Program on Historical Studies of Religion

The Program on Historical Studies of Religion unites a number of outstanding scholars associated with Baylor University to pursue and promote historical research and writing on religion.

Global Studies of Religion

Just as the Program on Historical Studies pursues religion across time, this program pursues it across space.

Program on Religion and Population Health (PRPH)

The mission of the Baylor ISR Program on Religion and Population Health (PRPH) is to conduct and promote social, behavioral, and epidemiologic research on the impact of religious involvement on indicators of population health.

Program on Prosocial Behavior

The Program on Prosocial Behavior approaches the study of behavior from a different starting point. For decades a great deal of government funding has been dedicated to studying the causes of social problems like crime and delinquency. Much of this work has focused on why people commit deviant acts or the many factors that put people at-risk for the commission of illegal behavior.

Manuscript Research Collegium

The Baylor University Collegium for Manuscript Research is an association of Baylor scholars who do manuscript or papyrus research in Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Latin and several medieval vernaculars. We have formed a collegium to facilitate the work of our members, which includes primary research on both documentary and literary papyri, the preparation of diplomatic editions with translation, critical editions and the study of reading practices.

Religious Freedom Project

The Religious Freedom Project (RFP) is the nation’s only university-based program devoted exclusively to the analysis of religious freedom, a basic human right restricted in many parts of the world. The RFP engages a team of international scholars to examine and debate the meaning and value of religious liberty; its importance for democracy; and its role in social and economic development, international diplomacy, and the struggle against violent religious extremism. The project is made possible by the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation and our partnership with Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project.

Publications

• A Baylor ISR Special Research Report
  Not by Faith or Government Alone: Rethinking the Role of Faith-Based Organizations
• ISR Reports
  View reports from the Institute for Studies of Religion.
• Recent Publications
  View recent publications by ISR staff and scholars.
• Case Studies
  View case studies from the Institute for Studies of Religion.
• Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion (IJRR)
  IJRR was founded to publish very high quality, original research on religion by scholars, regardless of their field of specialization. Unfortunate accidents of history separated the social sciences into an archipelago of fields and departments. Efforts to break through these artificial barriers by publishing interdisciplinary journals have been handicapped because these publications have conferred less prestige to authors than have the best journals focused on a single field. Consequently, some of the most important articles published by the specialty journals are difficult for nonspecialists even to be aware of, let alone appreciate fully, while interdisciplinary journals have lacked the space needed to include the additional explanations, definitions, and context to make many important articles fully accessible to nonspecialists.

ISR Staff & Affiliates

• Cameron Andrews
• Frances Malone
• Hays, William Joshua
• Jack Friedman
• Leone Moore
• Paul Gutacker

Contacts

• Address: Baylor University, One Bear Place #97236, Waco, TX 76798, US
• Phone: +1 254 710 3763
• Email: ISR@baylor.edu
• Website: http://www.baylorisr.org/

In the West, the historic consensus over the meaning and value of religious freedom seems to be breaking down. This problem has particular salience in America. We have always thought of religious freedom as “the first freedom” of our constitutional settlement, and as such, it has served us well in many ways—political, economic, intellectual, and religious. Religious freedom has also served America as a barrier to division. Grounded in complete equality under the law for all individuals and religious traditions, our First Amendment guarantee of free exercise has ensured that all have a voice in this country. No one can be excluded from our public life on the basis of religion.

The Religious Freedom Research Project (RFRP) at Georgetown’s Berkley Center is engaging this question through scholarship and policy.

Between 2011 and 2016 the Religious Freedom Project (RFP) served as the nation’s only university-based program devoted exclusively to the analysis of religious freedom, a basic human right restricted in many parts of the world.

In 2017 the RFP gave rise to two successor organizations: the Religious Freedom Research Project (RFRP), based at the Berkley Center, and the Religious Freedom Institute, an independent NGO.

Over the course of those six years the RFP engaged a team of international scholars to examine and debate the meaning and value of religious liberty; its importance for democracy; and its role in social and economic development, international diplomacy, and the struggle against violent religious extremism. The project was made possible by the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, the William E. Simon Foundation, the Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado, as well as a partnership with Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

Over the past months the RFRP has generated vigorous, civil, and fruitful debate over the extent to which religious freedom is a social good, and whether it can ameliorate some of the problems that we face—from violent religious extremism and discord abroad, to the value of religious freedom at home.

– How do religious communities and faith-based organizations ease tensions in Baltimore streets?

– How can religious freedom lead to U.S. national security?

– How does lowering government restrictions on speech considered blasphemous increase social peace and foster economic growth?

In gatherings large and small, we invited leading scholars, religious figures, and practitioners to wrestle with these ideas. And we approached them from a variety of perspectives, funding and publishing new research on Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.

Learn more about our past research themes below.

• Christianity & Freedom: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
• Historical Origins of Religious Freedom
• Religion as Intrinsic to Human Experience
• Religious Freedom and Economic, Social, and Political Development
• Religious Freedom and the Struggle against Extremism
• Religious Freedom in the United States and Europe
• Religious Liberty, Economic Freedom, and Development

Religious Freedom and the Common Good

The Religious Freedom Project marked six years of prolific research by organizing a symposium on religious freedom’s enduring impact on the global common good. Themes of the symposium were “Religion, Violence, and Peace” and “Religious Freedom”. The project’s 13 associate scholars showcased their latest research, and Senator Ben Sasse delivered a keynote address.

More information at: https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/rfp

RFP leaders Thomas Farr, Timothy Shah, and Byron Johnson are proud to announce the creation of a new religious freedom organization—the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI). In leading this new organization they will be joined by Kent Hill, formerly the vice president of international programs at World Vision.

The Religious Freedom Institute will take the learning generated at Georgetown’s RFP and “put it on the ground” in order to advance religious freedom around the world, and to help people who are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs.

The mission of the RFI is to achieve broad acceptance of religious liberty as a fundamental human right, the cornerstone of a successful society, and a source of national and international security.

This work will be carried out initially through four RFI action teams. Regional action teams will seek the cultural and political advance of religious freedom in parts of the world currently resistant to religious freedom, or where religious freedom is in retreat. Our initial key geographic areas are the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the United States. A fourth action team will focus on international religious freedom as an aspect of foreign policy.

Research and teaching around religious liberty will continue at the Berkley Center under the auspices of the Religious Freedom Research Project (RFRP). The RFRP will continue the scholarly work of the RFP and extend its successful efforts to establish religious freedom as a field of interdisciplinary inquiry.

More information at: Religious Freedom Institute (RFI)