Nagel Institute launches $2.2 million project with John Templeton Foundation support
Damaris Parsitau is the director of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity.
The Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, an educational research institute within Calvin University, has launched a major new research initiative following the awarding of a $2.2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The multi-year project brings together leading scholars to explore the ways religion shapes social change and global development.
The project is co-led by Dr. Damaris Parsitau, a scholar of religion and public life at Calvin University, and Dr. Robert Woodberry of Baylor University, who has been appointed a senior research fellow at the Nagel Institute for the duration of the grant. Both scholars expressed enthusiasm about the opportunity to deepen global understanding of the societal impacts of religion.
Robert Woodberry has been appointed a senior research fellow at the Nagel Institute for the duration of the grant.
“This project represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand rigorous, data-driven research on how religious ideas and institutions influence long-term human flourishing,” said Woodberry. “I am honored to join the Nagel Institute as a senior research fellow and look forward to collaborating on work that has the potential to reshape current debates in the field.”
Parsitau, director of the Nagel Institute, emphasized the significance of the grant for the institute and Calvin University. “The Nagel Institute has long sought to elevate perspectives from across the world, especially from regions often overlooked in academic research,” said Parsitau. “This support from the John Templeton Foundation allows us to expand that mission in transformative ways. We are excited to lead research that not only advances scholarship but amplifies voices from the Global South and other underrepresented contexts.”
As the project moves forward, the Nagel Institute, situated within Calvin University’s longstanding tradition of global engagement, plans to convene scholars, host public lectures, and publish new research advancing understanding of religion’s role in shaping societies.
With the Templeton Foundation’s investment and the leadership of Parsitau and Woodberry, the institute is poised to make substantial contributions to contemporary scholarship on world Christianity and its influence on social development.
