International Association for the History of Religions
| Logo of the IAHR | |
| Formation | 1950 |
|---|---|
President | Tim Jensen |
| Website | www |
The International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the academic study of religion worldwide. Founded in 1950 and currently composed of around 50 national and regional associations, it is the largest and oldest international body for the academic study of religion with a variety of approaches, encompassing both humanities, the social sciences and natural sciences. Since 1951 it has been a member of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (Conseil international de la philosophie et des sciences humaines), which is in partnership with UNESCO.
The IAHR holds World Congresses every five years, in addition to supporting various regional or special conferences and events in between. Its first president (1950) was Gerardus van der Leeuw and its current president (2015-) is Tim Jensen. Its flagship journal is NVMEN (Numen: International Review for the History of Religions), which is a peer review journal established in 1954 and currently published by Brill Publishers. Since 2016, it also publishes the IAHR Book Series, “The Study of Religion in a Global Context” (Equinox Publishing).
Origins[edit]
The IAHR was founded in 1950 at the 7th international congress of the history of religions in Amsterdam[1]. The first initiative toward the setting up of an international organization for scholars of religion came from a Dutch society of historians of religion, Genootschap van Godsdiensthistorici. The initial Organizing Committee had 29 members, twenty of those were continental Europeans, two were British, three Swedes and four Americans[2]. Since then it has been expanding internationally, with, for example, the 9th congress (Tokyo/Kyoto, 1958) being the first international congress held outside Europe [3], and with the affiliation of e.g. the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) in 1995[4][5], the South and the Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR) in 2005 [6], and the Asociacion de Cientistas Sociales de la Religion del Mercosur (ACSRM) in 2013 [7]
The term “history of religions” has different meanings in different contexts, but within the IAHR it initially denoted the historical-philological, textual, and comparative study of religions in the past, which was a major approach to the non-theological study of religion in Europe from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century [8]. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the IAHR increasingly embraced other perspectives, such as sociological approaches to contemporary religions, as well as e.g. psychological and cognitivist approaches. At the same time, IAHR members have repeatedly attempted to clarify what kind of “academic” study of religion they aim to advance. It is currently expressed in the IAHR’s constitution in the following terms: “the IAHR is the preeminent international forum for the critical, analytical and cross-cultural study of religion, past and present. The IAHR is not a forum for confessional, apologetical, or other similar concerns.” [9]
Organization[edit]
The IAHR’s membership is organization-based. Its members are national and regional societies / associations, and its affiliates are international and regional societies / associations with a focus on a specific subject or approach. Individual membership is either for scholars who do not have access to local or regional societies in their working contexts or for IAHR’s Honorary Life Members. The IAHR also has Women Scholars Network.
National Members[edit]
As of January 2021, the IAHR has 47 national member societies and associations.[10]
Regional Members[edit]
The IAHR currently counts 7 regional member associations, which are: African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), the Asociacion de Cientistas Sociales de la Religion del Mercosur (ACSRM), European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Eastern African Association for the Study of Religions (EAASR), Asociación Latino Americana para el Estudio de las Religiones (ALER), North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), and South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR).[11]
Affiliates[edit]
The IAHR currently has 6 affiliates, which are: European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion (IACSR), International Study of Religion in Eastern and Central Europe Association (ISORECEA), International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (ISSRNC), Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR), and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).[12]
List of IAHR Presidents[edit]
- Gerardus van der Leeuw (1950)
- Raffaele Pettazzoni (1950-1959)
- Geo Widengren (1960-1970)
- Marcel Simon (1970-1980)
- Annemarie Schimmel (1980-1990)
- Ugo Bianchi (1990-1995)
- Michael Pye (1995-2000)
- Peter Antes (2000- 2005)
- Rosalind I. J. Hackett (2005-2015)
- Tim Jensen (2015-present) [13]
List of IAHR Secretary Generals/General Secretaries[edit]
- R.J. Bleeker (1950-1970)
- S.G.F. Brandon (1970-1971)
- Eric Sharpe (1971-1975)
- R.J.Zwi Werblowsky (1975-1985)
- Michael Pye (1985-1995)
- Armin W. Geertz (1995-2005)
- Tim Jensen (2005-2015)
- Afe Adogame (2015-2017)
- Satoko Fujiwara (2017-present)[14]
List of World Congresses[edit]
- I Paris 1900
- II Basel 1904
- III Oxford 1908
- IV Leiden 1912
- V Lund 1929
- VI Brussels 1935
- VII Amsterdam 1950
- VIII Rome 1955
- IX Tokyo 1958
- X Marburg 1960
- XI Claremont 1965
- XII Stockholm 1970
- XIII Lancaster 1975
- XIV Winnipeg 1980
- XV Sydney 1985
- XVI Rome 1990
- XVII Mexico City 1995
- XVIII Durban 2000
- XIX Tokyo 2005
- XX Toronto 2010
- XXI Erfurt 2015
- XXII Dunedin 2020 (Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemics)[15]
Further Readings[edit]
- Tim Jensen and Armin W. Geertz eds. NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR: Past, Present and Prospects, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Michael Pye (2016). "IAHR Landmarks and Connections". In Tim Jensen; Armin W. Geertz. NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR: Past, Present and Prospects. NUMEN. p. 222. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eric J. Sharpe (1986). Comparative Religion: A History (2nd ed.). Duckworth. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-7156-1081-7. Search this book on
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Werblowsky, Zwi. "The 9th International Congress for the History of Religions, Tokyo, 1958". NUMEN. 5 (3): 233-237.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Platvoet, Jan G. (2008). ""IAHR and AASR", African Association for the Study of Religions". Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jan Platvoet; James Cox; Jacob Olupona, eds. (1996). The Study of Religions in Africa. Past, Present and Prospects. Roots and Branches. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Brian Bocking, ed. (2010). IAHR World Congress Proceedings Tokyo 2005. Roots and Branches. p. 614. ISBN 978-0-9525-7726-3. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 ""Enlaces Asociaciones", Asociacion de Cientistas Sociales de la Religion del Mercosur". 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Eric J. Sharpe. Comparative Religion: A History (2nd ed.). p. 270. Search this book on
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 ""Constitutions," International Association for the History of Religions". 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 ""Members and Affiliates," International Association for the History of Religions". 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ibid.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ibid.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 ""Former Office Holders," International Association for the History of Religions". 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Ibid.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 ""IAHR Congress and Conference Proceedings," International Association for the History of Religions". 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
External links[edit]
This article "International Association for the History of Religions" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:International Association for the History of Religions. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
