Adventist Society for Religious Studies
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The Adventist Society for Religious Studies is a Seventh-day Adventist scholastic community whose purpose is “to provide intellectual and social fellowship among its members and encourage scholarly pursuits in all religious studies disciplines, particularly with reference to the Seventh-day Adventist tradition.” It was formally organized in New York City in 1979.
[edit] History
In 1972 Adventist religion scholars agreed to meet in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). The official Adventist Biblical Research Institute (BRI) agreed to sponsor and plan these meetings. After BRI ceased their sponsorship in 1978, Adventist scholars met informally at New Orleans. AAR/SBL informed the Adventist group that it could not provide meeting rooms nor announce the meetings in its printed program unless the group officially organized and adopted a distinctive name that did not have a denominational identifier. At the New York meeting the group officially organized, selected the name Andrews Society for Religious Studies (ASRS), and elected officers. The name Andrews referred to J. N. Andrews, who is considered to have been the first Adventist religion scholar. In 1993 the society unanimously voted to change its name to Adventist Society for Religious Studies. This became possible when AAR/SBL lifted the restrictions on denominational identifiers.
[edit] List of presidents
The president of ASRS is elected three years in advance and future presidents serve as vice-president and president elect prior to serving as president.
- 1979 William G. Johnsson
- 1980 Fritz Guy
- 1981 Robert M. Johnston
- 1982 George Reid
- 1983 Walter Douglas
- 1984 Richard Coffen
- 1985 Doug Clark
- 1986 Sakae Kubo
- 1987 Alden Thompson
- 1988 James Londis
- 1989 Richard Rice
- 1990 Russell Staples
- 1991 Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid
- 1992 Gerald R. Winslow
- 1993 Warren Trenchard
- 1994 Madelynn Haldeman
- 1995 Roy Branson
- 1996 Jon Dybdahl
- 1997 John Brunt
- 1998 Larry Geraty
- 1999 Roy Adams
- 2000 Ernie Bursey
- 2001 Keith Burton
- 2002 Kendra Haloviak
- 2003 Ivan Blazen
- 2004 Jon Paulien
- 2005 Jean Sheldon
- 2006 P. Richard Choi
- 2007 David Taylor
- 2008 John Webster
- 2009 Zdravko Plantak
