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Expanding your Impact:
Tools for Public Scholarship

A free, self-paced program from the AAR Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion. Find your public voice, write for the public, and start a podcast.

Get Free Access

Three modules, one path to public scholarship

Self-paced videos, readings, and assignments for religious studies scholars and grad students.

Foundations of Public Scholarship

with Matthew D. Taylor 

Find your modes of public engagement, develop your public voice, and anticipate risk.

  • Why public scholarship?
  • Motivations and goals
  • Concentric circles of expertise and news hooks
  • The full landscape of modalities
  • Risk management and planning

Writing and Pitching for the Public

Short-form journalism

Turn your research into op-eds and explainers that editors want to run.

  • Academic vs. journalistic writing
  • Pitching: the anatomy of a pitch email
  • Hooks, ledes and nutgrafs
  • Editor’s tips, plus a 600–800 word article draft

Podcasting for Scholars

with Dr. Bradley Onishi

Learn what audio can do that writing can’t, and how to build a show that lasts.

  • Why podcasting, and when it’s the right tool
  • Formats and audience design
  • From scholarship to episode structure
  • Production, sustainability and public impact

Get Coach Feedback

When you finish a module, post your assignments for review. A coach will read your work and schedule a virtual meeting with you.

Get started in minutes

The program runs on Kajabi, the platform behind The Religion Department. Setup takes about two minutes after checkout.

Enroll now
1
Enroll at checkout
Select “Enroll now,” enter your details and complete info submit on the secure checkout page.
2
Check your inbox
Look for the welcome email. If you don’t see it within a few minutes, check spam or promotions.
3
Set up your login
Confirm your email and create a password.
4
Log in
Go to religiondepartment.com/login and sign in with the same email.
5
Open your program
From your library, select the Public Scholarship program and start with Module 1. Your progress saves automatically.

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Take your course on the go. Available on iPhone and Android.

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ABOUT THE Religion DEPARTMENT

From the team behind YouTube's Religion for Breakfast, the Religion Department is an online community for learning about religion.

Great Religious Studies classes are transformative. They can expose you to completely different ways of thinking, reveal the subtleties of your own experience, and bring you into cutting edge conversations about the humanities and social sciences. 

Not Religious Studies classes are boring, or sneakily promote a teacher's views. We offer online lectures and seminars that are designed for everyone, taught by leading experts in their fields. We want to make Religious Studies as accessible as it is fascinating.

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