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 Masters 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 and Culture of Religions, with the thesis “Text and Authority. Sociocultural and religious diversification with the Bible Society in Portugal (1804-1940)”, recently published by Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda. She has been recognized with a Merit Award from the “Victor de Sá Award in Contemporary History” in 2008; and with the First Prize of the “Prémio Liberdade Religiosa” in 2017. She is a Junior Researcher at the Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa - Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP-CEHR); a collaborator researcher of 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 da História do Protestantismo (SPHP). She is currently Deputy Director of UCP-CEHR and a member of the Editorial Board of Lusitania Sacra.

Religious History; Social History; Religious Diversification; Religious identities; Protestantism; Bible circulation.