Journal for the Study of Religious Experience

Some of the authors of the last special issue of the Journal for the Study of Religious Experience will speak at the Round Table of the next online seminar of the Religious Experience Research Centre which will take place on the 5th of June at 2 p.m. (UK time). Attendance is free but you need to register via Eventbrite. Here is the link https://bit.ly/4cEQFYG. The link may take you first to Bitly, to select cookie preferences, and then you can reach the AHT booking page for this event.

Call for submissions for the open panel 'Spiritual, Nonordinary, Transformative – New Interpretations of Religious Experiences' at the Religions 360o | 22nd EASR | IAHR Regional Conference, 20-25. September 2026, Bucharest.

New methodologies bring new interpretations to the field of religious experience. By lifting the experience out of the ‘religious’ wrapping, psycho(patho)logical, social, cultural, and even neurological interpretations of experiences similar to religious ones have been conceptualized, revised, and reimagined over the past century. The terminology and methods used to examine these experiences are constantly changing and under debate. These methodologies open up religious experience to a much broader interpretive frame, ranging from theological to neurological perspectives and from qualitative to quantitative methods. This broader framework is essential because contemporary societies are continuously shaped by the processes of globalisation, marketisation, and pluralism; thus, religious beliefs and affiliations are also in flux. Therefore, research into such experiences — religious, spiritual, transcendent, supernatural, nonordinary, transformative, anomalous, religionesque and so on — is particularly topical and urgent. This panel welcomes papers addressing the current state of religious experience research, with a particular emphasis on the theoretical, terminological, and methodological challenges of the present and future.

Convenors:
Sára E. Heidl – University of Vienna
Zsuzsanna Szugyiczki – University of Szeged

Apply via email: [email protected] until the 31st of March, 2026. ca. 250 words.

The deadline for submitting proposals for the next issue of our Journal for the Study of Religious Experience is approaching. The overarching theme will be pilgrimage! If you are interested, please submit a short abstract and biographical statement to [email protected] by 15 February 2026.

After the successful publication of the second issue of volume 11 of our Journal for the Study of Religious Experience I have the pleasure circulating today the call for papers for next year's issue. the overarching theme will be pilgrimage! If you are interested, please submit a short abstract and biographical statement to [email protected] by 15 February 2026.

I am delighted to announce the publication of the special issue of our Journal for the Study of Religious Experience on the theme of on AI and Religious Experience. A big thank you to Mara Steenhuisen, the editor of the issue, and Leah Black, the proof-reader of all papers, and of course to the authors who selected our journal. Here is the link to the site of the Journal where you can download the whole issue or individual papers. You can also search the archive and explore the previous issues. It is a fully open access journal, supported by the Alister Hardy Trust.

rerc-journal.tsd.ac.uk

Our second issue for this year will be out very soon. It is a special issue on AI and spiritual experience. Watch the space for news.😊

The new issue is out! You can access the journal via its website and download (for free) either the whole issue or individual articles. With this issue we are celebrating 10 years of the Journal! A big thanks to Emily Pierini, who set it up, Jack Hunter, who took over after Tom's death, and to Mara Steenhuisen who has taken over now from Jack as editor of the Journal. Another thank you goes to Elle Hughes who supported Mara with proof-reading. This new issue of the Journal is one of the largest and shows once again that the study of religious experience is alive and vibrant. 😊

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2025): Special 10th anniversary issue | Journal for the Study of Religious Experience

Here is a teaser with the new logo of our Journal for the study of religious experience (created by Mara Steenhuisen, the new editor)😊. Issue 11.1 will be out very soon!