We felt that if we were to come close to achieving our goal of providing students with a “toolkit” of practices and resources for integrating their faith and work, we needed to give them real-world examples that far exceeded those which we ourselves had developed.

While conversations of racial and gender diversity, equity, and inclusion are positive steps, there is another form of diversity that is often left out: religious/faith. When we consider that over 80% of the global population holds some form of religious belief—and that there are over 4,000 recognized religions in the world—to ignore religious diversity stifles students, faculty, exec boards, and admins.

Given the high percentage of the global population that ascribes to a belief system, to relegate such study to case studies that are few and far between would do a disservice to an “industry” dedicated to increasing knowledge. Therefore, we engage in a number of field-building activities in hopes of bringing faith and entrepreneurship to the forefront of academic study in business, inviting scholars from every belief system to join the conversation.

This wonderful reality motivates different kinds of studies that contribute to an incredible field of knowledge. We are only beginning to see the benefits of a network of scholars working in this space, but one thing is certain: we can no longer ignore faith in the study of entrepreneurship.