Brandeis professor co-leads $3.9M initiative mapping America's religious future
June 12, 2025
Jonathan Anjaria
Brandeis Professor of Anthropology Jonathan Anjaria will co-lead new research under a $3.9 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust.
The funding will support a three-year multi-faceted initiative to map the religious and spiritual infrastructure of the future.
The grant, issued to Bryn Mawr College — where co-leader and project designer Wendy Cadge currently serves as president — focuses on three interlocking arms: 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.
Alongside these research projects, the project team will facilitate media and public education on the topic, and will fund two yearlong fellowships for PhD. students in relevant fields across the country, an effort personally overseen by Anjaria. These fellowships will build institutional partnerships, and create a pipeline of new leaders knowledgeable about the rapidly changing American religious landscape.
“While PhD students' scholarly activities have the potential to make an impact in the world, most doctoral programs do not offer students the opportunity for internships,” said Anjaria. “This unique program will enable students to use their research and communication skills to address practical problems, while showing potential future careers related to the study of religion.”
“Sir John Templeton was intensely interested in the dynamics of religious innovation and change,” said Templeton Foundation Chief Grants Officer W. Christopher Stewart, PhD. “This project is the first major attempt to map these emerging spiritual infrastructures, expanding the possibilities for discovery, growth, and human flourishing.”
In addition to Cadge and Anjaria, collaborators include Kraig Beyerlein, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame; Penny Edgell, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota; Amy Lawton, Researcher of Religion and Society, Bryn Mawr College; Diane Winston, Professor of Journalism and Communication and Knight Chair in Media and Religion, University of Southern California; and Robert Wuthnow, Professor of Sociology Emeritus and former director of the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.
For more information about Identifying and Advancing the Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future, visit the Bryn Mawr College website.
