The Henry Luce Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of a newly envisioned Religion and Theology Program, which will build upon the Foundation’s longstanding attention to religion and theology through both its Theology Program and the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion in International Affairs. The program will seek to foster fresh thinking about religion across diverse social and cultural contexts, to expand and diversify critical intellectual engagement with religion in the United States and beyond, and to promote creative public-facing scholarship.
The Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, while no longer accepting unsolicited inquiries, will develop platforms to highlight work it has supported, and to stimulate new thinking and collaborations at the intersection of religion and world affairs. Launched in 2005, the Initiative has funded projects to create resources, to build international and interdisciplinary networks, and to encourage critical thinking and scholarship on topics ranging from the politics of religious freedom to the role of religious actors in migration. The Foundation will continue to draw on what we have learned through this multi-sector approach, fostering connections across academic, policy and media communities.
The Luce Foundation has included religion and theology among its core interests from its earliest days, and for more than eighty years its approach to religious practice and theological inquiry has been informed by curiosity, openness, and an appreciation for difference and diversity. Funding a wide range of efforts to productively cross religious, disciplinary, and geographic boundaries, the Foundation’s religion and theology grantmaking has consistently emphasized the value of scholarship and the significance of lived religion, supporting knowledge makers whose work shapes new thinking, engages diverse communities of practice, and aims to enrich public discourse.
The Luce Foundation encourages all new and potential applicants interested in the topic of religion to consult the guidelines of the Religion and Theology Program, including the Foundation’s recent invitation of inquiries for projects seeking to advance public knowledge on the topic of race, justice, and religion in America. Further details regarding new directions for the Luce Foundation’s work in the area of religion and theology will be posted in the coming months.
