Welcome to the American Academy of Religion's new website. Founded in 1909, the AAR is the world's largest association of academics who research or teach topics related to religion.

http://www.aarweb.org/Programs/Awards/Book_Awards/Default.asp

Book Awards

In order to give recognition to new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion, the American Academy of Religion offers Awards for Excellence. These awards honor works of distinctive originality, intelligence, creativity and importance, books that affect decisively how religion is examined, understood, and interpreted.

Awards for Excellence are given in three categories. In addition, there is a prize for the Best First Book in the History of Religions, comprising a wholly separate competition.

For eligibility requirements and awards processes please see the appropriate page:

The Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion and the Best First Book in the History of Religions are given each year during the Annual Meeting, just prior to the AAR Presidential Address.

AAR Book Award Recipients

2007

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	David Frankfurter, University of New Hampshire Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History Princeton University Press, 2006

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	John D. Caputo, Syracuse University The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event Indiana University Press, 2006

	John Clayton (deceased), Boston University Compiled by Anne Blackburn and Thomas Carroll Religions, Reasons, and Gods: Essays in Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions, 2006

Historical Studies

	Catherine Albanese, University of California, Santa Barbara A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion Yale University Press, 2006

	Caroline Walker Bynum, Institute for Advanced Study Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006

Textual Studies

	Kristofer Schipper, Library of the Western Belvedere and Franciscus Verellen, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, eds. The Taoist Canon:A Historical Companion to the Daozang University of Chicago Press, 2004

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Leela Prasad, Duke University Poetics of Conduct: Oral Narrative and Moral Being in a South Indian Town Columbia University Press, 2006

2006

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Jonathan Z. Smith Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion University of Chicago Press, 2004

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Dan Arnold Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion Columbia University Press, 2006

Historical Studies

	Daniel Boyarin Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Ebrahim Moosa Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination University of North Carolina Press, 2005.

2005

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Joanne Punzo Waghorne, Syracuse University Diaspora of the Gods: Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World Oxford University Press, 2004

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Robert A. Orsi, Harvard Divinity School Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars who Study Them Princeton University Press, 2004

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Sylvester A. Johnson, Florida A&M University The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity: Race, Heathens, and the People of God Palgrave Macmillian Press, 2004

2004

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	David H. Brown, Smithsonian Institution Santería Enthroned: Art Ritual and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion University of Chicago Press, 2003

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Jeffrey Stout, Princeton University Democracy and Tradition Princeton University Press, 2004

Historical Studies

	Alan Bray The Friend University of Chicago Press, 2003

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Edward Slingerland, University of Southern California Effortless Action: Wu-wei Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal of Early China Oxford University Press, 2003

2003

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Paul Christopher Johnson, Princeton University; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Missouri, Columbia Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé Oxford University Press, 2002

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Susan Neiman, Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy Princeton University Press, 2002

Historical Studies

	Norman J. Girardot, Lehigh University The Victorian Translation of China: James Legge's Oriental Pilgrimage University of California Press, 2002

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Ananda Abeysekara, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Colors of the Robe: Religion, Identity, and Difference University of South Carolina Press, 2002

2002

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Ariel Glucklich, Georgetown University Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul Oxford University Press, 2001

Historical Studies

	Grant Wacker, Duke University Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture Harvard University Press, 2001

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Mary Keller, University of Stirling The Hammer and the Flute: Women, Power, and Spirit Possession The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

2001

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Susan Friend Harding, University of California, Santa Cruz, The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics Princeton University Press, 2000

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Peter S. Hawkins, Boston University Dante's Testaments: Essays in Scriptural Imagination Stanford University Press, 1999

	J. J. Clarke, Kingston University The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought Routledge, 2000

Historical Studies

	Leigh Eric Schmidt, Princeton University Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment Harvard University Press, 2000

	Jacqueline I. Stone, Princeton University Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism University of Hawai'i Press, 1999

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Jason David Beduhn, Northern Arizona University, The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000

	Jonathan Klawans, Boston University Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism Oxford University Press, 2000

2000

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Bruce Lincoln, University of Chicago Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	David Novak, University of Toronto Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory Princeton University Press, 2000.

Historical Studies

	Sally M. Promey, University of Maryland Painting Religion in Public: John Singer Sargent's Triumph of Religion at the Boston Public Library Princeton University Press, 1999.

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Robert Baum, Iowa State University Shrines of the Slave Trade: Diola Religion and Society in Precolonial Senegambia Oxford University Press, 1999.

1999

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Elizabeth A. Johnson Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 1998.

Historical Studies

	David Frankfurter Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Charles D. Orzech Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.

1998

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Manuel A. Vasquez The Brazilian Popular Church and the Crisis of Modernity New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Historical Studies

	Thomas A. Tweed Our Lady of the Exile: Diasporic Religion at a Cuban Catholic Shrine in Miami New York: Oxford University Press, 1997

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Lionel M. Jensen Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization Durham: Duke University Press, 1997

1997

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	David Chidester Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Edward Farley Divine Empathy: A Theology of God Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996

Historical Studies

	Bernadette J. Brooten Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996

	Michael A. Sells The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Stephen R. Prothero The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

1996

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds. Fundamentalism Project, 5 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991-1995

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	Van A. Harvey Feurbach and the Interpretation of Religion New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995

Historical Studies

	Steven Wasserstrom Between Muslim & Jew: The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Judaism Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Jeffrey J. Kripal Kālī's Child: They Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teaching of Ramakrishna Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995

1995

Analytical-Descriptive Studies

	Susan Starr Sered Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women New York: Oxford University Press, 1994

Constructive-Reflective Studies

	William Dean The Religious Critic in American Culture Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994	No Image Available

	Gordon Kaufman In the Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993

Historical Studies

	Elliot R. Wolfson Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994

Best First Book in the History of Religions

	Devin DeWeese Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tukles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Sikh Tradition University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994	No Image Available

	Harjot Oberoi The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition Chicago and Oxford: University of Chicago Press and Oxford University Press, 1994	No Image Available

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