Religion in Society Research Network

Exploring the cultural, social, and political dimensions of belief.

The Religion and Spirituality in Society Research Network brings together scholars, practitioners, and community leaders to explore the evolving role of religion and spirituality in contemporary life.

Founded in 2011, the Religion in Society Research Network was created to understand how religion and spirituality continue to shape public life during a period marked by secularization, migration, cultural pluralism, and new forms of belief and non-belief. From the beginning, the Network approached religion not just as doctrine but as a lived social force—intersecting with ethics, identity, policy, and everyday experience.

Šasa Nedeljković, Founding Chair and Editor (2011–2017), established its interdisciplinary foundation, grounding debates in anthropology, philosophy, and the study of pluralism. Since 2018, Luis G. Roger-Castillo (University of Jaén / University of Granada) has served as Chair and Editor, extending the Network’s focus toward law, ethics, and the cultural politics of religion in contemporary Europe and the Mediterranean, while fostering broad participation across regions and traditions.

The International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society has partnered with universities on five continents. Key hosts include Arizona State University (2013), University of California, Berkeley (2015), Imperial College London (2017), University of Granada (2019), University of Córdoba (2022), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2023), Complutense University of Madrid (2024), and Sapienza University of Rome (2025). These gatherings have explored themes such as religion and science, interfaith dialogue, political theology, ecological spirituality, and the cultural transformations of belief—each shaped by the intellectual traditions and regional concerns of the hosting institution.

Across its history, the Network has hosted influential plenary speakers whose work has shaped debates about religion’s role in society. These include Wendy Doniger, Robert McKim, Norbert M. Samuelson, Rhys H. Williams, Gary T. Gardner, Desmond Cahill, Francisco Mena, Steve Knowles, Steven Pfaff, David J. O’Brien, and others. Their contributions span religious ethics, global interfaith movements, environmental stewardship, philosophy of religion, migration, spirituality, and religion in public life—reflecting the Network’s multidimensional approach to the study of belief and practice.

The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society publishes peer-reviewed research that spans sociology, anthropology, theology, cultural studies, political theory, gender studies, and the ethics of public life. The journal maintains a structured and transparent review process and is indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (ESCI), ProQuest, and EBSCO. Each year, the Network presents the Religion and Spirituality in Society International Award for Excellence, selected from the top-ranked peer-reviewed articles. Recent winning work has included research on interfaith dialogue and peacemaking, Benedictine women in science, prosperity theology during the pandemic, and religious freedom in liberal democracies, demonstrating the field’s range.

Complementing the journal, the Religion in Society Book Imprint supports long-form scholarship and thematically organized edited collections across philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, spiritual practice, religious history, ethics, and cultural studies. The imprint supports broad and niche topics alike, welcomes authors from all backgrounds, and provides Open Access pathways to ensure global dissemination—strengthening the Network’s commitment to inclusive, interdisciplinary, and public-facing scholarship.

Today, the Religion in Society Research Network brings together scholars, practitioners, and community leaders working across disciplines to make sense of the changing place of religion in contemporary societies. Through its annual conference, journal, book imprint, and CGScholar community, it continues to foster research that is attentive to belief, diversity, conflict, coexistence, and the ethical questions that arise in a plural world.

• 2011 - Religion and Spirituality in the Modern World: Continuity and Change, University Center, Chicago, USA
• 2012 - Religions in the Anthropocene, University of British Columbia-Robson Square, Vancouver, Canada
• 2013 - Religion and Science in Dialogue, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
• 2014 - Theology as Social Science, Universidad Nacional Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica
• 2015 - Social Movements and Faith, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
• 2016 - Religion in the Age of the Anthropocene: Towards a Common Cause? The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. , USA
• 2017 - Understanding Globalism, Respecting Difference, Imperial College London, London, UK
• 2018 - Religion, Spirituality, and Sociopolitical Engagement, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
• 2019 - Universal Religious Symbols: Mutual Influences and Specific Relationships, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
• 2020 - Conservation, Environmentalism, and Stewardship—Ecological Spirituality as Common Ground, UBC Robson Square, Vancouver, Canada (Virtual)
• 2021 - Modeling Traditions from the Margins: Non-Canonical Writings in Religious Systems, University of Córdoba Córdoba, Spain (Virtual)
• 2022 - Traveling Texts: From Traditions to Religion, University of Córdoba Córdoba, Spain
  
• 2023 - Religion in the Public Sphere: From the Ancient Years to the Post-Modern Era, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  
• 2024 - Spaces, Movement, Time: Religions at Rest and in Movement, Institute of Religious Studies, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
  
• 2025 - Fragile Meanings: Vulnerability in the Study of Religions and Spirituality, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy