# Lived Religion Initiative > The Lived Religion Initiative at Boston College is a collaborative research hub that examines how religion is practiced and develops a new theoretical paradigm to explain Latin American and global religiosity. Serving as an umbrella brand for diverse academic activities, the LRI connects an international network of scholars, visiting professors, and students to advance public scholarship and develop alternative explanatory models. ## Posts - [Casi todos los adultos en la Argentina hacen algo religioso o espiritual. La mayor parte ocurre en casa, a solas y por fuera de cualquier institución.](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/casi-todos-los-adultos-en-la-argentina-hacen-algo-religioso-o-espiritual-la-mayor-parte-ocurre-en-casa-a-solas-y-por-fuera-de-cualquier-institucion/): Si se les pregunta a los argentinos en qué creen o a qué iglesia pertenecen, aparece una imagen. Si se les pregunta qué hacen, aparece otra muy distinta. Esa es la premisa de la Encuesta Nacional sobre Religión Vivida (ENReVi 2026), cuyo primer informe publicaron en septiembre de 2026 los sociólogos Hugo H. Rabbia (Universidad Católica de Córdoba / CONICET) y Gustavo Morello, SJ (Boston College). En lugar de partir de la adscripción y las creencias, el estudio mira la “religión realmente vivida”: lo que las personas hacen “cuando hacen religión”, se identifiquen o no con una fe y sean o […] - [Almost every adult in Argentina does something religious or spiritual. Most of it happens at home, alone, and outside any institution.](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/almost-every-adult-in-argentina-does-something-religious-or-spiritual-most-of-it-happens-at-home-alone-and-outside-any-institution/): If you ask Argentines what they believe or which church they belong to, you get one picture. If you ask what they actually do, you get a very different one. That is the premise of the National Survey on Lived Religion (ENReVi 2026), whose first report was released in September 2026 by sociologists Hugo H. Rabbia (Universidad Católica de Córdoba / CONICET) and Gustavo Morello, SJ (Boston College). Instead of starting from affiliation and belief, the study looks at the “religion actually lived” by people: what they do “when they do religion”, whether or not they identify with a faith, and whether or not they are […] - [The Oldest Tattoo Shop in the World Is in Jerusalem.](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/the-oldest-tattoo-shop-in-the-world-is-in-jerusalem/): Long before photographs, souvenirs or stamps in a passport, a pilgrim who reached the Holy Land faced a practical problem: how do you prove you were really there? In Jerusalem, one family has been answering that question for more than seven hundred years, in ink. The Jerusalem episode of Blood, Ink & Soul, our documentary series on religious tattooing, is built around Nizar Razzouk — the twenty-eighth generation of the oldest tattooing family in the world. A code on the wrist The Razzouks began in Egypt in the 1300s, tattooing Coptic crosses on the wrists of children only months old. The […] - [Blood, Ink & Soul: Faith Written in Skin](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/blood-ink-soul-faith-written-in-skin/): Long before passport stamps and photographs, pilgrims needed a way to prove they had reached a place that mattered. Many of them chose the most permanent option available: they had the proof cut into their skin. Blood, Ink & Soul is a four-part documentary series from the Lived Religion Initiative that follows that practice into the present. Filmed in Jerusalem, Italy, Spain and Mexico, it asks the question at the centre of our research: what do people actually do when they do religion? Four cities, four traditions In Jerusalem, Nizar Razzouk belongs to the twenty-eighth generation of the oldest tattooing family […] ## Pages - [Blog](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/blog/): Casi todos los adultos en la Argentina hacen algo religioso o espiritual. La mayor parte ocurre en casa, a solas y por fuera de cualquier institución. Spanish Si se les pregunta a los argentinos en qué creen o a qué iglesia pertenecen, aparece una imagen. Si se les pregunta qué hacen, aparece otra muy distinta. Esa es la premisa de la Encuesta Nacional… Almost every adult in Argentina does something religious or spiritual. Most of it happens at home, alone, and outside any institution. English If you ask Argentines what they believe or which church they belong to, you get one […] - [Clases](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/clases/): I have three main pedagogical principles in my classes. First, I expect students to develop critical and analytical skills. Second, I believe students bear the burden of the work. I understand my role as a teacher and mentor to be a guide in their journey, providing engaging readings, posing questions, challenging assumptions, and encouraging their quest for social justice. But they are the ones who have to do the work. Third, I engage in ongoing evaluation and adaptation of the syllabus. Every semester, I ask for feedback from students and TAs, consider my own perceptions, and adapt the classes accordingly.I structur […] - [Lab](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/lab/): My overall research agenda focuses on practices; what people do when they practice religion (including lighting candles, getting tattoos, doing yoga, wearing garments, attending church, and so on). I pay attention to the concrete historical and cultural context and to the practitioner’s material and embodied engagement, exploring how a religious person relates to divinity. Religious things happen when there is an ongoing relationship between the person and the supra-human. From the perspective of practices, I am not necessarily talking about a reality that conforms to churches’ mandates or to the variables sociologists have been using to measure religious practice (church attendance).Instead, […] - [Bio](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/bio/): GUSTAVO MORELLO sJ I am Gustavo Morello, SJ, a Jesuit priest and professor of sociology at Boston College. I earned my Ph.D. from the Universidad de Buenos Aires (2011), an MA in Social Sciences (2001, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), and Licentiates in Theology (2007, Universidad del Salvador) and Philosophy (1991, Universidad del Salvador).  I taught at Universidad Católica de Córdoba (1997-2011), was a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan (2009-2010), served as PI of the research project ‘The transformation of lived religion in urban Latin America: a study of contemporary Latin Americans’ experience of the transcendent’ (2015-2018), and gave The […] - [About](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/about/): The Lived Religion Initiative at Boston College is a collaborative research hub that examines how religion is practiced and develops a new theoretical paradigm to explain Latin American and global religiosity. Serving as an umbrella brand for diverse academic activities, the LRI connects an international network of scholars, visiting professors, and students to advance public scholarship and develop alternative explanatory models. Our ongoing projects include LabTRAL, the Lived Religion Survey (ERVI), and the International Seminar on Sociology of Religion, in partnership with UNAM. Through online and in-person workshops, academic datasets, and speculative “anti-papers,” we aim to move beyond Northern-centric theories and […] - [Home](https://livedreligioninitiative.org/): The Lived Religion Initiative at Boston College is a collaborative research hub that examines how religion is practiced and develops a new theoretical paradigm to explain Latin American and global religiosity. Latest Publications / Últimas actualizaciones Casi todos los adultos en la Argentina hacen algo religioso o espiritual. La mayor parte ocurre en casa, a solas y por fuera de cualquier institución. Si se les pregunta a los argentinos en qué creen o a qué iglesia pertenecen, aparece una imagen. Si se… Almost every adult in Argentina does something religious or spiritual. Most of it happens at home, alone, and outside […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/livedreligioninitiative.org/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)