Current Westar Fellows only; to maintain your status as an active Fellow
$85 per year
Open to scholars with advanced academic degrees (Ph.D. or equivalent) in religious studies or related disciplines from accredited universities worldwide.
Westar Fellows Membership Renewal
$85.00
Benefits of Membership as a Westar Fellow
A culture of collaboration, collegiality, and public outreach sets Westar apart from other academic societies.
Collaboration
Opportunity to collaborate with community of scholars on large-scale projects addressing specific questions and sharing the resulting scholarship with the general public
Outreach
Opportunity for public outreach
- Interact and engage with Associate members at twice-yearly meetings
- Share scholarship with non-specialists through The Fourth R
- Present scholarship to the general public at regional Jesus Seminars on the Road
Responsibilities of Westar Fellows
The distinctive culture of Westar seminars depends upon Fellows taking active part in the conversation. Westar Fellows are expected to attend Westar meetings, participate in the discussion, and present contributions, as appropriate, to Westar's scholarly projects.
Here’s what Fellows are saying:
“Because of my heavy teaching load, I was drawn to the collaborative nature of Westar. As a participant in the Jesus Seminar and the Acts Seminar, I have been able to contribute to projects that I could not have hoped to complete on my own. To work with so many fellow scholars has been very rewarding, and the Associates have helped me see that work such as our matters.”
Perry Kea
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
Chair, Philosophy and Religion Department
University of Indianapolis, Indiana
“The seminars of Westar are unique. Nowhere do scholars in our discipline gather for regular, sustained, focused discussion of critical historical questions related to the origins of Christianity.”
Stephen J. Patterson
Geo. H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies
Willamette University
Salem, Oregon
“Many of us [Fellows] see the value of Westar scholarship, with its collaborative culture, as an on-going post-doctoral seminar. The opportunity to participate in significant research projects in this collegial way has been a very rewarding part of our professional experience.”
Roy W. Hoover
Weyerhaeuser Professor of Biblical Literature
and Professor of Religion Emeritus,
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
“One of the most supportive institutions in my life and ministry was the [Westar Institute’s] Jesus Seminar. It forced contemporary biblical scholarship into the public awareness and enabled me to become an effective teacher to those I served.”
John Shelby Spong
Episcopal Bishop Emeritus
Newark, New Jersey
