About Us
Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM Journal) is a not-for-profit, free peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest social-scientific, historiographic, and ecclesiastic research on religious institutions and their ministerial practices. SHERM is dedicated to the critical and scholarly inquiry of historical and contemporary religious phenomena, both from within particular religious traditions and across cultural boundaries, so as to inform the broader socio-historical analysis of religion and its related fields of study.
The purpose of SHERM is to provide a scholarly medium for the social-scientific study of religion where specialists can publish advanced social-scientific research on religion, as well as studies on religious trends, theologies, rituals, philosophies, socio-political influences, or applied ministry research in the hopes of generating enthusiasm for the academic and scientific study of religion while fostering collegiality among religious specialists. Its mission is to provide academics, professionals, and nonspecialists with critical religious scholarship and evidence-based insights into the socio-historical study of religion and, where appropriate, its implications for ministry and expressions of religiosity.
SHERM journal is a division of the non-profit organization, FaithX Project (a religiously affiliated institute), and therefore, receives endowments from the association to maintain a significant presence within academia and the broader faith community in order to publish social-scientific research on religion and to becoming a leading advocate for the scientific study of religion. Therefore, SHERM is overseen by an independent, religiously unaffiliated Editorial Advisory Board to ensure the content does not parallel other popular Christian journals but, instead, meet stringent standards of critical religious scholarship uninfluenced by theological or ideological allegiances.