The 2026 November Annual Meeting in Denver, CO: Friday, November 20 - Tuesday, November 24. All times are listed in Mountain Time Zone. For more information about the November Annual Meeting, co-hosted with the Society of Biblical Literature, click here.
Please note that this is the preliminary schedule and is subject to change. We anticipate a mostly final schedule in mid-August. If you have any questions, please contact annualmeeting@aarweb.org. For Other Events, your event is not confirmed until you received notification from AAR staff.
The FTE Annual Alumni Reception is a gathering where alumni and current participants of FTE programs come together to celebrate, connect, and engage with one another.
Across our shared fields, departments in religion are closing and graduate programs throughout the humanities are forcibly constricted to barely functional levels. Larger political agendas are calling curricula committed to global diversity into question and schools committed to social justice are under threat. The future is therefore a pressing question for AAR members at every level. The issue is much larger than survival of past practices, it is a challenge of imagination and creativity that - I propose - we are uniquely qualified to pursue in the task of building innovative, and ultimately sustainable academic and public homes for our scholarship. In this presidential address I explore some theories of “futuring” that may help in addressing this moment. We cannot proceed in a “business as usual” fashion and so I ask what each of us can imagine beyond the usual. The American Academy of Religion is a member-run organization that is lean in material resources. However, if we use it, we have great power in networking and the collective creativity of our members. What are the ways that future thinking can galvanize creativity in scholarship, in public action, and in the AAR itself?
The Friends of BYU Reception offers a chance for alumni, faculty, students, and friends of Brigham Young University to connect during the annual meeting. We invite you to join us for refreshments and an evening of collegial exchange.
Scholars and friends associated with Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and/or the AAR New Religious Movement Unit Reception are warmly welcomed to our annual reception.
Indiana University Department of Religious Studies Alumni and Friends Reception
Join scholars of “The Urantia Book” presenting theological and psychological research.
All are invited to attend. For more information contact heines@fiu.edu
Please join friends and colleagues for hearty hors d’oeuvres, updates from theological school presidents Stephanie Krusemark and Elias Ortega, and a panel discussion on Colin Bossen’s new book, The Political Theologies of Populism: The Garveyites, the Klan, and the Wobblies, 1905-1930. This work explores the transient and permanent dimensions of populist movements in the United States, and argues that populist movements have political theologies. Our discussion will feature comments by Filipe Maia (Boston University), Stephanie May (First Church Boston), and Dan McKanan (Harvard Divinity School).
This event will take place at the First Unitarian Society of Denver, 1400 Lafayette Street. This is a half hour walk from the Convention Center, or 20 minutes using the #15 bus, which runs every 6-10 minutes. All are welcome! To help us plan for food, an RSVP is appreciated but not required at https://forms.gle/F3tqm6aDXa6uNMAYA . Please contact Dan McKanan at dmckanan@hds.harvard.edu with questions.
Sponsored by John Templeton Foundation. Hosted by: Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science; International Society for Science and Religion; Institute on Religion in an Age of Science; Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences; AI and Faith; AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion Program (DoSER); Zygon Center and CASIRAS; and the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology. Everyone interested in the intersection between science and religion is invited to attend. This year, we will take a moment to honor in person the 2026 Templeton Prize winner, Professor Simon Conway Morris.
