On December 6, twelve members of the Society held a wide-ranging discussion to evaluate the past year of events and lay plans for the spring. Leland Glenna, Cathy Wanner, Hoda El-Shakry, Nina Safran, Samar Farage, Brad Bouley, Rebekah Zwanzig, Tawny Holm, Annie Rose, Paul Harvey, Wilson Moses and Jon Brockopp attended.

We determined that our purposes were best served by having presentations from our own Society members and that the format of presentations should allow for ample discussion time. Several Society members agreed to commit themselves to coming to more events, but we also decided to limit ourselves to two events in the spring (in addition to the Harshbarger lecture in Religious Studies on March 24). Wilson agreed to present in February and Samar and Brad agreed to present in April.

To extend our discussions beyond methodology, we will try to juxtapose speakers with respondent from contrasting fields. We hope in this way to learn the extent to which our ideas can resonate beyond our own narrow fields.