For the second time in three years, a Harvard professor has been awarded a prestigious fellowship to undertake a year of theological research.

Lawrence E. Sullivan, professor of history and religions, was one of seven scholars nationwide to win this year's Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology.

The grant will reimburse Sullivan for an entire year's salary and permit him to engage in research during the 1996-1997 academic year, according to Jonathan N. Strom, program associate for the Luce Fellowship, that is administered from Pittsburgh, Penn.

In Sullivan's application, titled "Hidden Histories: Sensing Religion in American Experience," he stated that he wanted to examine the question: "What may be innately religious about sensory experience?"

Strom said Sullivan was selected as a recipient because his project was "unique."

"It's a very interesting project because he's looking at the categories that most theologists don't look at," Strom said.

Applicants are asked to submit grant proposals detailing what they hope to accomplish during their year of research, according to Strom. More than 60 academics apply for the fellowship each year, he said.

Sullivan wrote in the proposal that he wants to expand upon the research he has already done and develop it into a fully researched book manuscript with an accompanying CD-ROM disk.

"The development of multimedia format is crucial since the research investigates multiple media of sense perception," he wrote.

This is the third year the fellowship has been offered, Strom said. In 1994, three of the six recipients of the award were Harvard faculty members.