2019
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
J. Lorand Matory
Duke University
The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make
Duke University Press, 2018
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Mara Benjamin
Mount Holyoke College
The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought
Indiana University Press, 2018
Historical Studies
Geraldine Heng
University of Texas at Austin
The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages
Cambridge University Press, 2018
Textual Studies
Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz
Pennsylvania State University
Reciting the Goddess: Narratives of Place and the Making of Hinduism in Nepal
Oxford University Press, 2018
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Karin Vélez
Macalester College
The Miraculous Flying House of Loreto: Spreading Catholicism in the Early Modern World
Princeton University Press, 2018
2018
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Jenna Reinbold
Colgate University
Seeing the Myth in Human Rights
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Nancy Levene
Yale University
Powers of Distinction: On Religion and Modernity
University of Chicago Press, 2017
Historical Studies
Bissera V. Pentcheva
Stanford University
Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium
Penn State University Press, 2017
Textual Studies
Wallace D. Best
Princeton University
Langston's Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem
NYU Press, 2017
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Lincoln Mullen
George Mason University
The Chance of Salvation: A History of Conversion in America
Harvard University Press, 2017
2017
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Noah Salomon
Carleton College
For Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan's Islamic State
Princeton University Press, 2017
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Noreen Khawaja
Yale University
The Religion of Existence: Asceticism in Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Sartre
University of Chicago Press, 2016
Historical Studies
Mona Hassan
Duke University
Longing for the Lost Caliphate: A Transregional History
Princeton University Press, 2017
Textual Studies
Lena Salaymeh
Tel-Aviv University
The Beginnings of Islamic Law: Late Antique Islamicate Legal Traditions
Cambridge University Press, 2016
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Ruben van Luijk
Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism
Oxford University Press, 2016
2016
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Bhrigupati Singh
Brown University
Poverty and the Quest for Life: Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India
University of Chicago Press, 2015
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Francis J. Beckwith
Baylor University
Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith
Cambridge University Press, 2015
Historical Studies
Richard E. Payne
University of Chicago
A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity
University of California Press, 2015
Textual Studies
David A. Lambert
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
How Repentance Became Biblical: Judaism, Christianity, and the Interpretation of Scripture
Oxford University Press, 2016
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Shahab Ahmed (1966–2015)
Harvard University
What is Islam?: The Importance of Being Islamic
Princeton University Press, 2016
2015
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care, and the Law
University of Chicago Press, 2014
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Michelle Voss Roberts
Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion
Fordham University Press, 2014
Historical Studies
Claudia Brosseder
The Power of Huacas: Change and Resistance in the Andean World of Colonial Peru
University of Texas Press, 2014
Textual Studies
Tariq Jaffer
Rāzī: Master of Quranic Interpretation and Theological Reasoning
Oxford University Press, 2014 (UK)
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Cécile Fromont
The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo
University of North Carolina Press, published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2014
2014
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Anya Bernstein
Religious Bodies Politic: Rituals of Sovereignty in Buryat Buddhism
University of Chicago Press, 2013
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Willis Jenkins
The Future of Ethics: Sustainability, Social Justice, and Religious Creativity
Georgetown University Press, 2013
Historical Studies
Kyle Harper
From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity
Harvard University Press, 2013
Textual Studies
Andrew Quintman
The Yogin and the Madman: Reading the Biographical Corpus of Tibet's Great Saint Milarepa
Columbia University Press, 2013
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Anna Sun
Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities
Princeton University Press, 2013
2013
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Anna Fedele
Looking for Mary Magdalene: Alternative Pilgrimage and Ritual Creativity at Catholic Shrines in France
Oxford University Press, 2012
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Jeffrey L. Kosky
Arts of Wonder: Enchanting Secularity – Walter De Maria, Diller + Scofidio, James Turrell, Andy Goldsworthy
University of Chicago Press, 2012
Historical Studies
Christian K. Wedemeyer
Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions
Columbia University Press, 2012
Textual Studies
Emily T. Hudson
Disorienting Dharma: Ethics and the Aesthetics of Suffering in the Mahabharata
Oxford University Press, 2012
Best First Book in the History of Religions
A. Azfar Moin
The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam
Columbia University Press, 2012
2012
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Pamela E. Klassen
Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing, and Liberal Christianity
University of California Press, 2011
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Elliot R. Wolfson
A Dream Interpreted within a Dream: Oneiropoiesis and the Prism of Imagination
Zone Books, 2011
Historical Studies
Thomas A. Tweed
America’s Church: The National Shrine and Catholic Presence in the Nation’s Capital
Oxford University Press, 2011
Textual Studies
David M. Freidenreich
Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law
University of California Press, 2011
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Ronit Ricci
Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia
Chicago University Press, 2011
2011
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Amira Mittermaier
Dreams that Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination
University of California, 2011
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Willie James Jennings
The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
Yale University Press, 2010
Historical Studies
Johan Elverskog
Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011
Textual Studies
Ross Shepard Kraemer
Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean
Oxford University Press, 2011
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Andrew Nicholson
Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History
Columbia University Press, 2010
2010
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Kimberley Christine Patton
Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity
Oxford University Press, 2009
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Mark Johnston
Saving God: Religion after Idolatry
Princeton University Press, 2009
Historical Studies
Robert Ford Campany
Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China
University of Hawai’i Press, 2009
Textual Studies
Benjamin D. Sommer
Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel
Cambridge University Press, 2009
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Joseph Kip Kosek
Acts of Conscience: Christian Nonviolence and Modern American Democracy
Columbia University Press, 2009
2009
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
G. John Renard
Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood
University of California Press, 2008
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Andrew F. March
Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus
Oxford University Press, 2008
Historical Studies
Stuart B. Schwartz
All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World
Yale University Press, 2008
Textual Studies
Shaul Magid
From Metaphysics to Midrash: Myth, History, and the Interpretation of Scripture on Lurianic Kabbala
Indiana University Press, 2008
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Co-Winners
Benjamin Lazier
God Interrupted: Heresy and the European Imagination between the World Wars
Princeton University Press, 2008
Christian Lee Novetzke
Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India
Columbia University Press, 2008
Best First Book Shortlist
Rachel Wheeler
To Live Upon Hope: Mohicans and Missionaries in the 18th Century Northeast
Cornell University Press, 2008
M. Cecilia Gaposchkin
The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages
Cornell University Press, 2008
Mark David Baer
Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe
Oxford University Press, 2008
2008
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Leor Halevi
Vanderbilt University
Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society
Columbia University Press, 2007
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Mark C. Taylor
Columbia University
After God
University of Chicago Press, 2007
Historical Studies
Benjamin J. Kaplan
University College, London
Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe
Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2007
Textual Studies
Wendi L. Adamek
Barnard College
The Mystique of Transmission
Columbia University Press, 2007
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Emma J. Anderson
University of Ottawa
The Betrayal of Faith: The Tragic Journey of a Colonial Native Convert
Harvard University Press, 2007
2007
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
David Frankfurter
University of New Hampshire
Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History
Princeton University Press, 2006
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Co-Winners
John D. Caputo
Syracuse University
The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event
Indiana University Press, 2006
John Clayton (deceased)
Boston University
Compiled by Anne Blackburn and Thomas Carroll
Religions, Reasons, and Gods: Essays in Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions, 2006
Historical Studies
Co-Winners
Catherine Albanese
University of California, Santa Barbara
A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion
Yale University Press, 2006
Caroline Walker Bynum
Institute for Advanced Study
Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006
Textual Studies
Kristofer Schipper
Library of the Western Belvedere and Franciscus Verellen, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, eds.
The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang
University of Chicago Press, 2004
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Leela Prasad
Duke University
Poetics of Conduct: Oral Narrative and Moral Being in a South Indian Town
Columbia University Press, 2006
2006
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Jonathan Z. Smith
Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion
University of Chicago Press, 2004
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Dan Arnold
Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion
Columbia University Press, 2006
Historical Studies
Daniel Boyarin
Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Ebrahim Moosa
Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination
University of North Carolina Press, 2005
2005
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Joanne Punzo Waghorne
Syracuse University
Diaspora of the Gods: Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World
Oxford University Press, 2004
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Robert A. Orsi
Harvard Divinity School
Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars who Study Them
Princeton University Press, 2004
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Sylvester A. Johnson
Florida A&M University
The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity: Race, Heathens, and the People of God
Palgrave Macmillian Press, 2004
2004
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
David H. Brown
Smithsonian Institution
Santería Enthroned: Art Ritual and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion
University of Chicago Press, 2003
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Jeffrey Stout
Princeton University
Democracy and Tradition
Princeton University Press, 2004
Historical Studies
Alan Bray
The Friend
University of Chicago Press, 2003
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Edward Slingerland
University of Southern California
Effortless Action: Wu-wei Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal of Early China
Oxford University Press, 2003
2003
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Paul Christopher Johnson
Princeton University; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Missouri, Columbia
Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé
Oxford University Press, 2002
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Susan Neiman
Einstein Forum, Potsdam
Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy
Princeton University Press, 2002
Historical Studies
Norman J. Girardot
Lehigh University
The Victorian Translation of China: James Legge's Oriental Pilgrimage
University of California Press, 2002
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Ananda Abeysekara
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Colors of the Robe: Religion, Identity, and Difference
University of South Carolina Press, 2002
2002
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Ariel Glucklich
Georgetown University
Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul
Oxford University Press, 2001
Historical Studies
Grant Wacker
Duke University
Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture
Harvard University Press, 2001
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Mary Keller
University of Stirling
The Hammer and the Flute: Women, Power, and Spirit Possession
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002
2001
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Susan Friend Harding
University of California, Santa Cruz,
The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics
Princeton University Press, 2000
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Co-Winners
Peter S. Hawkins
Boston University
Dante's Testaments: Essays in Scriptural Imagination
Stanford University Press, 1999
J. J. Clarke
Kingston University
The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought
Routledge, 2000
Historical Studies
Co-Winners
Leigh Eric Schmidt
Princeton University
Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment
Harvard University Press, 2000
Jacqueline I. Stone
Princeton University
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism
University of Hawai'i Press, 1999
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Co-Winners
Jason David Beduhn
Northern Arizona University
The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000
Jonathan Klawans
Boston University
Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism
Oxford University Press, 2000
2000
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Bruce Lincoln
University of Chicago
Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship
University of Chicago Press, 2000
Constructive-Reflective Studies
David Novak
University of Toronto
Covenantal Rights: A Study in Jewish Political Theory
Princeton University Press, 2000
Historical Studies
Sally M. Promey
University of Maryland
Painting Religion in Public: John Singer Sargent's Triumph of Religion at the Boston Public Library
Princeton University Press, 1999
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Robert Baum
Iowa State University
Shrines of the Slave Trade: Diola Religion and Society in Precolonial Senegambia
Oxford University Press, 1999
1999
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Elizabeth A. Johnson
Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints
New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 1998
Historical Studies
David Frankfurter
Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Charles D. Orzech
Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998
1998
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Manuel A. Vasquez
The Brazilian Popular Church and the Crisis of Modernity
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997
Historical Studies
Thomas A. Tweed
Our Lady of the Exile: Diasporic Religion at a Cuban Catholic Shrine in Miami
New York: Oxford University Press, 1997
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Lionel M. Jensen
Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization
Durham: Duke University Press, 1997
1997
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
David Chidester
Savage Systems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Edward Farley
Divine Empathy: A Theology of God
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996
Historical Studies
Co-Winners
Bernadette J. Brooten
Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996
Michael A. Sells
The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Stephen R. Prothero
The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996
1996
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds.
Fundamentalism Project, 5 vols.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991-1995
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Van A. Harvey
Feurbach and the Interpretation of Religion
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995
Historical Studies
Steven Wasserstrom
Between Muslim & Jew: The Problem of Symbiosis under Early Judaism
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Jeffrey J. Kripal
Kālī's Child: They Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teaching of Ramakrishna
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995
1995
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Susan Starr Sered
Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women
New York: Oxford University Press, 1994
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Co-Winners
William Dean
The Religious Critic in American Culture
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994
Gordon Kaufman
In the Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993
Historical Studies
Elliot R. Wolfson
Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994
Best First Book in the History of Religions
Co-Winners
Devin DeWeese
Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tukles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Sikh Tradition
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994
Harjot Oberoi
The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition
Chicago and Oxford: University of Chicago Press and Oxford University Press, 1994
1994
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Theophus H. Smith
Conjuring Culture: Biblical Formations of Black America
New York: Oxford Univrsity Press, 1994
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Mark C. Taylor
Nots
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993
Historical Studies
Co-Winners
David L. Haberman
Journey Through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna
New York: Oxford University Press, 1994
Patrick Olivelle
The Asrama System: The History of Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution
New York: Oxford University Press, 1993
1993
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Nancy Jay
Throughout Your Generations Forever: Sacrifice, Religion, and Paternity
University of Chicago Press, 1992
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Ian Barbour
Religion in an Age of Science and Ethics in an Age of Technology
Gifford Lectures, 1989–1991, volumes 1 and 2
HarperCollins, 1990, 1993
Historical Studies
Co-Winners
Juan Eduardo Campo
The Other Side of Paradise: Explorations into the Religious Meanings of Domestic Space in Islam
University of South Carolina Press, 1991
Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham
Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880–1920
Harvard University Press, 1993
1992
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Caroline Walker Bynum
Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body
in Medieval Religion
MIT Press, 1991
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Nancey Murphy
Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning
Cornell University Press, 1990
Historical Studies
John Clifford Holt
Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Tradition
of Sri Lanka
Oxford University Press, 1991
1991
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Howard Eilberg-Schwartz
The Savage in Judaism: An Anthropology of Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism
Indiana University Press, 1990
Constructive-Reflective Studies
Mieke Bal
Murder and Difference: Gender, Genre, and Scholarship on Sisera’s Death
Indiana University Press, 1988
Historical Studies
Paula Sutter Fichtner
Protestantism and Primogeniture in Early Modern Germany
Yale University Press, 1989
1990
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Robert Detweiler
Breaking the Fall: Religious Reading of Contemporary Fiction
Harper and Row, 1989
Constructive-Reflective Studies
David Chidester
Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the People’s Temple, and Jonestown
Indiana University Press, 1988
Historical Studies
Bruce B. Lawrence
Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modern Age
Harper and Row, 1989
1989
Analytical-Descriptive Studies
Ivan Strenski
Four Theories of Myth in Twentieth Century History: Cassirer, Eliade, Levi-Strauss, and Malinowski
University of Iowa Press, 1987
Reflective Studies
Mark C. Taylor
Altarity
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Historical Studies
Sallie McFague
Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age
Fortress Press, 1987
1988
Claude Welch
Protestant Thought in the Nineteenth Century, Volume II
Yale University Press, 1985
Eugene Rice
Saint Jerome in the Renaissance
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985
Norman Petersen
Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul’s Narrative World
Augsburg Fortress Press, 1985
Masao Abe
Zen and Western Thought
Macmillan Press, 1985
1987
Wayne Meeks
The First Urban Christians
Yale University Press, 1983
John Van Seters
In Search of History
Yale University Press, 1983
Wayne Proudfoot
Religious Experience
University of California Press, 1985
Merold Westphal
God, Guilt, and Death
Indiana University Press, 1987