Purdue sociologist named president-elect of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
August 28, 2013
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Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology and director of Purdue's Center on Religion and Chinese Society, has been elected the 2014-2015 president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. (Purdue University photo) |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Fenggang Yang, a Purdue professor of sociology and director of the university's Center on Religion and Chinese Society, has been elected the 2014-15 president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Yang, whose research focuses on immigrant religion in the United States, Chinese Christianity around the world, and religious change and church-state relations in China, is the author of "Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule" and "Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities." He also is the co-editor of six books and he has received two distinguished article awards.
"I am honored with this appointment, and as the first Chinese person elected to this prestigious position, this really marks the rise of scholarly research on Chinese religion in world academia," Yang said. "It also expresses a hope for other scholars representing other cultures and religions to engage in the social scientific study of religion in the world today."
Since 2004, Yang has led many summer institutes and organized a series of empirical research projects on religion and Chinese society with the goal of training new scholars and rallying well-known scholars in the world for U.S., Europe and China to develop the social scientific study of religion in China.
He is currently serving as president-elect and will serve as president from October 2014 to October 2015. He will deliver the presidential address at the 2015 annual meeting, which is scheduled on Oct. 23-25, 2015 in Newport Beach, Calif. Then he will serve as past president through 2016.
The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion was founded in 1949 to promote the social scientific study of religions and its current members include about 1,500 scholars from North America, Europe, Asia and South America in the disciplines of sociology, religious studies, psychology, political science, economics, anthropology, international relations, gender studies, and other fields. Its flagship publication is the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Fenggang Yang, fyang@purdue.edu
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