Research on how religious and faith-based organizations practice public relations is steadily increasing and of particular interest. Public relations scholars have examined the applicability of public relations theories with religious organizations, and sought to develop new public relations theories, concepts, and models that are appropriate for the context of faith and religion. However, one set of public relations concepts has been limitedly studied, irregularly applied, and inconsistently explained regarding their definitions, how they work together, how they are distinct, and how they can be studied within and outside the narrow context of religious public relations. This conceptual framework essay explicates four constructs found in religious public relations scholarship to provide clarification regarding the application of these murky concepts and a roadmap for how public relations scholars can apply, study, and advance these concepts and models within and outside the context of religious public relations to advance public relations theorizing.

关于宗教和信仰组织如何实践公共关系的研究正在稳步增加，并且特别令人感兴趣。公共关系学者研究了公共关系理论对宗教组织的适用性，并寻求发展适合信仰和宗教背景的新公共关系理论、概念和模型。然而，一套公共关系概念的研究有限，应用不规范，解释也不一致，包括它们的定义、它们如何协同工作、它们如何独特，以及如何在宗教公共关系的狭隘背景内外研究它们。这篇概念框架文章阐述了宗教公共关系学术中发现的四个结构，以澄清这些模糊概念的应用，并为公共关系学者如何在宗教公共背景内外应用、研究和推进这些概念和模型提供了路线图关系来推进公共关系理论。