Participation | Dignity | Elections: An online Catholic theology webinar
September 16 & 17, 2026 More information: https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/participation-dignity-elections/
The Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, the Bellah Legacy Group, and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC invite you to our upcoming event in Berkeley.
Pre-registration required. Event is free but donations are requested to support this event and our ongoing work.
Join the Bellah Legacy Group and the Graduate Theological Union on October 8, 2026 for a major event:
2nd Annual Robert N. Bellah Memorial Lecture
Dr. Eddie Glaude
Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies
Princeton University
Princeton University
Professor Eddie Glaude is a leading scholar of African-American political and religious life, New York Times-bestselling author of We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For and other prominent books, and a dynamic public speaker. He will draw on his own and Robert Bellah’s intellectual work to reflect on the current moment facing American society and its trajectory going forward.
Thursday, October 8
Opening reception: 4:45pm
Welcome, address, and discussion: 5:00-6:30pm
Welcome, address, and discussion: 5:00-6:30pm
Donations greatly appreciated via link below:
Our Purpose
This website is supported by the Bellah Legacy Group, a circle of former colleagues and others dedicated to furthering the reflections on the role of religion in public life that were initiated by the great sociologist of religion, Robert N. Bellah.
These include the concept of civil religion, the moral challenges to modernity, the role of religion in sustaining communities and ‘the good society,’ and religion in human evolution.
This website will highlight the activities of the group in conducting lectures, seminars, panels at academic conferences, and the annual Bellah Lecture on Religion in Public Life, held at Berkeley in conjunction with the Graduate Theological Union. It will also include discussions of the contributions of members of the Legacy Group and other contemporary thinkers in furthering Bellah’s ideas and concepts. In these ways we hope to continue the conversation that Bellah initiated among the academic community and the general public in elevating the discussion about the moral character of civic order and the role of religions in public life.
These include the concept of civil religion, the moral challenges to modernity, the role of religion in sustaining communities and ‘the good society,’ and religion in human evolution.
This website will highlight the activities of the group in conducting lectures, seminars, panels at academic conferences, and the annual Bellah Lecture on Religion in Public Life, held at Berkeley in conjunction with the Graduate Theological Union. It will also include discussions of the contributions of members of the Legacy Group and other contemporary thinkers in furthering Bellah’s ideas and concepts. In these ways we hope to continue the conversation that Bellah initiated among the academic community and the general public in elevating the discussion about the moral character of civic order and the role of religions in public life.
Past Legacy Events
Roundtable Proposal – The Contradictions of Religion and Modernity in the 21st Century
Presider: Anna Sun is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology at Duke University. List of Panelists: Richard Madsen is […]
Habits of the Heart, Then and Now – A 40th Anniversary Retrospective
This virtual webinar featured a 40th anniversary retrospective of the classic book, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in […]
The Bellah Legacy Group partnered with the GTU to create an annual lecture designed to preserve, build on, sustain, and promote awareness of the corpus and legacy of Robert N. Bellah’s work within a contemporary context.
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As a nonprofit organization, IACS relies on the generosity of its supporters to fund research, programs, conferences and projects. All donations are deeply appreciated. Committing to a monthly or annual donation allows us to plan ahead. Thank you for your generosity.
IACS, the BLG, and Robert Bellah
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The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC (IACS) is pleased to host the Bellah Legacy Group (BLG) website. The BLG functions independently of IACS, but their back stories and intellectual missions complement one another remarkably. Robert Bellah was a long-time Episcopalian, arguably the Protestant tradition closest to Roman Catholicism in governance, theology, and liturgical practice. He also engaged extensively with Catholicism through much of his career via lectures, honorary doctorates, and Catholic students and intellectual interlocutors. Bellah and Ann Swidler—his co-author and a founding member of the BLG—were crucial directors of the doctoral dissertation of Richard L. Wood, now the president of IACS. In addition, one way to understand the mission of IACS is as an expression on specifically Catholic terrain of Bellah’s lifelong project of: i) bringing religious insight to bear, both critically and constructively, on society in all its dimensions; ii) advancing interfaith understanding and collaboration; and iii) enhancing rigorous thinking at the intersection of religion and science and creative work at the intersection of social science and the humanities.