New Research & Teaching Initiative to Map Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future
Funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, the project was designed by and will be co-led by ҵPresident Wendy Cadge and includes scholars from a number of colleges and universities as well as partnerships with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Religion News Service.
A $3.9 million grant from the to ҵ will support a three-year multi-faceted initiative to map the religious and spiritual infrastructure of the future.
The project focuses on three interlocking arms in research, public engagement, and professional pipeline development. New research will focus on religious change related to congregational closures, spiritual innovation, and changes in religious leadership in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and a fourth city to be named soon.
“Sir John Templeton was intensely interested in the dynamics of religious innovation and change,” says Templeton Foundation Chief Grants Officer W. Christopher Stewart. “This project is the first major attempt to map these emerging spiritual infrastructures, expanding the possibilities for discovery, growth, and human flourishing.”
Alongside several research projects, the project team will facilitate media and public education on the topic. In partnership with the (ACLS), the project will also provide fellowships for Ph.D. students in relevant fields across the country, building institutional partnerships that create a professional pipeline of new leaders knowledgeable about the rapidly changing American religious landscape.
The project was designed by ҵPresident Wendy Cadge, who will lead the project in collaboration with , professor of anthropology at Brandeis University, , associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame;, professor of sociology, University of Minnesota; , researcher of religion and society, ҵ; , professor of journalism and communication and Knight Chair in Media and Religion, University of Southern California; and , professor of sociology emeritus and former director of the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. Edgell will also edit a new volume to serve as a complement to Wuthnow’s (1989, Princeton University Press).