Rita Mendonça Leite

Rita Mendonça Leite (Lisbon, 1982) got her degree in History from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (2004), where she also concluded, in 2007, her Master’s Degree in Contemporary History under the theme “Representations of the Protestantism in the Portuguese Contemporary Society: from exclusion to religious freedom (1852-1911)”; and, in 2017, her PhD Degree in History, with a specialization in History and Culture of Religions, with the Thesis “Text and Authority. Sociocultural and religious diversification with the Bible Society in Portugal (1804-1940)”. The thesis was selected for publishing in a new series (“Coleção Estudos de Religião”) published by Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda (“Livro, Texto e Autoridade. Diversificação religiosa com a Sociedade Bíblica em Portugal (1804-1940)”. Lisboa, 2019). She is the Deputy-director and integrated researcher at the Centre of Religious History Studies (Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa) – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP-CEHR); a colaborator researcher at the Centro de História – Universidade de Lisboa (CH-ULisboa); and a member of the Association Française d’Histoire Religieuse Contemporaine (AFHRC) and of the Sociedade Portuguesa de História do Protestantismo (SPHP). She is also the Coordinator of the Project “Encyclopedia of Religious History – online” and of the Working Group “Religious Differentiation: Theologies and Sociabilities” at UCP-CEHR. Since 2018, she is one of the coordinators of CEHR¿s annual Seminar on Contemporary Religious History, an activity opened to young researchers and conceived to spread innovative research on Contemporary History. Her participation in this research network is closely connected to her work in the Editorial Committee of “Lusitania Sacra” and as a peer-reviewer for “REVER. Revista de Estudos da Religião”, and “História. Revista da FLUP”. She also integrates the International Research Team of “OCCIDENTES. Horizons and Projects of Civilization in the Church of Pius XII”, a pioneering project aiming at promoting and fostering the historical study of the newly-opened pontifical archives of Pope Pius XII, and she represents CEHR in the Portuguese Commission of CIHEC – Comission Internationale d¿Histoire et d¿Études du Christianisme, affiliated to the International Committee of Historical Sciences. She has been recognized with a Merit Award from the “Victor de Sá Award in Contemporary History” in 2008 (Universidade do Minho); and with the First Prize of the “Prémio Liberdade Religiosa” in 2017 (Comissão da Liberdade Religiosa – Ministério da Justiça). Her main areas of interest are: Religious History; Social History; Religious Diversification; Religious identities; Religious Freedom; and Protestantism.