This chapter reviews the eclectic missions of religious institutions and sets forth an agenda for conducting research with this diverse segment of American higher education. Religious Institutions in the United States: Research Challenges Nora C. Smith, Jerlando F. L. Jackson The challenges endemic to studying American religious-affiliated institu- tions given their unique mission are quite complex (Twale and Schaller, 2002). The diverse array of contexts and venues in which religious institu- tions are situated in the United States reflects myriad institutional foci and the broad range of scholarly pursuits of both students and faculty (Allen and Shen, 1999; Peters, 2002). The subject remains a focus of scholars and practitioners, although the perplexity of studying such institutions can be daunting. While many scholars in this area of research broadly examine the intersection of religion and higher education within an expansive range of institutional types (for example, Lyon, Beaty, and Mixon, 2002; Mixon, Lyon, and Beaty, 2004; Marsden, 1994), the focus of this chapter centers on the theological institution subset. Arguably the oldest form of graduate education in the United States, theology can trace its roots to early colonial institutions (Cohen, 1998). For example, the Divinity School at Harvard was created in 1811, and Princeton organized its Theological Seminary one year later. Since then, hundreds of schools have been created, among them, the Graduate Theological Union in and around Berkeley, California, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Due to their historic roots and importance to the development of this country and to the preservation and creation of culture, theological institutions exist in a vari- ety of organizational structures and dozens of disciplines comprise their NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, no. 124, Winter 2004 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 31 2