Current Membership Policy (as of March 23, 2013; revised April 8, 2016)
Active members of the American Theological Society are those who regularly attend its annual meetings and regularly pay the annual dues. A member is judged to have attended an annual meeting if he or she has 1) registered for the meeting (which entails the payment of dues) and 2) attended at least two program sessions.
Sustaining members are previously active members who have not attended a meeting within the past three years, but who have continued to pay the annual dues. Sustaining members continue to receive announcements of meetings, electronic copies of programs and papers, etc. A sustaining member is automatically restored to active membership upon attendance at an annual meeting.
Inactive members are those who have not attended at least one meeting within a three-year period and who have not paid annual dues for at least three years. Inactive members still receive announcements, papers, and other communications, and are regarded as an important part of the heritage of the Society.
Members-designate are those who have been elected to membership but who have not yet attended an annual meeting. A member-designate has three years within which to activate his or her membership; the member-designate becomes a member at that point.
The Secretary and Treasurer may exercise some discretion in the application of these policies, allowing for exceptional cases.
The Society’s membership is currently capped at one hundred. Thus, the maximum number of new members we may accept each year depends upon the total number of active members and members-designate on the roster, with some allowance for fluctuation. In consultation with the Treasurer, the Secretary adjusts the roster of active/designate, sustaining, and inactive members following each annual meeting, and the resultant roster informs the call for nominations for new members.
Definition of Eligibility for Membership: Any person in North America whose achievement in the discipline of theology, broadly conceived, is of sufficient merit to promise significant contributions to the fields of theology and to the maintenance of theological discourse of high quality at meetings of the society.
Criteria of Evaluation: (a) scholarly devotion to reflective, critical, and/or constructive study of theology, as distinct from general religious studies; (b) evidence of excellence in theological research and writing, normally meaning a Ph.D. degree or its equivalent in one of the theological disciplines, at least one post-doctoral work of significance, and a present or previous tenured position on a recognized theological faculty or equivalent evidence of scholarly affirmation by theological colleagues; (c) strong, informed recommendation by a member of the Society; (d) evidence of willingness to participate responsibly in meetings of the Society.