Allison K. Ralph, Ph.D., is the Associate Director of the Religion & Society Program at the Aspen Institute.
Allison works at the intersection of religion and society in an effort to better understand the ways we include or exclude on the basis of religious difference, and to radically expand inclusion. She believes this means tackling religious polarization, religious bigotry, and reckoning with our own personal and social failures.
Allison served the program as consultant and advisor from 2017-2019, including as editor of Pluralism in Peril: Challenges to an American Ideal, before coming on as Assistant Director in 2019. She began her career in the non-profit sector at the El-Hibri Foundation after earning her doctorate in Church History from The Catholic University of America in 2015. She also holds a B.A. in History from the University of North Florida and an M.Phil. in Church History from the University of Cambridge.
Her current research interests include understanding faith-inspired nonprofits, religious literacy, and religion and philanthropy. She has authored But What if They Preach, The Multiplier Effect, and has work forthcoming in The Foundation Review as well as a book with Oxford University Press.
Her doctoral research on the history of Christianity focused on societal boundaries, rhetoric, and justification of coercion in the social body. She will no doubt get excessively excited if you ask her about it. She has a broad range of experience in academic and administrative settings, including academic expertise in teaching, researching and editing, and administrative expertise in managing grants, major events and operations, and developing database systems. She sings joyfully and bakes for friends.
Opinions & Articles by Allison K. Ralph:
“For Natives, land is sacred. Why aren’t we protecting their religious freedom?” Billie Jo Kipp, Mohamed Magid, Allison K. Ralph, Religion News Service, October 11, 2021