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 The Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies will be awarding two faculty fellowships in an amount up to $6,000 and two student fellowships in an amount up to $3,500. These awards seek to advance knowledge of the intersections between theology, religion and the arts by supporting especially newer faculty and up and coming scholars whose career and future
contributions to the field of theology, religion, and the arts may be
influenced by this support. 
    Awardees are expected to complete, in a twelve-month period, a defined research project on a topic related to the intersection of theology, religion, and the arts. Applicants are to submit an information sheet, curriculum vitae, a project abstract, a formal proposal, a budget, and two letters of recommendation on or before Friday, April 20, 2007. Faculty and Student Fellowship Grants are awarded on a competitive basis. They will be triple blind reviewed. Applicants will be notified of the Society's decision by June 1, 2007. Grants will be awarded in two payments: August 1 and February 1. Fellowship application forms and instructions are available on our website: http://www.sarts.org.

American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) Mid-Atlantic meeting will take place October 26-27, 2007 at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. The theme for the conference is “Associating Ireland.” Whether it be through religious, political, athletic, linguistic, or national venues, Ireland and Irish identity are consistently configured within a network of assumptions and associations. We invite papers from religious studies, historical, theological, literary, and other perspectives that engage with the concept of association and Ireland. Abstracts should be sent by June 15, 2007 to Professor Kate Costello-Sullivan, (sullivkp@lemoyne.edu), Le Moyne College, 1419 Salt Springs Road, Syracuse, NY 13214.

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a grant to Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary of $4,999,770 to support the work of The Louisville Institute through 2009. Generously supported since 1990 by the Endowment, The Louisville Institute seeks to enrich the religious life of American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the work of the other. The current grant will enable The Louisville Institute to extend its grantmaking and convening work with pastoral leaders and scholar-educators in religion and theology for the good of the church and North American society. The grant also enables The Louisville Institute to launch a new research grant program focusing specifically on pastoral leadership. “The Louisville Institute supports scholar-teachers who care deeply about the well-being of the church and puts them in face-to-face contact with some of the country’s best pastors,” said Craig Dykstra, Endowment senior vice president for religion. “The combined efforts of these talented people represent a promising resource for the renewal of America’s churches.” According to President Thompson, “The Louisville Institute has made significant progress in bringing pastors and academics together. But much remains to be done for the good of the churches, the academy, and the wider society. We are grateful for the support of Lilly Endowment that will enable us to sustain and advance this outstanding work in the next three years.” The Louisville Institute offers funding through seven competitive grant programs in addition to a small General Grant program. For more information, contact The Louisville Institute, 1044 Alta Vista Road Louisville, Kentucky 40205-1798 502-992-5432 Fax: 502-894-2286 E-mail: info@louisville-institute.org Internet: www.louisville-institute.org.

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) has selected this year’s recipients of the Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion:

• Awards for Excellence in Religion: Analytical-Descriptive Studies: Jonathan Z. Smith, Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the College and the Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World, University of Chicago. Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion (University of Chicago Press, 2004).
• Awards for Excellence in Religion: Constructive-Reflective Studies:
  Dan Arnold, Assistant Professor of the philosophy of religion, University of Chicago Divinity School. Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion (Columbia University Press, 2005).
• Awards for Excellence in Religion: Historical Studies:
  Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California, Berkeley. Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity (University of Pennsylvania, 2004).
• Award for Best First Book in the History of Religions:  Ebrahim Moosa, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religion and Director of the Center for Study of Muslim Networks at Duke University. Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination (The University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
  

The Awards for Excellence 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 http://www.aarweb.org/awards/book.asp or contact Myesha D. Jenkins, Associate Director of Theological Programs, at mjenkins@aarweb.org or 404-727-3049.

"In Or Out?: Homosexuality, The Church, And The Sangha" The current controversy within the Anglican Communion over the ordination of openly homosexual clergy and installation of an openly gay bishop raises the question again-what perspectives come to bear on the question of sexual identity in the Buddhist and Christian traditions? Historical, theological, social, and personal perspectives may frame the presentation or paper, and include a range of foci, including queer theology, queer dharma, sexual identity and religious practices, theological and spiritual reflections on homosexuality and homoeroticism, celibacy and homosexuality, historical case studies, contemporary case studies, and Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual sanghas or congregations.
    This topic was selected in honor of Professor Roger Corless, a long time member of the Society for Christian Buddhist Studies, a dual practitioner of Roman Catholicism and Vajrayana Buddhism, and a voice for "queer sangha",  who left us in January, 2007.
    Please submit a paper proposal, limit 250 words, in WORD format to Alice Keefe  --  akeefe@uwsp.edu -- by April 15, 2007.

Co-Editors seek a scholar of Islam to contribute a chapter to a collection entitled Extreme Longevity and Religion: Implications of Radical Life Extension Science. No specialized knowledge in radical life extension science or in ethical theory is required. Biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey of Cambridge University will summarize the science in an introductory chapter provided to contributors. Each chapter will be written by a scholar of a different religious tradition and will discuss potential implications for the religion. The book derives from a 2006 AAR Wildcard Session on the topic. Also, a 2007 AAR Wildcard Session, for which a call for papers is out, is also devoted to the topic. For information contact Co-Editor Calvin Mercer (mercerc@ecu.edu).

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Updated February 2007