The Experience Project

The Experience Project (2014-2017) ($5.2 million) revitalized and extended the interdisciplinary investigation of religious, spiritual, and transformative experience across philosophy, theology, religious studies, and the social sciences.

Four large-scale funding competitions stimulated innovative new research on underexplored conceptual, epistemological, structural, and practical aspects of religious, spiritual, and transformative experience. To date, the project has resulted in hundreds of presentations and publications, and has spurred the interest of numerous early career researchers.

This three-year research initiative was led by Samuel Newlands, William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Collegiate Professor in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, and Co-Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion, L.A. Paul, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University (previously at UNC-Chapel Hill during the project), and Michael Rea, the Rev. John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, and Co-Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion.

Learn more about transformative and religious experiences: