North American Association for the Study of Religion

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RECENT NAASR PANELS

NAASR Annual Meeting 2007
San Diego, CA
November 16-17

To members of the AAR the room locations for the following sessions are currently available only if one logs into their online program book (found under Meetings). However, the roomns appear below as a service to NAASR members.

Note: details on these sessions still appear in the back of the AAR/SBL program book (under Additional Meetings) but they also appear in the AAR's section of the program book (inasmuch as NAASR is recognized as an affiliated academic society of the AAR)--hence the two different session numbering systems: M = Additional Meetings; A = AAR meeting).

All NAASR meeting are either in the Marriott & Marina Hotel or the San Diego COnvention Center. Find them on the following map (on the map B = Convention Center and C = Marriott & Marina).


M 16-9
Friday, November 16, 2007
9:00-11:00 a.m.
MM (i.e., Marriott & Marina) - Torrey 1


Executive Council Meeting (Tomoko Masuzawa, President; Robert Yelle, incoming Executive Secretary/Treasurer)


M 16-53 (also listed as A 16-201)
Friday, November 16, 2007
1:00-3:30 p.m.

CC (i.e., Convention Center) 23A

Academic Session 1. Ritual Transformation of Agency

Chair: TBA

Jens Kreinath, Wichita State University and University of Heidelberg
"Mimesis, Fractal Dynamics, and Agency in Yoruba Spirit Possessions"

Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University
"Priestly, Institutional, and Material Agency in Roman Catholic Sacramental Practice"

Steven Engler, Mount Royal College and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo
"Patronage and Distributed Agency in Brazilian Spirit-possession"

Respondent
Ivan Strenski, University of California, Riverside


M16-103 (also listed as A 16-300)
Friday, November 16, 2007
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Convention Center 23A


Academic Session 2. Novelty, Presence, and History: Brief Pre-Modern Discourses on Method and Theory

Chair: TBA

Alison Frazier, Department of History, University of Texas, Austin
"Saintly Presence: The Wager of Latin Hagiography in Renaissance Italy"

Nancy Levene, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington
"Traces of History in St. Anselm"

Constance Furey, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington
"Utopian History"

Respondent
Nathan Rein, Ursinus College


M 17-24 (also listed as A 17-137)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
9:00-11:30 a.m.

Convention Center 28A

Academic Session 3. Taxonomies in the Study of Religion


Chair: TBA

Craig Martin, Department of Religion, Syracuse University
"Strategic Uses of 'Religion': Taxonomy and Metonymy in Political Discourse"

Leah Payne, Vanderbilt University
"Time on Their Side: Using Philosophy of Time to Understand Distinctions Between Early American Pentecostals and Fundamentalists"

Thomas B. Ellis, Appalachian State University

"Spirituality Redescribed, Self-esteem Misrecognized"

Respondent
Aaaron Hughes, University of Calgary


M 17-37
Saturday, November 17, 2007
11:45-12:45 p.m.
Convention Center 28A


NAASR Annual Business Meeting (Robert Yelle, incoming Executive Secretary/Treasurer)


Saturday, November 17, 2007
7:00 p.m.

Annual NAASR/Equinox Reception

To be held at Dublin Square Irish Pub, 554 Fourth Ave., San Diego--just a block north and three blocks east of the Convention Center (see map). Drink tickets will be distributed on site for one free drink.


NAASR Annual Meeting
November 17-18, 2006
Washington, DC


This year, panel and individual paper proposals were accompanied by a newly developed cover sheet [PDF], including hardcopies of all required supporting materials; proposals were only accepted from March 15 through April 15, 2006.

Although only two program units traditionally comprised this meeting (one Friday afternoon and another Saturday morning), followed by a brief business meeting, for the past two years NAASR has successfully hosted three program units (and one working group) in addition to its annual business meeting. Given the increased number of strong proposals submitted this year to NAASR and the increased number of NAASR members, Vice President Julie Ingersoll (along with her 2006 Program Committee: Bill Arnal, Winni Sullivan, and Tom Tweed) have arranged the 2006 annual meeting to consist of four program slots and a working group. Other elements to the meeting will be: an executive council meeting, a general business meeting of the membership, and a Saturday evening reception.


PROGRAM

NAASR Executive Council Meeting
Friday, November 17, 2006
9:00-11:30 a.m.

Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 2

An agenda will be created (with input from the Executive) during the summer and distributed to Council members prior to the meeting. Councilors are requested to arrange their travel to make attendance at this important meeting possible.


Academic Session 1
Friday, November 17, 2006
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Washington Convention Center 149A


Theme: Egregious Elephants?: Unexplained Oversights and Omissions in the Academic Study of Religion

Chair: Leslie Smith, University of California, Santa Barbara

Bryan Rennie, Westminster College
"Iranian Eschatology and Middle Eastern Religion: Explaining the Relative Absence of the Zoroastrian Tradition from Mainstream Anglophone Biblical and Religious Studies"

Greg Alles, McDaniel College
"Hindutva and History: On the Adverse Effects of Political Ideology on Writing the History of Hinduism"

Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University
"'Wild Facts': Some Thoughts on our Taming Neglect of F.W.H. Myers and Ian Stevenson"

Respondent: Ivan Strenski, University of California, Riverside


Academic Session 2
Friday, November 17, 2006
4:00-6:30 p.m.

Washington Convention Center 149A

Theme: Context: 'Religion' as a Colonial and Postcolonial Category

Chair: Marie Eisenstein, Indiana University Northwest

Tim Fitzgerald, University of Stirling
"Encompassing Religion, Privatized Religions, and the Invention of Modern Politics"

John Zavos, University of Manchester
"'Bin Laden is one of us!' Representation and the Play of Identities at the Parliament of the World's Religions"

Jun Isomae, Japan Women's University
"Critiquing Current Critiques of the Field of Religious Studies"

Respondent: Tom Pearson, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion


NAASR Working Group
Friday, Noovember 17, 2006
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 5


Theme: Current Directions in the Economic Study of Religion

Convenor:
Anne Koch, University of Munich

Speaker: Laurence Iannaccone, George Mason University
"Current Directions in the Economic Study of Religion"

Respondents: Steven Engler, Mount Royal College, and John Rundin, University of California, Davis

The economics of religion is one of two approaches in the study of religions today that most vigorously tries to explain religious thought and behavior by constructing models to identify mechanisms, rooted in universal human processes, from which that thought and behavior result (the other approach is cognitive science). The last survey of the field was an article written by Laurence Iannaccone in 1998 (Journal of Economic Literature 36 [1998]: 1465-1496). This working group allows Iannaccone, one of the foremost economists who studies religion, to bring members up to date. In a manner that is accessible to people with little formal training in economics, he will introduce current directions in the economic study of religion, reflect on possible emerging trends, and identify areas where scholars whose professional location is in religious studies can fruitfully collaborate with scholars in other parts of the academy interested in this enterprise. Following Iannaccone's presentation, two scholars located within religious studies will respond as a means to initiate discussion of current and possible future work, including work being carried out by members of the group.

Four PDFs of Prof. Iannaccone's work are posted below; they are to be read by working group participants prior to the meeting:

"Vodoo Economics? Reviewing the Rational Choice Approach to Religion"
"Economy"
"Religious Extremism: The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly"
"Rational Choice: Framework for the Scientific Study of Religion"

Although audience members are welcome to attend this session, NAASR Working Groups (as defined in Article III Section 2 of the Bylaws) are intended to provide opportunities for scholars interested in a common topic to pursue collaborative work.


Information Meeting for NAASR Members
"Planning for Toronto's 2010 World Congress of the IAHR"
Saturday, November 18, 2006
7:30-8:30 a.m.
Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 13


This session provides an opportunity for interested NAASR members to learn more about the upcoming IAHR event, to be hosted at the University of Toronto in 2010 (of which NAASR is one of the co-sponsors) and to offer input at this early stage of its planning. The discussion will be led by Donald Wiebe, Director of the World Congress Secretariat, headquartered in Toronto. (Coffee will be provided.) Click here for news of this Congress.


Academic Session 3
Saturday, November 18, 2006
9:00-11:30 a.m.
Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 13

Theme: A Conversation with Daniel C. Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Organizer: Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter, Catholic University

Chair: Christine Scott, Georgia State

Panelists

Luther Martin, University of Vermont
Matthew Day, Florida State University
D. Jason Slone, Webster University
Donald Wiebe, University of Trinity College

For more information on this book, see the following description.


NAASR Business Meeting
Saturday, November 18, 2006
11:30-12:45 p.m.
Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 13



Academic Session 4
Saturday, November 18, 2006
1:00-3:30 p.m.
Renaissance Washington, Meeting Room 13

Theme: Hybridity: Critiques and Alternatives

Chair: Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University

Ipsita Chatterjea, Vanderbilt University
"Hybridity, Race, Insider Discourse: The African Methodist Episcopal Church"

Jens Kreinath, University of Heidleberg
"Colonial Displacement, Subversive Agency, Ritual Mimesis: Hybridity and the Hauka"

Steven Engler, Mount Royal College
"Hybridity, Essentialism, Temporality: The Case of Umbanda"


NAASR Presidential Plenary Panel
Saturday, November 18, 2006
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Renaissance Washington, Auditorium


Theme: Religion, Law, and the Public Sphere


NOTICE:
This session is canceled, due to illness on the part of two panelists and a scheduling conflict for a third.


NAASR Reception
Saturday, November 18, 2006

6:00-8:00 p.m.

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant
901 F Street, NW
Washington DC 20004

Hors d'oeuvres will be served and a limited number of drink tickets will be pre-distributed at NAASR events. Thanks to John Rundin for kindly volunteering to arrange this reception--last year's was a great success! This year it is again co-sponsored by Equinox Publishers, publisher of NAASR's Key Thinkers book series. Note: the event is at the restaurant's "F Street" location, and not its "K Street" location.


Question about the content of the 2006 program can be directed to NAASR VP, Julie Ingersoll.

Questions about the scheduling of the events can be directed to Russell McCutcheon, NAASR Executive Secretary/Treasurer.



NAASR ANNUAL MEETING 2005

NAASR's next annual meeting will be held in Philadelphia, PA, on November 18-19, 2005. Looking for information on what to do in Philadelphia? Want more?

As usual, NAASR will sponsor three program units, two of which will be on the Friday afternoon and one on Saturday morning, followed by the annual business meeting. New this year is a NAASR-sponsored "working group."


NAASR Executive Council Meeting
Friday 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Rm. 310


Note: this Executive Council meeting is not listed in the "Additional Meetings" information in the AAR program book.


NAASR Session 1
Friday 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Rm. 409

Spectacle and Speculum: Papal Visits and Papal Death in Comparative Perspective


Organizer: Steven Engler, Mount Royal College

Chair: Mary Alyson Prude, University of California Santa Barbara

"Papal Liturgies of Death"
Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University

"The Politics and Morality of the Media Icon: Pope John Paul II and the Culture Wars"
Scott Kline, St. Jerome's University - University of Waterloo

"'Go With God' But Keep the Corpse in Sight: A Pope On Display"
Gary Laderman, Emory University

"Papal Ritual, Death, and Politics in Brazil"
Steven Engler, Mount Royal College


NAASR Working Group
Friday 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Adams Room

Post-Analytic Philosophy and the Study of Religion


This working group examines the application of post-analytic philosophy (as represented in the work of Donald Davidson, Robert Brandom, and John McDowell) to the study of religion and investigates how Holistic Semantics addresses both cultural diversity and epistemic unity.

The group welcomes observers to attend the session.

Participants

Jeppe Sinding Jensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Gabriel Levy, UC Santa Barbara
Kevin Schilbrack, Wesleyan College
G. Scott Davis, University of Richmond
Terry Godlove, Hofstra University
Nancy Frankenberry, Dartmouth College

Read the call for papers (PDF) associated with this working group


NAASR Session 2
Friday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Rm. 409

Evaluating D. Jason Slone's Theological Incorrectness: Religious Beliefs and Human Cognition


Organizer and Chair: James A. Van Slyke, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Gods, Ghosts, and Globalization: From Corpse to 'Theologically Incorrect' Concepts"
William W. McCorkle Jr., Institute of Cognition and Culture

"Theological Incorrectness Among the Early Christians"
Luther H. Martin, University of Vermont

"Theological Incorrectness and Explicit Cognition: Challenging the Modular View of the Mind"
James A. Van Slyke, Fuller Theological Seminary

Respondent: D. Jason Slone, University of Findlay

Learn more about the book here.


NAASR Reception
Saturday 6:00 p.m.-...?


The Irish Pub
1123 Walnut St.
Philadelphia PA (near the convention center, main hotels, and the Alexander Inn)


NAASR Session 3
Saturday 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Rm. 415

Reconsidering Theories: Yoga, Transcendence, and Olympic Oratories


Chair: D. Bruce MacKay, University of Lethbridge

"When Religious Truth Claims Become Scholarship … Again: 'Yoga' as an Ideal Category"
Jeff Ruff, Marshall University

"Overcoming 'the Transcendent' as a Critical Category: Bruce Lincoln's 'Theses on Method,' Everyday Experiences, Spirits/Deities"
Tennyson Jacob Wellman, University of Pennsylvania

"On the Representation of Gods: A Comparison of Ancient and Modern Theories, with Particular Attention to Dio Chrysostom's Twelfth ('Olympi') Oration"
Roger Beck, University of Toronto

NAASR Business Meeting
Saturday 11:00-11:30 a.m.



Questions about the annual meeting program can be directed to Prof. Julie Ingersoll, NAASR Vice President and Program Chair, at jingerso@unf.edu.

An agenda for the business meeting will be posted prior to the meeting. Suggestions for the agenda can be sent to NAASR Executive Secretary/Treasurer, at russell.mccutcheon@ua.edu.

A copy of the 2005 call for papers as a PDF can be found here.


NAASR/SSSR Meeting
Rochester, NY
November 4-6, 2005


"The Cognitive Science of Religion"
(date and time of session to be announced)

Luther H. Martin, University of Vermont
Convener and Chair

"It's Hard to Imagine What God Looks Like: Imagery Effects on the Recall of Counterintuitive Concepts"
D. Jason Slone, Webster University

"Stupa, Relic, and Hungry Ghosts: Can I Borrow Your Agency for a Second"
William W. McCorkle, Jr., Queen's University Belfast

"God from the Machine"
Wlliam Sims Bainbridge, National Science Foundation

"Are the Neurosciences Essential for the Study of Religion"
Donald Wiebe, University of Toronto

More information on the annual SSSR meeting can be found here.

For a number of years, SSSR has accepted proposals from NAASR members, for NAASR panels at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Although NAASR members are expected to register with the SSSR for the meeting, traditionally they have not also been expected to be current SSSR members (though some NAASR members are, of course, also members of the SSSR).



NAASR Meets in San Antonio, Texas
November 19-20, 2004

Below are the details on the three substantive sessions plus annual business meeting.


NAASR Executive Meeting

The NAASR Executive meeting will be held in the Marriott Rivercenter (Conference Room 12) on Friday, November 19, 2004, from 7:30-9:30 pm.


Session I
Current Work of NAASR Members

Friday, November 19, 1:00 to 3:30 pm
San Antonio Convention Center, Room 007A

Convener: Winnifred Sullivan
University of Chicago

This panel is devoted to presenting some of the ongoing work of NAASR members, working on a variety of topics and historical periods.

Zane Pushaw Altman
University of Colorado, Boulder
"Creating the Enemy at Waco"

Nathan Baruch Rein
Ursinus College
"'For our Confession Rests as Much on the Small Things as on the Great': Sui Generis vs. Naturalistic Views of Religion, circa 1549"

Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Aarhus University
"On Modeling Models: The Generation of Comparability"


Session II
New Conceptual Models

Friday, November 19, 4:00 to 6:30 pm
San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, Conference Room 13


Organizer: Theodore Vial
Virginia Wesleyan University

Chair: Jeffrey C. Ruff
Marshall University

Students in graduate schools of religion in the 1980s and 1990s were told that the era of big theory was over, and that they should instead set their sites on building a useful toolbox of smaller or partial theories. Since that time at least two major big theories have emerged on the scene: the cognitive science of religion, and the application of economic theory (Stark/Bainbridge). This panel is designed to do two things: 1) to provide a sophisticated orientation to these theories and other live options for NAASR members; and 2) to be the occasion for reflection on the theoretical state of the field, and whether big theory is useful or possible.

Theodore Vial
Virginia Wesleyan College
"How Does the Cognitive Science of Religion Stack Up as a Big Theory, a la Freud or Durkheim?"

Greg Alles
McDaniel College
"The Costs of Religious Concepts: A Possible Application of Economics in Cognitive Science?"

Robert Yelle
University of Toronto
"Rhetorial, Communicological, and Other Semiotic Approaches to Religion"

Catherine Bell
Santa Clara University
"Culture: What Do I Do with it Now?"

Laurie Patton
Emory University
Respondent



Session III
Religion, Agency, and Order

Saturday, November 20, 9:00 to 11:00 am
San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, Salon E

Organizer/Respondent: Steven Engler
Mount Royal College

Three issues will be addressed: 1) To what extent is religion concerned with, or constituted by, relations between individual and collective human agency, on the one hand, and views of order, on the other? That is, to what extent is correct agency (i.e., obedience to divine commands, action in emulation of sacred models, ritual propriety, godly self-interest, etc.) held to constitute--or incorrect agency (idleness, immorality, idolatry, etc.) to threaten--social and political order? 2) To what extent have transformations of these relations played a role in religious history? 3)To what extent is this hypothesized linkage predominantly western?

Panelsists

Gustavo Benavides
Villanova University

Mary Keller
University of Wyoming

John Rundin
University of Texas, San Antonio

Randall Styers
University of North Carolina


Session IV
NAASR Business Meeting
Saturday, November 20, 11:00 to 11:30 am
San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, Salon E


Questions about the program can be directed at the NAASR Vice President for the Program, Julie Ingersoll, at jingerso@unf.edu.

Visit the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau or consider doing some advance ethnographic work on San Antonio restaurants and hotels. Need a map?


NAASR 2003 ANNUAL MEETING

NAASR's annual meeting was be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 21 and 22, 2003, immediately prior to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature. This year marked the first time that NAASR sponsored three (instead of two) panels at its annual meeting (two of which will be on Friday afternoon and one will take place Saturday morning, followed by the NAASR business meeting).

Annual Executive Meeting


The NAASR executive will have its annual meeting following the last academic session on Friday, Nov. 21, 2003. It will be a dinner meeting at "Max Lager's," a local brew pub located one block north of the Hyatt Regency, on the corner of Peach Tree and West Peach Tree. The meeting will commence at 7:00 pm and last until the cows come home.

Schedule for the Academic Sessions of the 2003 Annual Meeting

1. Friday, November 21, 1:00-3:30 pm
Marriott Marquis, Copenhagen Room


Evaluating the Ritual Form Hypothesis

Jason Slone, University of Findlay, Presiding
Robert N. McCauley, Emory University
Brian Malley, University of Michigan
Harvey Whitehouse, Queens University, Belfast

This panel presents experimental, ethnographic, and historical evidence to test the "ritual form hypothesis" of Robert N. McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson's Bringing Ritual to Mind.


2. Friday, November 21, 4:00-6:30 pm
Marriott Marquis, Copenhagen Room


Putting Theory in its Place: The Role of Method and Theory in the Religious Studies Curriculum

Tomoko Masuzawa
, University of Michigan, Presiding
Mark Hulsether, University of Tennessee, "Teaching Cultural Theory in a Master's Program in Religious Studies"
Julie Ingersoll, University of North Florida, "Does Religious Studies Make Sense without Theory and Method? Issues in a Religious Studies Minor Program"
Jeppe Sinding Jensen, Aarhus University, "Who Do We Think We Are? On the (Necessary) Construction of Genealogies and Pedigrees for the Study of Religion"
Manuel Vásques, University of Florida, "When Lakatos Meets Foucault: Pedagogy, Criticism, and the 'Growth' of Knowledge in Religious Studies."

As a follow-up to last year's panel on how scholars integrate theory into their introductory courses, this panel is an opportunity to discuss the ways in which people working in very different institutional settings--from an undergraduate minor in the study of religion to a terminal MA program, a newly instituted doctoral program, and a well-established doctoral program--incorporate theoretical analysis into their program's curriculum.

(NAASR's Executive meeting follows, at 7:00 pm; see details above)


3. Saturday, November 22, 9:00-11:30 am (to be followed by the annual business meeting)

Hyatt Regency, Lenox Room

Expert Witnessing by Religion Scholars in US Courts: What are We Doing and Who are We Working For?

Winnifred Sullivan, University of Chicago, Presiding
Philip Arnold, Syracuse University, "Rethinking Religion: Collaboration with Onondaga in Defense of the Landscape"
Carl Ernst, University of North Carolina, "Redefining Religion in Court: The Case of the Missing Sufi Master"
Susan Gooding, University of Wisconsin, Title to be announced
Bruce Lawrence, Duke University, "What Expert Witnesses Have in Common with Religion Scholars: They Are Paid to Disagree"
Eileen Barker, London School of Economics, "The WHOLE Truth? So help me, God!"
Frank Reynolds, University of Chicago, Respondent

This panel will bring together several religion scholars who have served as expert witnesses, addressing questions of the academic integrity of this practice and the ethical obligations of scholars.


Report on the 2003 SSSR/NAASR Meeting
Greg Alles, NAASR President

Together, the sessions made up a cognitive theory feast!

The first session was devoted to a discussion of Scott Atran's In Gods We Trust. I'm reluctant to say too much about it, because I was the first of the three panelists. However, an issue that was raised recurred in the third session in a question by William Sims Bainbridge: do cognitive theorists actually engage with any other body of social scientific theory? Although they claim to be open to doing so, it is not clear to everyone that this is indeed happening.

The second session consisted of three very interesting papers in experimental psychology. Two of the panelists who presented their research were Melanie Nyhof and Jesse Bering (picture on the right). Their careful empirical studies are much needed complements to the grand theorizing.

The third session was devoted to just this grand theorizing. (Pictured on the left above: Tom Lawson, Bob McCauley, Ted Vial, and Harvey Whitehouse; pictured left below: Bob McCauley during his presentation.) In fact, it was the first time Harvey Whitehouse was able to respond in public and talk with Bob McCauley and Tom Lawson since the appearance of their new book, Bringing Ritual to Mind, but the discussion was rather inconclusive. While both appealed to growing mounds of empirical evidence to support their theories, they failed to take full account of examples offered by those in attendance which would seem to fall outside their theorizing. To a specialist in shamanic rituals Lawson and McCauley used the old definitional strategy: We need to think carefully whether these rituals are really rituals. And Whitehouse seemed not to get the force of an objection to his claim that mid-periodicity rituals (from every 3 months to once yearly) are rare: in Virginia and throughout the old South, they're not rare; once every quarter is the most common way for Baptists to celebrate communion.

(Photos thanks to Greg Alles; see below for the program of this event)


Meeting in Conjunction with the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

NAASR will once again co-sponsored panels at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion's annual meeting (SSSR), held in Norfolk, VA, October 23-26, 2003. This year the NAASR/SSSR panels were all devoted to the application of the cognitive sciences and the study of religion; two of these panels focus on recent books.

1. Current Cognitive Research in Children's Development of Religious Concepts

Justin Barrett, University of Michigan, Presiding
Paul Harris, Harvard University
Melanie Nyhof, University of Pittsburgh


2. Cognitive Science and Ritual Theory: Bringing Ritual to Mind by Robert N. McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson

Jason Slone, University of Findlay, Presiding
Harvey Whitehouse, Queen's University, Belfast
Justin Barrett, University of Michigan, Respondent
Robert N. McCauley, Emory University, Respondent
E. Thomas Lawson, Western Michigan University, Respondent


3. Cognitive Science and the Evolution of Religion: In Gods We Trust by Scott Atran

Theodore M. Vial, Virginia Wesleyan College, Presiding
Greg Alles, McDaniel College
Karen Johnson, University of Michigan
Jesse Bering, University of Arkansas
Paulo Sousa, University of Michigan, Respondent


Meeting in Conjunction with the
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

October 2, 2002
Salt Lake City, Utah

"The Academic Study of Religion during the Cold War"

Lubos Belka, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
"The Czech Academic Study of Religions: Past and Present"

Donald Wiebe, Trinity College, Toronto
"Ideological Subversion of Rational Inquiry? The University in Cold War America"

Russell T. McCutcheon, University of Alabama
"The Cold War, the Humanistic Study of Religion, and the Fallacy of Insufficient Cynicism"

Discussant: Luther H. Martin, The University of Vermont


Meeting in Conjunction with the
American Academy of Religion and the
Society of Biblical Literature

November 23, 2002
Toronto, Ont., CANADA

"Bridging the Gap: Teaching Controversies in the Study of Religion"

Karen deVries, UC Santa Cruz (Chair)

Craig Prentiss, Rockhurst University
"Better Half the Story than No Story at All: Incorporating Research Methods into Undergraduate Instruction"

Michael Bradley, Decatur, Georgia
"Naturalizing the Golden Rule: Teaching Christian Ethics as Moral Law Folk Theory"

Tim Murphy, University of Alabama
"Cultural Understandings of 'Religion': The Hermeneutical Context of Teaching Religious Studies in North America"

Paul C. Johnson, University of Missouri (Respondent)


Meeting in Conjunction with the
American Academy of Religion and the
Society of Biblical Literature

November 24, 2002
Toronto, Ont., CANADA

"Cognition and Culture: Implications of the 'Modes of Religiosity' Theory for the Study of Religion"

Luther H. Martin, The University of Vermont (Organizer and Chair)

Harvey Whitehouse, The Queen's University of Belfast
"The 'Modes of Religiosity' Theory"

William E. Paden, The University of Vermont
"Implications of the `Modes of Religiosity' Theory for the Comparative Study of Religion"

Theodore Vial, Virginia Wesleyan College
"Implications of the 'Modes of Religiosity' Theory for the Historical Study of Religion"

Gregory D. Alles, Western Maryland College
"Implications of the 'Modes of Religiosity' Theory for the Social-Scientific Study of Religion"

Donald Wiebe, Trinity College, Toronto
"Implications of the `Modes of Religiosity' Theory for the Scientific Study of Religion"

Harvey Whitehouse, The Queen's University of Belfast (Respondent)