Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) recently hosted a national conference on "Faith and Works: A Call for Evidence of Action" to explore the connection between faith-based efforts and rigorous research. The two-day conference, held October 27-28, 2008 in San Antonio brought together some of the country's leading scholars, intermediary organizations and faith-based groups in an effort to begin an important dialogue about how these groups might more intentionally work together to produce more effective outcomes. [Read More...]
Conference. The leading religion research conference series for policymakers, journalist, and researchers. Wednesday, December 3, 2008. The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. This conference is sponsored by The Heritage Foundation and Child Trends[Read More...]
Jay F. Hein, an internationally recognized public policy scholar, has accepted the position of Distinguished Senior Fellow and director of the Program for Faith and Service at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). In this capacity, Hein will lead ISR's effort in promoting cutting-edge approaches to social problems through faith-based organizations. [Read More...]
On September 18th, Baylor's ISR released the follow-up to their groundbreaking 2005 survey, released in 2006, that painted a fascinating portrait of American religious life in the 21st century.
The survey - which was conducted by the venerated Gallup Organization - contained the most extensive battery of religion-related items ever administered to a national, random sample of U.S. citizens. Reporters from coast to coast were among the first to appreciate the depth and breadth of this landmark study on American religious attitudes and their impact on religious practices, politics and life in general.
Research findings were made public at a conference in Washington, DC this May and were released in a report called For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture. The report addresses the linked problems of overindebtedness, lack of savings, and growing inequality in the United States.A multiyear initiative of the Institute for American Values, under the leadership of David Blankenhorn, this John Templeton Foundation grant supports interdisciplinary research and public education to examine the history of thrift as an American value. It also aims to bring together leaders from across the political spectrum in a national conversation on thrift. Byron Johnson, Co-Director of ISR is among the distinguished scholars and leaders from across the political spectrum, who jointly authored, For A New Thrift. This publication powerfully addresses the linked problems of overindebtedness, lack of savings, and growing inequality in the United States. [Read More...]
Dr. Philip Jenkins, Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University, gave a LECTURE, Friday, April 18th 2:00 pm, Bennett Auditorium, Baylor campus entitled The Lost History of CHRISTIANITY, he reveals a vast Christian world to the east of the Roman Empire and how the earliest, most influential churches of the East - those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church - died. In this paradigm-shifting book... [Read More...]
The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion has released four articles written by the Baylor ISR research team based on the findings of the Baylor Survey of Religion: American Piety in the 21st Century[Read More...]
Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, keynoted a forum on "FACTS:A Faith-Based and Community Solution to Reduce Domestic Violence." The forum highlighted the FACTS program, a one-year rural pilot program that is a collaboration between staff at the Office of Victim Services (OVS) in Helena, Mont., and the principal project staff at the Program on Prosocial Behavior, a unit of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR).[Read More...]
The Baylor Program on Prosocial Behavior, a unit within the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR), has received a $400,000 grant from the Office on Violence Against Women in the U.S. Department of Justice to continue the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative (NDVFRI), a program to study domestic violence fatalities and assist agencies and communities in the prevention of domestic violence.[Read More...]
The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2007 -- Late last year, a Swedish hotel guest named Stefan Jansson grew upset when he found a Bible in his room. He fired off an email to the hotel chain, saying the presence of the Christian scriptures was "boring and stupefying." This spring, the Scandic chain, Scandinavia's biggest, ordered the New Testaments removed. In a country where barely 3 percent of the population goes to church each week, the affair seemed just another step in Christian Europe's long march toward secularism. Then something odd happened: A national furor erupted.[Read More...]
Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief
Rodney Stark, Harper 2007
Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome
by Rodney Stark, Harper, 2007
Uneasy Allies?: Evangelical and Jewish Relations
by Alan Mittleman, Byron Johnson, Nancy Isserman. Lexington Books, November 2007
American Christians and Islam: Evangelical Culture and Muslims from the Colonial Period to the Age of Terrorism
by Thomas Kidd, Princeton University Press, 2008
The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America
by Thomas Kidd, Yale, 2007
Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America (Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in the Global South)
by Paul Freston, Oxford University Press, April 2008
God's Rivals: Why God Allows Different Religions - Insights from the Bible and the Early Church?
by Gerald McDermott, InterVarsity Press, 2007
The Lost History of Christianity
by Philip Jenkins, HarperOne, Fall 2008
Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith
by Charles M. North & Bob Smietana, Moody Publishers, 2008
The Transformation of Yiguan Dao in Taiwan: Adapting to a Changing Religious Ecomony
by Yunfeng Lu, Lexington Books, 2008
The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization
by Paul Froese, University of California Press. Released August 2008.
The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) recently partnered with scholars from Peking University, Purdue University, Renmin University, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to organize and sponsor the Beijing Summit on Chinese Spirituality and Society: A Symposium on the Social Scientific Study of Religion.[Read More...]
President George W. Bush announced the appointment of Dr. Byron Johnson, Co-Director of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, to serve a three-year term on the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.[Read More...]
Dr. Byron Johnson and Dr. Rodney Stark, co-directors of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) at Baylor University, have announced that Dr. Paul Freston has joined ISR as the director of Program for Studies of Religion in Latin America for the Institute.[Read More...]
Dr. Byron Johnson, co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) at Baylor University, delivered a talk on prisoner reentry as well as a plenary presentation on the state of research evaluating the effectiveness of faith-based initiatives at the White House National Conference June 26-27th in Washington DC. [Read More...]
Dr. Byron Johnson and Dr. Rodney Stark, co-directors of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) at Baylor University, have announced the appointment of Dr. F. Carson Mencken, professor of sociology, as director of research for the Institute.[Read More...]
Findings Reveal Similarities in Families Where Gap Is Eliminated "The findings show that when highly religious African American and Latino students from intact families are compared with white students, the achievement gap disappears," said Dr. William Jeynes, a non-resident scholar with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion.[Read More...]
Researchers with Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) have completed a case study that examines the success obtained by the state of Ohio's faith-based and community initiatives. The case study provides an overview of the Ohio programs and provides analysis of how the state has achieved its success.[Read More...]
Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief
Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome
Uneasy Allies?: Evangelical and Jewish Relations
American Christians and Islam: Evangelical Culture and Muslims from the Colonial Period to the Age of Terrorism 
The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America
Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America (Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in the Global South)
God's Rivals: Why God Allows Different Religions - Insights from the Bible and the Early Church?
The Lost History of Christianity
Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith
The Transformation of Yiguan Dao in Taiwan: Adapting to a Changing Religious Ecomony
The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization
The Baker Pocket Guide to World Religions
