The Religion and Politics (R&P) Section is proud to announce the establishment of the Lifetime Achievement Award, meant for scholars at the point of retirement who, as section members, have contributed to the field in profound ways through their research, mentorship, and service. It is especially fitting that our inaugural award reflects on the beginning of the section, as the awardees were integral to its founding and have been towering figures shaping how the study of American religion and politics has been conducted and who has conducted it in more than three decades. As David E. Campbell and Geoffrey Layman write in their nomination letter, “intellectually, Green, Guth, Kellstedt, and Smidt were pioneers in the early study of religion in political science, and American politics specifcally.”
The contributions of the four scholars are vast, proving a model that research productivity takes institutions in order to have an impact. What is perhaps even more remarkable about these recipients is that they achieved so much at liberal arts colleges without graduate students, though they sent to graduate school a long list who would become distinguished scholars themselves. They were generous with co-authorship, gathered and shared data relentlessly, and diligently sought funds to provide graduate training in American religion and politics in summer sessions from which many dozens of scholars across disciplines have benefited. It is little wonder why so many R&P scholars consider them mentors and friends and owe them sizable debts of gratitude.
It is hard to convey how important it was for young scholars to see R&P scholars like these four publishing in the top journals in the field and landing book contracts at respected presses. Their efforts provided much-needed credibility to the fledgling field, enabling others to build on their successes. They demonstrated the relevance of religion throughout American politics on the environment, immigration, abortion, partisanship, and through political movements like the Christian Right, among other things.
Their scholarship is deeply concerned with how to measure American religion while making valuable theoretical contributions about how religious identities, attitudes, and activities afect Americans’ political behavior. They helped make sense of the tangled thicket of American Protestantism, providing the field with a sensible and efficient way of conceptualizing and measuring religion that could be used in a wide variety of contexts and that is employed in a huge range of survey contexts including the ANES, Pew, CES, and many others.
Though we do not anticipate that this will set precedent for future awards, the section is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award as “The Gang of Four”: John C. Green, James L. Guth, Lyman “Bud” Kellstedt, and Corwin E. Smidt.