EARLY CAREER SUBGRANTS
Funding emerging scholars researching theology, philosophy, and contemporary religious disaffiliation.
6
Awards over the project
2
awards per year
$9,000
in research support
1 year
grant duration
THE OPPORTUNITY
From Research to Publication
From Research to Publication
Develop two scholarly article, submit to a peer-reviewed journal, and contribute a public-facing essay to the project website.
$9,000
Research Support
$9,000
Support for research time
Research Community
Scholarly engagement
Research Community
Possibility presenting their work at the Godless Religion Seminar in St Andrews and engaging with an interdisciplinary community of scholars.
WHAT YOU NEED
Research Proposal
1,500–2,000 words
Research Proposal
Describe your proposed article and explain how it engages with the year’s research theme.
Current academic CV
Current academic CV
Demonstrate your preparation and capacity to carry out the proposed research.
Statement of Relevance
300–500 words
Eligibility
Explain how your proposed research contributes to the broader research agenda of the Godless Religion Project.
The Godless Religion Project invites applications for Early Career Launching Subgrants, a competitive research initiative supporting emerging scholars investigating the theological and philosophical questions raised by contemporary religious disaffiliation.
Awardees will join the project’s research community, present their work at the Godless Religion Seminar in St Andrews, and develop a publishable research article aligned with the project’s annual research theme.
Year 1
2026-27
2026–27
AUTONOMY
Moral and epistemic agency, conscience, questioning, dissent, and religious belonging.
Year 2
2027-28
2027–28
AUTHORITY
Legitimacy, trust, institutional authority, and moral credibility.
Year 3
2028-29
2028–29
CHRISTIAN PESSIMISM
Hope, disillusionment, suffering, and institutional fragility.
2026–27: AUTONOMY
Autonomy examines questions of moral and epistemic agency within ecclesial life—the capacity of believers to exercise conscience, inquiry, evaluative judgment, and dissent without being framed as spiritually deficient, rebellious, or unfaithful.
In plain terms: This year’s theme asks how Christian communities might make room for questioning, disagreement, conscience, and intellectual freedom while maintaining meaningful faith, shared commitments, and community.
2026-27 Key terms
Autonomy
The capacity to think, judge, and make responsible decisions for oneself.
Moral agency
The capacity to make judgments about what is right or wrong and to act on those judgments.
Epistemic agency
The capacity to ask questions, evaluate information, form beliefs, and decide what one has good reason to believe.
Ecclesial
Relating to the Christian church, its communities, institutions, and structures.
Research Questions
These questions are intended to stimulate research, not prescribe a particular approach. Applicants do not need to address all four. Proposals may focus on one or more questions, or develop a related question that advances the broader theme of autonomy.
How does the restraint of curiosity, questioning, doubt, and flexibility on non-central issues contribute to religious disaffiliation?
What does this mean?
This question asks whether restrictions on questioning, intellectual curiosity, doubt, or disagreement may contribute to people’s decision to distance themselves from religious communities. It invites consideration of how communities distinguish between essential and non-essential beliefs, and whether allowing space for uncertainty and exploration can support continued religious belonging.
Possible areas to explore
- Curiosity and intellectual inquiry
- Doubt and religious uncertainty
- Questioning and disagreement within Christian communities
- Essential and non-essential beliefs
- Doctrinal flexibility and theological diversity
- Certainty and the experience of faith
- Intellectual freedom and religious belonging
- Religious disaffiliation and experiences of constraint
Under what theological conditions can autonomy be affirmed within Christian communities without collapsing into individualism?
What does this mean?
This question asks how Christian theology might affirm the capacity of individuals to think, judge, and act responsibly while still recognizing the importance of community, tradition, and shared theological commitments. It invites exploration of whether autonomy necessarily conflicts with communal belonging, or whether Christian accounts of community can make space for genuine individual agency.
Possible areas to explore
- Christian accounts of autonomy and freedom
- Individualism and communal identity
- Conscience and moral responsibility
- Personal judgment and theological tradition
- Agency and Christian discipleship
- Individual rights and communal obligations
- Community, belonging, and identity
- Theological accounts of freedom
What ecclesial structures allow for genuine moral and epistemic agency while preserving communal norms and theological commitments?
What does this mean?
This question asks what kinds of Christian communities and institutional structures can support individuals in exercising moral judgment, asking questions, and evaluating beliefs without abandoning shared commitments. It invites consideration of how authority, governance, accountability, and communal practices might be structured to encourage agency rather than conformity.
Possible areas to explore
- Ecclesial governance and decision-making
- Conscience and institutional authority
- Moral and epistemic agency
- Accountability and transparency
- Structures of participation and dissent
- Theological education and intellectual formation
- Communal norms and boundaries
- Institutional models that support disagreement
How might Christian doctrine be articulated in ways that distinguish faithful agency from rebellion?
What does this mean?
This question asks how Christian theology can distinguish between responsible disagreement and forms of rejection that genuinely undermine Christian faith or community. It invites consideration of when questioning, dissent, or resistance might be understood as expressions of faithful agency rather than disobedience, and how theological accounts of faithfulness can make room for responsible judgment.
Possible areas to explore
- Faithfulness, obedience, and dissent
- Rebellion and theological disagreement
- Conscience and Christian responsibility
- Prophetic critique and resistance
- Doctrinal boundaries and disagreement
- Authority and obedience
- Faithful dissent within Christian traditions
- Theological accounts of moral agency
Application timeline
01 SEPT 2026
Applications open
15 NOV 2026
Application deadline
18 DEC 2026
Award notifications
01 JAN 2027
Research period begins
Ready to apply?
Submit your application
[email protected]
Questions?
[email protected]
Download the full RFP below.