History

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The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) is an interdisciplinary academic association that stimulates, promotes, and communicates social scientific research about religious institutions and experiences. SSSR was founded at Harvard University in 1949 as the Committee for the Social Scientific Study of Religion. From 1951 to 1956, the organization was called the Committee for the Scientific Study of Religion, and, with membership numbering in the hundreds, the change to the present name was made at the end of 1956. Today SSSR fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration among more than a thousand scholars from sociology, religious studies, psychology, political science, economics, international studies, gender studies, and many other fields. The Society's flagship publication, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, is the most cited resource in the field. Our annual meetings bring together leading scholars in the social and behavioral scientific study of religion for three days of networking, presentations, plenary sessions, and small group meetings in a different city each fall.

More Information

Glock, Charles Y. 2000. “Remembrances of Things Past: SSSR’s Formative Years.” JSSR 39(4):423–426.

Newman, William M. 1974. “The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: The Development of an Academic Society.” RRA 15(3):137–151.

Swatos, William H. 1998. “Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.” P. 482 in Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Presidents of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

1949 Walter H. Clark
1952 Talcott Parsons
1954 Prentiss Pemberton
1956 Richard V. McCann
1958 James Luther Adams
1960 Horace Kallen
1962 Horace L. Friess
1964 Walter H. Clark
1966 Peter L. Berger
1968 Charles Y. Glock
1970 Joseph H. Fichter
1974 Paul W. Pruyser
1976 Allan W. Eister
1978 William V. D’Antonio
1980 Benton Johnson
1982 Marie Augusta Neal
1984 Jeffrey K. Hadden
1986 Phillip E. Hammond
1988 Meredith McGuire
1990 Donald Capps
1992 Eileen Barker
1994 Ruth Wallace
1996 Wade Clark Roof
1998 Jay Demerath
2000 Helen Rose Ebaugh
2002 Robert Wuthnow
2003 Rodney Stark
2004 Nancy Ammerman
2005 Donald Miller
2006 R. Stephen Warner
2007 Dean Hoge
2008 Mark Chaves
2009 Katherine Meyer
2010 James Beckford
2011 Rhys H. Williams
2012 Michele Dillon
2013 James Richardson
2014 Fenggang Yang
2015 Corwin Smidt
2016 Nancy Nason-Clark
2017 Korie L. Edwards
2018 Elaine Howard Ecklund
2019 Laura Olson
2020 Prema Kurien
2021 R. Khari Brown
2022 Kraig Beyerlein
2023 Gerardo Marti
2024 Ruth Braunstein

Editors of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 

1961 Prentiss L. Pemberton
1965 Samuel Z. Klausner
1968 James E. Dittes
1972 Benton Johnson
1975 Richard L. Gorsuch
1979 Phillip E. Hammond
1983 Donald Capps
1989 Armand Mauss
1993 David G. Bromley
1996 Ralph W. Hood, Jr.
1999 Ted Jelen
2003 Rhys Williams
2008 Maria Cornwall
2012 Laura Olson
2016 Laura Olson/J. Tobin Grant
2017 J. Tobin Grant
2022 Korie Little Edwards