August 25, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Levine
404-727-3059; [email protected]

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) has selected the 2015 recipients of the Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion and the Best First Book in the History of Religions:

Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Indiana University
A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care, and the Law
University of Chicago Press, 2014

Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Constructive-Reflective Studies
Michelle Voss Roberts, Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion
Fordham University Press, 2014

Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Historical Studies
Claudia Brosseder, Heidelberg University
The Power of Huacas: Change and Resistance in the Andean World of Colonial Peru
University of Texas Press, 2014

Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies
Tariq Jaffer, Amherst College
Rāzī: Master of Quranic Interpretation and Theological Reasoning
Oxford University Press, 2014

Best First Book in the History of Religions
Cécile Fromont, University of Chicago
The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo
University of North Carolina Press, published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2014

The Awards for Excellence and Best First Book in the History of Religions recognize new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion. The awards honor books of distinctive originality, intelligence, creativity and importance; books that affect decisively how religion is examined, understood, and interpreted. For more information, please see https://www.aarweb.org/programs-services/book-awards. Awards will be presented at the AAR’s 2015 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday, November 22, 2015, at 7:00 PM.

Founded in 1909, the American Academy of Religion is the world’s largest association of religion scholars, and its mission is to foster excellence in the study of religion by promoting research, publishing, and teaching about religion in academia. As a learned society and professional association of teachers and research scholars, the American Academy of Religion has about 9,000 members who teach in some 900 colleges, universities, seminaries, and schools in North America and abroad. The Academy is dedicated to furthering knowledge of religion and religious institutions in all their forms and manifestations. This is accomplished through Academy-wide and regional conferences and meetings, publications, programs, and membership services.

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