Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, also known as the JAAR, is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion. It is generally considered the flagship journal for the field of religious studies, covering world religious traditions, methodological studies, and book reviews.
The JAAR was established in 1966. It was formerly known as the Journal of Bible and Religion before the renaming that accompanied the founding of the American Academy of Religion.
Oxford University Press publishes the JAAR on behalf of the American Academy of Religion.
The JAAR emphasizes a more inclusive religious studies approach that may encompass history, philosophy, and theology, rather than focusing narrowly on social science methods alone. This broad orientation reflects the mission of the American Academy of Religion itself.
The JAAR is indexed by more than a dozen services, including the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, the Humanities Index, Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest, Religion Index One: Periodicals, Religious and Theological Abstracts, the International Bibliography of Periodical Literature, and the Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition, among others.
Before 1966, the journal was called the Journal of Bible and Religion. The renaming to the Journal of the American Academy of Religion reflected a deliberate broadening of scope beyond biblical and theological studies to encompass the full range of world religious traditions.