About ISR

Launched in August 2004, The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) exists to initiate, support, and conduct research on religion, involving scholars and projects spanning the intellectual spectrum:  history, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, political science, philosophy, epidemiology, theology, and religious studies.

Our mandate extends to all religions, everywhere, and throughout history.  It also embraces the study of religious effects on such things as prosocial behavior, family life, population health, economic development, and social conflict.  While always striving for appropriate scientific objectivity, our scholars treat religion with the respect that sacred matters require and deserve.