology Indicators: Graduate Faculty in Religion and Theology

Faculty Rankings

0.3%-Adjunct Professor 2.3%-Visiting Professor 6.1%-Part-time/Lecturer 47.1%-Professor 2.9%-Instructor

16.7%-Assistant Professor

Tenure Status

4.7%-Contract 24.6%-Associate Professor 68.2%-Tenured 8.8%-Non-tenure-track

18.3%-Tenure-track

Gender Distribution

25%-Female 75%-Male

Age Distribution

0.1% - 80Ð89 0.1% - 90Ð99 3.8% - 70Ð79 12.5% - 30Ð39 25.4% - 40Ð49 25.3% - 60Ð69

Race/Ethnicity Distribution

2.4%-Asian or 0.3%-American Indian Pacific Islander or Alaskan Native 2.1%-Latino or 32.5% - 50Ð59 Hispanic 90.4%-Caucasian or Euro-American 90.4%-Black or African American

2004–2005 RESEARCH GRANT WINNERS Paula Arai, Carleton College AAR Healing Buddhist Women: Japanese Rituals of Transformation RESEARCH Robert M. Baum, Gender Distribution by Faculty Rank GRANT Iowa State University Messengers of God: Diola Women Prophets in a West Rank Male Female PROGRAM African Religious Tradition Professor 40.1% 7.1% Gudrun Buhnemann, Associate 5.9 8.8 DID YOU University of Wisconsin–Madison KNOW THAT Tantric Iconology of Nepal Assistant 10.5 6.3 you could receive Instructor 2.1 0.8 Jacob Paul Dalton, up to $5,000 in McMaster University Part-time 4.3 1.7 research assis- Beyond Anonymity: Paleographic Analyses of the Dunhuang Visiting 2.0 0.3 Manuscripts tance from the Adjunct 0.3 0.0 AAR? Since Nicola Denzey, 1992, the Harvard Divinity School and York University, Toronto Academy has Gendering the Journey: Women’s Lives and Deaths from the awarded over Catacombs of Rome 200–400 CE Race/Ethnicity Distribution by Faculty Rank $500,000 to Paul C. Kemeny, Rank White Black Hispanic Asian/PI Native members for Grove City College Professor 44.0% 1.6% 0.8% 1.0% 0.0% individual and The First Moral Majority: The New England Watch and Ward Associate 21.9 1.6 0.3 0.4 0.0 collaborative Society and Moral Reform Politics in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century America Assistant 13.6 1.6 0.7 0.6 0.0 research projects. Instructor 2.8 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 The application Lance D. Laird, Boston University School of Medicine Part-time 5.6 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 deadline is The Profession of Islam and the Health Care Profession in Boston August 1st of Visiting 1.9 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 each year. For Charles William Miller, Adjunct 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 University of North Dakota application The Bible in the Pacific: Ideology, Interpretation, and information and Colonialism in Nineteenth-Century Hawai’i eligibility Vijaya Rettakudi Nagarajan, requirements, see University of San Francisco Source: American Academy of Religion, 2002 Survey of Graduate Programs in Religion www.aarweb.org/ Trees in Temples and Temples in Trees: Sacred Groves and the and Theology, Report on Students and Faculty. The full survey and analysis can be found grants. Commons in Tamil Nadu, India at www.aarweb.org/department/census/graduate. Diana Walsh-Pasulka, University of North Carolina, Wilmington Note: The faculty section of the survey collected information on 1,414 faculty members Child Immortality in the Nineteenth-Century United States from 53 academic doctoral programs in the United States. ❧

22 • March 2005 AAR RSN FEATURES

McCLAIN, from p.19 my usual prep time to grade. At first I felt guilty about all my little tricks, week, which lets me enjoy my weekends but to my surprise, neither my students nor more. I found a fabulous prioritizing grid in Some research actually indicates that teachers In each of the four courses, I found an excuse my bosses noticed my “slacker days.” It was a Richard Bolles’s What Color Is Your Parachute? who spend less time preparing (in order to to show a movie once during the semester, bit of a blow to my ego, but a boon to my that I’ve adapted to my daily schedule, so that write) end up with better teaching evaluations. which freed me from a week’s worth of class workload. I still show a movie during the I always know what’s the most important For me, that has held true. When I had a class prep. I also built in research days in the library, semester in each of my courses. thing I need to do next. prepared to the minute, with gorgeous guest speakers, and a few out-of-class trips that PowerPoint presentations, film clips, and care- Prioritize early and often. I resisted doing I’ve also started scheduling in lunch dates and took me off the stage. (I later learned that out- fully orchestrated discussions, the students careful planning for years because I feared life jogs with my colleagues, which has pushed of-class trips and guest speakers are not neces- could be overwhelmed into passivity. If some- would become rigid and dull. But in fact, I away burnout as well as put me back in the sarily time-savers.) thing interesting did happen in discussion, I’d find that planning my priorities and control- gossip loop. The flexible schedule of a faculty If there was going to be a big batch of often cut it off in order to get to the next ling my time frees me to think creatively and member conceals to the general public the papers or tests coming in, I tried hard to planned event. When I have to wing it, I take have more fun. fact that it’s a demanding career. It’s up to you make the next class day a no-prep day; more time to follow a discussion in the class- to harness and control your schedule to make This year, before I leave the university on using class time for small-group projects is room to its conclusion — and the class is more it a productive and joyous one, as well. ❧ Fridays, I’ve started planning for the following

one good way to do that. Then I could use interesting for all concerned. ✃ Future AAR MEMBERSHIP FORM Annual 2005 Calendar Year Meeting Dates You may also establish your membership online at www.aarweb.org/membership. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION and Sites

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March 2005 AAR RSN • 23 24 • March 2005 AAR RSN