Leaderboards/Study and Philosophy of Religion

Study and Philosophy of Religion

Last updated July 7, 2026

Rising Stars

New and hot

Rising Stars Researchers

1
Anna Bigelow
Stanford University
2
Swami Medhananda
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira
3
Catherine Hartmann
University of Wyoming
4
Rafal K. Stepien
University of Oxford
5
Zihan Fahira
Universitas Gadjah Mada
6
Julian Strube
Radboud University Nijmegen
7
Finnian M. M. Gerety
Brown University
8
Mattias Brand
University of Fribourg
9
John Soboslai
Montclair State University
10
Fredrik Bjarkö
Södertörn University

Rising Stars Papers

1
Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity
International Journal for the Psychology of Religion|2024
19 cit.
2
Global Religious History and Religious Comparison: a Programmatic Outline
Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society|2024
7 cit.
3
Immersive Religion: Using Extended Reality Resources for Teaching the Academic Study of Religion
Journal of Interactive Learning Research|2025
3 cit.
4
The Soma Question: Interrogating the History of Psychedelics with Sanskrit Mantras
Unknown Journal|2025
2 cit.
5
Oral Exams for a Generative AI World: Managing Concerns and Logistics for Undergraduate Humanities Instruction
College Teaching|2025
2 cit.
6
The Twelve-Step Path? Mindfulness and Ethics in Buddhist Addiction Recovery Literature
Mindfulness|2024
1 cit.
7
The Study of Pilgrimage in Tibetan Buddhism: Overview and Recommendations for Instructors
Religion Compass|2024
1 cit.
8
Can Consciousness Have Blind Spots? : A Renewed Defence of Sri Aurobindo's Opaque Cosmopsychism
Journal of Consciousness Studies|2024
1 cit.
9
Esotericism and Global Religious History
Aries|2024
0 cit.
10
Rea Matsangou, The Manichaeans of the Roman East. Manichaeism in Greek Anti-Manichaica and Roman Imperial Legislation. (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, Vol. 105.) Leiden, Brill 2023
Historische Zeitschrift|2024
0 cit.

Emerging Leaders

Gaining momentum

Emerging Leaders Researchers

1
Brenton Sullivan
Colgate University
2
Tyrone Cashman
University of California, Berkeley
3
Jeppe Sinding
Unknown
4
Finlay Malcolm
University of Religions and Denominations
5
Konrad Szocik
University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow
6
Ariane Schwab
University of Fribourg
7
Alexandra Grieser
University of Groningen
8
Benjamin Grant Purzycki
University of British Columbia
9
Rebekka King
Middle Tennessee State University
10
Nupur Sahai
Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Emerging Leaders Papers

1
The moralization bias of gods’ minds: a cross-cultural test
Religion Brain & Behavior|2022
49 cit.
2
Material insecurity predicts greater commitment to moralistic and less commitment to local deities: a cross-cultural investigation
Religion Brain & Behavior|2022
30 cit.
3
Why space exploitation may provide sustainable development: Climate ethics and the human future as a multi-planetary species
Futures|2023
21 cit.
4
Gods, games, and the socioecological landscape
Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology|2022
20 cit.
5
The ecotheological values of Christian climate change activists
Environmental Values|2024
18 cit.
6
Moralistic supernatural punishment is probably not associated with social complexity
Evolution and Human Behavior|2022
17 cit.
7
Appealing to the minds of gods: religious beliefs and appeals correspond to features of local social ecologies
Religion Brain & Behavior|2023
14 cit.
8
Moral Bioenhancement for Space: Should We Enhance Morally Future Deep-Space Astronauts and Space Settlers?
Theology and Science|2023
14 cit.
9
The role of costly commitment signals in assorting cooperators during intergroup conflict
Evolution and Human Behavior|2024
14 cit.
10
The Evolution of Religion and Morality project: reflections and looking ahead
Religion Brain & Behavior|2022
13 cit.

Current Senior Leaders

Established & currently active

Current Senior Leaders Researchers

1
Roger Finke
Pennsylvania State University
2
Pascal Boyer
Washington University in St. Louis
3
Russell T. McCutcheon
University of Alabama
4
Mark C. Taylor
Schlumberger (Ireland)
5
Robert N. McCauley
Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono
6
Donald Wiebe
University of British Columbia
7
David Hume
Translational Research Institute
8
Robert Reynolds
York University
9
Randi R. Warne
Mount Saint Vincent University
10
Steve Clarke
Charles Sturt University

Current Senior Leaders Papers

1
Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion
Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews|2002
1.2k cit.
2
A macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor–green fluorescent protein transgene is expressed throughout the mononuclear phagocyte system of the mouse
Blood|2003
666 cit.
3
Why ritualized behavior? Precaution Systems and action parsing in developmental, pathological and cultural rituals
Behavioral and Brain Sciences|2006
600 cit.
4
Macrophages ingest and are activated by bacterial DNA
The Journal of Immunology|1996
574 cit.
5
Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies: Religious Mobilization in American Cities, 1906
American Sociological Review|1988
560 cit.
6
The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|1996
548 cit.
7
An antibody against the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor depletes the resident subset of monocytes and tissue- and tumor-associated macrophages but does not inhibit inflammation
Blood|2010
517 cit.
8
An expression atlas of human primary cells: inference of gene function from coexpression networks
BMC Genomics|2013
506 cit.
9
Immunohistochemical localization of a macrophage-specific antigen in developing mouse retina: phagocytosis of dying neurons and differentiation of microglial cells to form a regular array in the plexiform layers.
The Journal of Cell Biology|1983
450 cit.
10
The mononuclear phagocyte system revisited
Journal of Leukocyte Biology|2002
420 cit.

Indexing Study and Philosophy of Religion Reagents

Citation data for reagents in this field is currently compiling.