The ARDA Learning Center provides educators high-quality religion resources at various academic levels ranging from junior high school to college and seminary.
Learning Resources

One of the goals of the ARDA's Learning Center is to provide educators access to high-quality resources that will enhance their ability to teach students about religion in the U.S. and around the world. The Teacher Sharing Center has been developed as a way for educators to share with one another learning resources that they have developed or discovered.

Current Syllabi

  • Race and Religious Faith, Gerardo Marti, Davidson College
  • Religion and Popular Culture, Charles M. Brown, Albright College
  • Sociology of Religion, Charles M. Brown, Albright College
  • Sociology of Religion, Tricia C. Bruce, Maryville College
  • Sociology of Religion, Roger Finke, Pennsylvania State University
  • Sociology of Religion, Gerardo Marti, Davidson College
  • The Sociology of Religious Organizations, Kevin D. Dougherty, Baylor University


  • Assignments and Activities

  • Congregation Observation Tool, Roger Finke, Pennsylvania State University
  • Ethnography Panels, Tricia C. Bruce, Maryville College
  • Sociology of Religion Research Project, Roger Finke, Pennsylvania State University


  • Links to Other Teaching Materials

  • American Academy of Religion’s Syllabus Project
  • Sociology of Religion Syllabi at the Hartford Institute
  • Teaching the Sociology of Religion: An Annotated Bibliography, Joshua C. Tom and Kevin D. Dougherty, Baylor University
  • Why I Love Teaching the Sociology of Religion, Margarita A. Mooney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    Request for Additional Learning Resources

    Educators at all levels are encouraged to submit resources such as lesson plans, syllabi, assignments, research projects and classroom activities that they have found to be particularly effective in teaching students about religion and religious topics. All submissions will be received and reviewed by ARDA staff. Those determined to be appropriate for inclusion in the Learning Center will be posted to the site with credit given to the author or submitter.

    Please submit all resources as Word documents to learningcenter@thearda.com.

    Include in the email submission a brief description of the resource that you are submitting, its target age group (e.g., middle school, high school, college, graduate school, etc.), any special instructions or comments needed to understand the resource and the name of the document's author.