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About Us

GRIT is a research group based in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle. The collaborative work of this group focuses on the cultural and historical study of religion and other intellectual traditions drawing on interdisciplinary and disciplinary approaches from anthropology, classics, history, philosophy, religious studies, sociology and theology. The group provides an informal forum for the exchange of ideas relating to the influence of religion, ethics, reason and philosophy in historical and contemporary contexts in Europe, Australia and the Asia-Pacific regions. The comparative and cross-disciplinary study of religion is an area of growing international and national significance. GRIT undertakes research of national importance which for the understanding of religious and intellectual traditions in Australia, providing cutting edge interpretations of the changing religious cultures of the today’s world and the worlds of the past.

 

From 2003 – 2005 members of the group were active as RECER (Research Group for Religious Cultures, Ethics and Reason), a research group that focussed on understanding the processes of belief and conduct formation and change as both adaptive and rational responses to circumstance, with particular attention to the interplay of power with socio-ethical formation, and Australian and South-East Asian religions. The group has a strong publication record in research relating to Australian and European religious history, ethics in classical and contemporary culture, and the religious anthropology of South-East Asian societies. It maintained close links with specialists in the religious anthropology of South-Asian societies through CAPSTRANS.

 

GRIT maintains an active partnership with the Religious History Society and currently hosts their website. It also provides ongoing research materials relating to the history of Indigenous missions to the Australian Aborigines through the Awaba and Wellington Valley Projects.