Cultural History of the Study of Religion Unit

The Cultural History of the Study of Religion Unit seeks papers that examine the formation and transformation of religion and related categories in social, cultural, and political practice in different geographic and historical contexts and in relation to the academic study of religion as that study has evolved over time.

We aim to facilitate theoretically and methodologically rigorous sessions that are attuned to dynamics of power and that feature scholars from multiple subfields, methodology, type of institution, and professional rank. 

This group regularly uses its sessions to develop new models for conference conversation. Toward that end, we ask that participants be prepared to write shorter papers for possible pre-circulation or short position papers for roundtable format. We also welcome suggestions for new models.

For the 2026 Annual Meeting, we particularly welcome proposals on the following topics:

Fascism and Anti-Fascism and the Study of Religion. Given the interest + momentum generated by our double-session at the 2025 Annual Meeting, we seek to build the conversation about the legacies, repetitions, and affinities of fascist and anti-fascist hermeneutics in the academic study of religion. We invite proposals engaged with these themes, whether as framing concerns for stand-alone sessions/papers or as contextualized to the other sub-points of our 2026 CFP.

CRISIS! CRISIS! CRISIS! For as long as the academic study of religion has been institutionalized in universities, there has been consistent, if differentially articulated, concern that the field is “in crisis.” What work does invocation of “crisis” do for our field? What connections and elisions does rhetoric of crisis enact between material and discursive formations of religious studies? What methods and genres have arisen to contain crisis? What methods and genres has crisis inhibited or foreclosed? We especially welcome proposals that think through these + related questions through genealogical and historical-materialist analysis.

Legacies of Tomoko Masuzawa’s The Invention of World Religions. Two decades after the publication of Tomoko Masuzawa’s seminal account of the formation of the world religions paradigm, we invite reflection on the multiple effects of this work. These may address any of the following: (1) the reception history of Invention; (2) its intellectual legacy, including continuities and discontinuities across various subfields; (3) its pedagogical impact; (4) the institutional effects or noneffects of the critique of world religions and/or pluralist paradigms.

*Genealogies of Science and Religion (for a possible cosponsored session between the Science, Technology, and Religion and Cultural History of the Study of Religion units): Where does science and religion—as a subfield—come from? What types of science have been privileged in this conjunction? What are their origin points, lineages, inflections, institutional politics, and material conditions of knowledge production that have led to the current field? Proposals may consider the Pitts Digital Collection repository of “American Academy of Religion Program Books” and/or explore the history of the STR unit (founded as “Theology and Science” in 1987) and related subdivisions of AAR/SBL. We welcome proposals from all scholarly ranks including graduate, contingent, and early-career scholars.

*Post-Secular Attachments (for a possible cosponsored session between Secularism and Secularity and Cultural History of the Study of Religion): We invite proposals that take stock of the “post-secular” as a methodology, conceptual investment, and/or posture of critique in the interdisciplinary humanities. What difference(s) does the “post-secular” name? What historical, intellectual, and political attachments are at play in its deployment? We welcome proposals from all scholarly ranks including graduate, contingent, and early-career scholars.