Karen Pechilis is NEH Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Comparative Religion Department at Drew University. She teaches undergraduate classes ...
Bernadette Rigal-Cellard is Professor in North-American Studies at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne where she founded the multidisciplinary Masters Program ...
The Entry Index is an alphabetically organized listing of WRSP entries, including the thematic, regional, and local special projects. There are separate indices for the entries in the Augmenting Resources section of WRSP.
WRSP is constantly adding new entries on religious and spiritual groups, leaders, places, and activities. Recent and Future Entries on WRSP, with publication dates, will be listed here.
WRSP is organized as an international scholarly consortium. WRSP is led by an Executive Council that consists of representatives of the WRSP Special Projects and Partnerships as well as distinguished religion scholars who contribute to WRSP development.
WRSP Special Projects
SPIRITUAL AND VISIONARY COMMUNITIES
(Project Director: Timothy Miller)
PILGRIMAGE SITES & PRACTICES ACROSS THE WORLD
(Project Directors: Simon Coleman, John Eade, Ian Reader)
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND THE VISUAL ARTS
(Project Director: Massimo Introvigne)
MARIAN APPARITIONAL AND DEVOTIONAL GROUPS
(Project Directors: Joseph Laycock and Jill Krebs)
WOMEN IN THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS AND SPIRITUALITY PROJECT
There are many forms and expressions of religious and spiritual organization and activity. Scholars with recognized expertise in selected areas have been invited to organize the Thematic Projects listed above.
JAPANESE NEW RELIGIONS
(Project Directors: Ian Reader, Erica Baffelli, Birgit Staemmler)
SPIRITUAL & RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN ITALY
(Project Directors: Dr. Stefania Palmisano, Dr. Massimo Introvigne)
CANADIAN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS
(Project Directors: Susan Palmer, John Peterson)
RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE
(Project Directors: Dr. Kaarina Aitamurto, Dr. Maija Penttilä)
AUSTRALIAN RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS
(Project Directors: Carole Cusack, Bernard Doherty)
The forms and traditions of religious and spiritual expression often coincide with geographic, political, and cultural boundaries. Scholars with recognized expertise in specific regional traditions have been invited to organize the Regional Projects listed above.
Communities in the United States have become increasingly more diverse religiously and spiritually in recent decades. A number of scholars have undertaken community research projects chronicling how religion and spirituality are organized and lived in a specific community. Links to those Local Projects are presented here.
WRSP has organized an Interview Forum where both interviews conducted by WRSP and interviews published by other media outlets are gathered. Interviews with scholars and other knowledgeable individuals have been selected to offer insights that augment the group profiles on WRSP.
There has been extensive media coverage of the groups, individuals, and activities covered in WRSP profiles. The Media Center identifies and links to a number of media sites that will be particularly useful to religion scholars.
WRSP supplements religious and spiritual group profiles with Articles & Papers provided by supporting scholars. They offer resources that augment the information contained in WRSP profiles. Permission to duplicate or distribute these materials remains with the authors.
WRSP locates and links to online video materials that supplement and enhance the text entries. The Video Connections entries are listed alphabetically and linked with relevant text entries.
There are numerous archives that have preserved material of interest to scholars studying contemporary and historical religious and spiritual groups. Many of these archives are small and relatively unknown. WRSP is cataloging these Archive Centers as a research resource for scholars.
The Scholars Corner offers a private domain where scholars can share information and perspectives on the history, development, doctrines, organization, activities, and controversies of the groups profiled on WRSP (as well as related groups). Access to the Scholars Corner is by invitation.
