Distinguished Book Award
Purpose: To recognize the most outstanding book published by a SSSR member or members within the past two years (imprint copyright publication date of 2023 or 2024).
Qualifications: A book may be nominated by its author or any other SSSR member deeming it to be of outstanding quality. Only scholarly monographs will be considered for this award; edited volumes will not be considered by the committee.
NOTE: At least one of the authors of a nominated book must be an SSSR member for the book to be eligible for consideration. Individuals can join the SSSR at https://sssreligion.org/membership/become-a-member/.
Criteria: The committee will judge each book's quality of scholarship, importance to the field, and relevance to the larger society. Any book involving some aspect of the scientific study of religion is eligible.
Award: The award will be presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting. It includes a plaque and $1000.
Procedure: The chair of the committee must be notified of the book's nomination by January 20, 2025 via the submission form.
Detailed instructions will be provided after the nomination form is submitted, but a copy of the book (hard copy or electronic, although hard copy is preferred) must be sent to each member of the committee by January 27, 2025. Mailing/transmittal is the responsibility of the publisher and author. Books will not be returned to the author(s) under any circumstances.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Nancy Ammerman, Boston University
Joseph Blankholm, University of California, Santa Barbara
Rachel Ellis, University of Maryland
Galen Watts, University of Waterloo
RECENT AWARDEES
2024 Rachel Ellis, In This Place Called Prison: Women's Religious Life in the Shadow of Punishment (University of California Press, 2023)
2024 Honorable Mention: Joseph Blankholm, The Secular Paradox: On the Religiosity of the Not Religious (New York University Press, 2022)
2023 Galen Watts, The Spiritual Turn: The Religion of the Heart and the Making of Romantic Liberal Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2022)
2023 Honorable Mention: Jocelyn Cesari, We God's People: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
2022 David E. Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, and John C. Green, Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
2022 Honorable Mention: Vineeta Yadav, Religious Parties and the Politics of Civil Liberties (Oxford University Press, 2021)
2021 Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2020)
2020 J. Christopher Soper and Joel S. Fetzer, Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
2019 Michele Margolis, From Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Landscape Shape Religious Identity (University of Chicago Press, 2018)
2018 Christian Smith, Religion: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters (Princeton University Press, 2017)
2017 Damon Mayrl, Secular Conversions: Political Institutions and Religious Education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
2016 Christel Manning, Losing Our Religion: How Unaffiliated Parents are Raising Their Children (NYU Press, 2015)
2015 Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel, The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2014)
2014 Peter Stamatov, The Origins of Global Humanitarianism: Religion, Empires, and Advocacy (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
2013 Jason Ananda Josephson, The Invention of Religion in Japan (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
2012 Susan Crawford Sullivan, Living Faith: Everyday Religion and Mothers in Poverty (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
2011 Ahmet Kuru, Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Distinguished Book Award
Purpose: To recognize the most outstanding book published by a SSSR member or members within the past two years (imprint copyright publication date of 2023 or 2024).
Qualifications: A book may be nominated by its author or any other SSSR member deeming it to be of outstanding quality. Only scholarly monographs will be considered for this award; edited volumes will not be considered by the committee.
NOTE: At least one of the authors of a nominated book must be an SSSR member for the book to be eligible for consideration. Individuals can join the SSSR at https://sssreligion.org/membership/become-a-member/.
Criteria: The committee will judge each book's quality of scholarship, importance to the field, and relevance to the larger society. Any book involving some aspect of the scientific study of religion is eligible.
Award: The award will be presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting. It includes a plaque and $1000.
Procedure: The chair of the committee must be notified of the book's nomination by January 20, 2025 via the submission form.
Detailed instructions will be provided after the nomination form is submitted, but a copy of the book (hard copy or electronic, although hard copy is preferred) must be sent to each member of the committee by January 27, 2025. Mailing/transmittal is the responsibility of the publisher and author. Books will not be returned to the author(s) under any circumstances.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Nancy Ammerman, Boston University
Joseph Blankholm, University of California, Santa Barbara
Rachel Ellis, University of Maryland
Galen Watts, University of Waterloo
RECENT AWARDEES
2024 Rachel Ellis, In This Place Called Prison: Women's Religious Life in the Shadow of Punishment (University of California Press, 2023)
2024 Honorable Mention: Joseph Blankholm, The Secular Paradox: On the Religiosity of the Not Religious (New York University Press, 2022)
2023 Galen Watts, The Spiritual Turn: The Religion of the Heart and the Making of Romantic Liberal Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2022)
2023 Honorable Mention: Jocelyn Cesari, We God's People: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
2022 David E. Campbell, Geoffrey C. Layman, and John C. Green, Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
2022 Honorable Mention: Vineeta Yadav, Religious Parties and the Politics of Civil Liberties (Oxford University Press, 2021)
2021 Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2020)
2020 J. Christopher Soper and Joel S. Fetzer, Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
2019 Michele Margolis, From Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Landscape Shape Religious Identity (University of Chicago Press, 2018)
2018 Christian Smith, Religion: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters (Princeton University Press, 2017)
2017 Damon Mayrl, Secular Conversions: Political Institutions and Religious Education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
2016 Christel Manning, Losing Our Religion: How Unaffiliated Parents are Raising Their Children (NYU Press, 2015)
2015 Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel, The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2014)
2014 Peter Stamatov, The Origins of Global Humanitarianism: Religion, Empires, and Advocacy (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
2013 Jason Ananda Josephson, The Invention of Religion in Japan (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
2012 Susan Crawford Sullivan, Living Faith: Everyday Religion and Mothers in Poverty (University of Chicago Press, 2012)
2011 Ahmet Kuru, Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge University Press, 2009)