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Volume 41, Number 3 Spring 2007

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Our 2007 preliminary program is now on our Web site: www.sociologyofreligion.com. If you lack Web access, hence need a paper copy, or you have Web access but would like a searchable Word file emailed to you, contact the Executive Office at bill4329@hotmail.com . It is an exciting program, and I hope you will attend. We have several sessions specifically directed toward students (see especially the mentoring session, K1, which requires preregistration) as well as outstanding thematic presentations featuring valued colleagues from around the world. Now it is time to respond by completing your pre-registration materials.

Your preregistration entitles you to save money and also is of enormous assistance to us in making adequate plans for the meeting to serve everyone most effectively. Preregistration requirements will be strictly enforced, both in terms of program participation and charges. Try to firm up your plans in the next few days, and send in your materials.

Please note, in particular, the following:

× If you are on the program, you must be a current ASR member. (In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement is met by one of the authors being a member, but note that all co-authors attending the meeting must pay registration fees. )

 

× If you are on the program, you must be preregistered.

 

× The deadline for preregistration is July 1. If mailing, use only first class/air mail to return your preregistration forms.

 

× Those not on the program are also encouraged to preregister. On-site registration fees will be higher for all categories of attendees.

 

× The New Attendees Welcoming Breakfast is available only by preregistration.

 

Our meeting preregistration form is part of this mailing. Information concerning our hotel is also contained here. The hotel will not be using forms, so you must work from this newsletter when making your reservation, either online or by phone. If you make your reservation by phone, ask for a written confirmation. The online service allows you to generate your own confirmation immediately.

Note, too, that you may pay 2008 dues at this time, using the preregistration form, even if you are not attending the meeting. If you choose this option, make sure you put your name on the form!

Most of you will probably choose to fly directly to New York, to which a wide number of airlines provide direct service from major US cities as well as many in Europe. You would do well to check various discount air travel sites to see which possible alternative routes, including air-rail connections would provide you the most economical and convenient service. Note that "New York" is actually three airports: Kennedy, Newark, and LaGuardia. The first two are international. Rail service is also available throughout the US and Canadian networks and can be a time-saving option on the east coast and from some midwestern locales, especially in view of airport security measures and times to get to and from airports. Bus service is another possibility. For local directions, see the hotel material below.

We are based at the New York Marriott Marquis. This is an exceptionally well-situated hotel. It is located right on Times Square and is within a few blocks of the ASA venues. The hotel is often featured on television programs that give trips to NYC as prizes. Please note that this year we begin on a Friday, the 10th, the ASA Religion Section day is principally the 12th, but both Section activities and other ASA sociology of religion sessions arch over the 11th to 13th. Our block holds through the ASA meetings, so if you have interests or commitments later in the ASA meetings, you do not have to change hotels to participate in both meetings. If you wish to stay on beyond the 14th, however, you need to contact the Executive Office to have us make case-by-case arrangements with the hotel. Note that the Marriott Marquis is an entirely nonsmoking hotel.

The deadline for hotel reservations is 10 July. It is later than the preregistration deadline, but only a limited number of rooms are available, so reserving early is in your best interest. If you have difficulty making reservations with the hotel before the deadline, please contact the Executive Office at once (309-932-2727; bill4329@hotmail.com. After the deadline, there’s not a lot we can do to help you.

It is important that you stay at the ASR hotel. In 2004, for example, we paid extra hotel charges due to lack of adequate hotel registration on the part of our meeting attendees—in spite of having the largest meeting registration in our history!

Here's how you make reservations: Go to the hotel Website—www.nymarriottmarquis.com. When you get there, enter the dates you want and the number in your room. Then enter the Group Code ASRASRA. You should get a screen that gives you a base rate of $169/179 night single/double. Check your accommodation preferences and make your credit arrangements. When you are done, you can print a copy of your package. If you prefer to phone, the number is 1-888-236-2427. Make sure you get a confirmation number, write it down, and don't lose it.

Getting to the hotel: The hotel Website also provides a downtown map and driving directions into the city, as well as some information on other options getting into the city. (The link for this on the hotel's main page is entitled "Printable Hotel Fact Sheet.") Your options getting into the city vary somewhat by the airport at which you land. From Newark there are trains that come into Penn Station. These are probably your easiest and cheapest option overall. There is also a direct bus service into the city, but it sort of drops you on the street. In either case, then, you would have to get a cab to the hotel. All of the airports feature van services that will bring you directly to the hotel. The two New York airports also feature connecting city bus-subway routes, but these are very difficult with more than a small piece of hand luggage and a backpack. These routes are the least expensive and will cost you about $5 each way. A taxi will cost you between $35 and $65, including tip, depending on the airport. Taxis are most advantageous where several persons are traveling together. The complexities and real dollar costs of getting into and out of the city from the airports make rail transport an especially "rational choice" in many cases.

We have reasonable expectation that volumes 13 and 14 of our "Religion and the Social Order" series, American Sociology of Religion: Histories, edited by Anthony J. Blasi, and Vocation and Social Context, edited by Giuseppe Giordan, will be available at the meeting. Many of the chapters in Tony’s volume come from sessions on the history of the sociology of religion at last year’s annual meeting. Giuseppe’s volume considers "vocation" in a number of contexts, but is especially of note for providing new empirical data on religious vocations in the Roman Catholic context. The Thursday night reception is co-sponsored by Brill to honor the contributors to and editors of these books.

The series is now being published by the Brill publishing house of Leiden, the Netherlands. The ASR members’ price is $29 (plus postage). You may purchase either or both of these volumes now, in advance, for shipment in late August. We hope to have copies for sale as well at the meeting itself. The members’ price will continue through the membership renewal period this winter, so you will have another chance to purchase a copy at the time you renew your membership. This is a very attractive price for a volume of this quality. We regret that some orders of volume 12 made with membership renewals this year are only now being shipped. This was due to a "latent dysfunction" of the price of success, as additional copies had to be printed. It should be the case, however, that if you live in the United States you should now have your copy in hand. Those living outside the US should have theirs in about a month’s time from receipt of this newsletter. If your previously ordered copy of On the Road to Being There has not arrived by 1 July, please email the Executive Office. Also feel free to contact the Executive Office at any time if you are interested in proposing a volume. Two are currently in process for 2008.

Conferences

Secularity and Religious Vitality, biennial conference of ISSR, Leipzig, Germany, 23-27 July, http://soc.kuleuven.be/ceso/sisr/eng/conference. Our ASR colleague Enzo Pace is President of ISSR this year.

Sport and Spirituality, inaugural conference of the Centre for Sport & Spirituality, York St. John University, UK, 28-31 August. http://sportspirituality.yorksj.ac.uk.

The University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp is offering a "Summer School" conference program 2-9 September. The topic is Religion, Culture and Society. Speakers include Robert Hefner and Ronald Inglehart. See www.ucsia.org.

The RRA and SSSR will meet 2-4 November in Tampa, Florida. SSSR President Steve Warner will deliver his presidential address this year, and Randy Collins will deliver the RRA H. Paul Douglass Lecture. Both are also ASR members, as is current RRA president, Kirk Hadaway. For further information go to www.sssrweb.org .  The RRA theme is "Changing Religious Forms and Connections." The SSSR theme is "Religion, Community, and Social Action." These programs are now closed.

The American Academy of Religion will meet 17-20 November in San Diego. See www.aarweb.org . China is the "area focus" for this year’s meeting.

Religion and the Formation of New Publics, a conference cosponsored by Research Commiteee 22 of the ISA and by the Philippine Association for the Sociology of Religion, will be held 23-28 January 2008, at the University of Santo Tomas, Manilla. The abstract deadline is 21 July. Send abstracts to BOTH vargai@rogers.com and a.possamai@uws.edu.au. In regard to local arrangements, contact Emysanchez2001@yahoo.com. 

The International Society for Human Ethology will hold its next biennial meeting 14-18 July 2008, in Bologna. See www.ishe.org .   Jay Feierman is seeking papers, in particular, for an invited session on "The Biology of Religious Behavior: A Human Ethology Perspective on Religion"—jfeierman@comcast.net

And while you’re thinking calendrically: ASR 2008 will meet in Boston, 31 July – 2 August. This is an especially important meeting because it is the one-year-in-four that there is no other major competing international meeting during the summer, though some ISA regional groups may schedule conferences. Subsequent ASR meeting cities are San Francisco (2009), Atlanta (2010), and Chicago (2011).

The American Academy of Religion has announced its 2006-2007 Research Grant Program awardees. Included among them is ASR member Wendy Cadge, Brandeis University.

Congratulations to all!