TRAININGs
Sacred Writes: Public Scholarship on Religion, hosted by Northeastern University, is designed to address a gap between disciplinary expertise and effective communication strategies. Scholars of religion and theology are in a unique position to provide crucial textual, cultural, and historical context for pressing current issues like health care legislation, climate change, and immigration reform. But most of us lack the training to do that sort of work.
Our in-depth, cohort-based training program provides scholars with opportunities to acquire skills, identify resources, and build the communities of support necessary to produce public scholarship on religion. Since our founding in 2018, we have equipped 104 scholars to do this work, resulting in the creation of more than 400 pieces of public scholarship. You can read about the 2019, 2020, 2021, spring, summer, and fall 2023 and summer 2024 training cohorts, and see examples of their work here.
Our curriculum asks you to reflect on scholarly “vocation” and purpose, as well as practice concrete skills. There are eight units: Why Go Public?; Risks, Rewards and Responsibilities; Rethinking Your Expertise; Communicating with the Public; Social Media; Op-Eds and Explainers; Interviews; and Next Steps. Each includes a 45-minute training podcast and slide deck, discussion questions, and applied learning exercises designed to be completed in small groups. Estimated total time commitment for the training, including both asynchronous learning and scheduled group meetings, is approximately forty hours, spread over three months. Sacred Writes provides all training fellows with a $500 stipend.
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Applications are now open for our January Intensive virtual public scholarship training for 12 scholars focused on religion, gender, and sexuality, funded by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. The training will run from January 6-31st, 2025, with 8 training calls scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, 12-1pm ET with Sacred Writes Associate Director Brook Wilensky-Lanford. Applications are due Monday, December 16 for notification by December 20th. Here is the full call for participants, the application form, and our FAQ page.
Questions about the training may be directed to Sacred Writes Associate Director, Brook Wilensky-Lanford.