Stephen Bush works in the fields of theory of religion, philosophy of religion, and religious ethics. His book, Visions of Religion, attempts to integrate three major understandings of religion: religion as a matter of personal experience, as a matter of symbolic meaning, and as a matter of social and political power.

His second book project, William James on Democracy and Religion (in progress, under contract with Cambridge University Press) investigates the intersection of politics and religion in the thought of William James.

Stephen Bush works in the fields of theory of religion, philosophy of religion, and religious ethics. His book, Visions of Religion: Experience, Meaning, and Power (Oxford University Press) is an exploration of three of the most influential approaches to the study of religion since the twentieth century: approaches that view religion as primarily experiential, those that view it as symbolic meaning, and those that view it as primarily a matter of social power. The book integrates the valuable insights of each approach into a social practical theory of religion.

His second book project investigates the intersection of politics and religion in the thought of William James, focusing especially on James's notion of individuality in its political and religious dimensions.

He also has a series of essays on topics related to religious ethics and violence, including torture and just war killing.

"Torture and the Politics of the Sacred," Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 97.1 (2014), 75-99

"Horribly Wrong: Moral Disgust and Killing," Journal of Religious Ethics 41.4 (December 2013)

"The Philosophy of Religious Experience and the Nag Hammadi Texts: A Response to Kaler and Tite," Bulletin for the Study of Religion 42.1 (February 2013), 18-22

"Concepts and Religious Experiences: Wayne Proudfoot on the Cultural Construction of Experiences," Religious Studies 48.1 (March 2012), 101-117

"Are Religious Experiences Too Private to Study?" Journal of Religion 92.2 (April 2012), 199-233

"Are Meanings the Name of the Game? Religion as Symbolic Meaning and Religion as Power" with "Response to Jason Springs," Religion Compass 6.12 (December 2012), 525-­533

"Georges Bataille's Mystical Cruelty: A Reply to Kent Brintnall," Journal of Religious Ethics 40.3 (September 2012), 551-555

"The Ethics of Ecstasy: Georges Bataille and Amy Hollywood on Mysticism, Morality, and Violence," Journal of Religious Ethics 39.2 (June 2011), 299-320

"Nothing Outside the Text: Derrida and Brandom on Language and World," Contemporary Pragmatism 6.2 (December 2009), 45-69

"Divine and Human Happiness in Nicomachean Ethics," The Philosophical Review 117.1 (January 2008), 49-75

Wriston Fellowship, Brown University, 2014-2015
Faculty Fellowship, Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University, 2013-2014
Faculty Research Fellowship, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, 2011-2012
Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship, Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, 2011-2012
Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities, 2007-2008
Woodrow Wilson Scholars Fellowship (honorary since concurrent with Whiting Fellowship), 2007-2008
Graduate Research Award, Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University, 2007-2008
Graduate Prize Fellowship, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University, 2006-2007

American Academy of Religion
American Philosophical Association
Society of Christian Ethics
William James Society