Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future

How are religious and spiritual changes happening in the United States today? What are the institutions through which spirituality, religion and broader approaches to meaning making are and will continue to be taught, learned and passed across generations?

About this Work

Religious infrastructures are changing in the United States. Fewer people are religiously affiliated, thousands of churches and other local houses of worship are closing, and the shape of religious leadership is increasingly in flux. At the same time, people are organizing around spirituality and broader approaches to meaning-making in new ways inside and outside of existing organizations.

This project brings scholars, educators, religious leaders, journalists and students together to advance research about what we are calling the spiritual infrastructure of the future. We will document this chapter in religious innovation and ensure that scholars, educators and religious leaders are prepared to lead in the midst of changes transforming institutions that have carried these ideas and practices forward in the United States for hundreds of years.

How We're Exploring the Question

This project has three parts: scholarly research, public-facing programming, and building pipelines to professional leadership. Learn more below.

Research

Our research will examine congregational closures (endings), spiritual innovation (beginnings), and the changing shape of religious leadership in the United States... learn more.

Spiritual Infrastructure - Programming 2

Public-Facing Programming

This project will expand public knowledge about the religious and spiritual landscapes by sharing its findings through legacy and new medium including traditional news ... learn more.

Professional Pipelines

This project will enable current doctoral students to complete paid internships outside of the academy to better understand and prepare for leadership in the emerging spiritual infrastructure... learn more.

Cadge Spiritual Infrastructure Press Release 2

New Research and Teaching Initiative to Map the Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future

Funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, the project was designed by and will be co-led by Bryn Mawr President Wendy Cadge and includes scholars from a number of colleges and universities, as well as partnerships with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Religion News Service.

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