Making Religious Studies Accessible to the Public
To fulfill our mission of enhancing the public understanding of religion, we develop and facilitate programs designed to engage a variety of publics, including a biennial lecture series and resources for public scholars. Below you can learn about some exciting current publicly engaged work, religion journalism including substacks, and podcasts that explore religion in diverse communities and offer public resources for understanding religion in contemporary culture. Additional upcoming and some past projects are also listed.
AAR Sponsored Public Engagement Projects
American Lectures in the History of Religions
Founded in 1891 to encourage path-breaking scholarship through a lecture and book series, the American Lectures in the History of Religions (ALHR) flourished under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and Columbia University from 1936. At the request of the ACLS, the American Academy of Religion assumed administrative responsibility for the series in 1994. Learn more about the lecture series.
Publicly Engaged Religion Mapping Project
The Publicly Engaged Religion Mapping Project is a collaborative initiative of the AAR with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, to document and analyze the landscape of publicly engaged scholarship on religion in North America. participating partner organizations include the Institute for Diversity and Civic Life and the National Humanities Alliance. This project seeks to address persistent barriers to the connectivity, sustainability, and visibility of public-facing work by mapping the landscape of public scholarship.
Religion and America at 250 WebinAAR Series
AAR was part of the coalition of scholars; libraries and archives; historical societies; and religious historical museums that offered programming throughout 2026 around the role of religion during the US's founding on the nation's 250th anniversary.
We organized a series of four webinars that explored central questions around the meaning of religion, the meaning of America, and the intersections of those terms, with special consideration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
AAR Public Scholarship Grants
Next Cycle: 2027
The AAR Public Scholarship Grant program offers grants to support scholars of religion whose work engages public audiences in innovative ways, through projects designed for presentation in public spaces and outreach through publicly accessible sites.
Grants provide support of up to $5,000 for research, writing, travel, and other activities leading to the creation and publication of works, or the execution of exhibits, community-engaged projects, community-based workshops, or other programming that is grounded in engaged religious studies scholarship and promotes the public understanding of religion with a primarily public audience.
Religion Journalism
Publications
RNS: Religion News Service
RNS: Religion News Service is an independent, nonprofit and award-winning source of global news on religion, spirituality, culture and ethics, reported by a staff of professional journalists.
Religionlink: Ideas and resources for every journalist (Ken Chitwood, Editor)
The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.
Religion News Association's mission is to equip journalists throughout the world with the tools and resources they need to cover religion with balance, accuracy and insight.
Religion Dispatches is an independent, non-profit, award-winning source for the best writing on critical and timely issues at the intersection of religion, politics, and culture.
Substacks
Redeeming Democracy
Redeeming Democracy (formerly White Too Long): A newsletter, featuring breaking research and insights related to religion, white Christian nationalism, and protecting a pluralistic democracy.
Host: Robert P. Jones
American Blindspot: Race, Religion, Power, and Social Change
Host: Gerardo Martí, Professor of Sociology, Davidson College
In Polite Company
Substack by Sarah Stankorb
Podcasts and Multimedia
An educational channel dedicated to the academic, nonsectarian study of religion.
The culture and politics of Christian Nationalism, with two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors.
From the Boniuk Institute's Religion and Public Life Center; researcher and practioner-led exploration of how religion is lived.
How religion works in the world — and why you need to pay attention to religion, even if you’re not religious yourself.
Academic study of Esotericism, Paganism, witchcraft and the occult.
Two people from the serious world of religious studies take a sometimes serious, sometimes irreverent, and always curious look at the way religion shows up in our world.
A podcast about the White supremacist origins of evangelical purity culture.
How Christian music shaped the world we're living in now. Winner of 2024 AAR Journalism Award (Multimedia)
In an increasingly polarized world, Spirited taps into the wisdom of leaders and activists who will help illuminate how spirituality informs action.