Bissera V. Pentcheva awarded Excellence in the Study of Religion: Historical Studies from American Academy of Religion
The AAR has selected the 2018 recipients of the Awards for Excellence in the Study of Religion and the Best First Book in the History of Religions. This annual competition recognizes new scholarly publications that make significant contributions to the study of religion. The awards honor books of distinctive originality, intelligence, creativity, and importance—books that affect decisively how religion is examined, understood, and interpreted.
Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Historical Studies
Bissera V. Pentcheva, Stanford University
Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium
Penn State University Press, 2017
The jurors were struck by the uniquely intense variety and content of interdisciplinarity in the volume: the arguments that Pentcheva makes are based on creative fieldwork, careful research in primary sources, and imaginative readings of secondary works written by scholars who work in a wide range of disciplines. The book is extraordinarily erudite and well written…never anything other than an exciting and captivating read.