Böcker av Russell T. McCutcheon

The revised essays collected here, four of which are published for the first time, continue a longstanding argument made by McCutcheon and others: that the study of religion would benefit from self-conscious scrutiny of its tools, the interests that may drive them, and the effects that might follow their use. The chapters examine a variety of contemporary sites in the modern field where this thesis can be argued, whether involving the anachronistic use of of the category religion when studying the ancient world to current interest in so-called critical religion or critical realist approaches. Moreover - contrary to some past characterizations of such critiques - a constructive way forward for the field is once again recommended and, at several sites, exemplified in detail: redescribing not only religion as something ordinary but also our tendency to create the impression of exceptional and thus set-apart things, places, and people. Aimed at scholars and students alike, the book is an invitation to examine our own scholarly practices and thereby take a more active role in shaping the field in which we carry out our work as scholars of this thing we call religion.

"Religion" in Theory and Practice follows on from McCutcheon's 2014 Equinox book Entanglements: Marking Place in the Field of Religion by offering both an overview of the current state of theory in the academic study of religion as well as examining a variety of practical sites where critical scholarship is implemented but also challenged.

'Introducing Religion' brings together leading international scholars in the field of religious studies to examine religion as integral to everyday social practice.

Failure and Nerve in the Academic Study of Religion presents a provocative critique of the unwillingness of modern scholars to publically distinguish research into comparative religion from confessional studies written within denominationally-affiliated institutions.

Entanglements attempts to argue against those who claim that scholarship on the category religion is only of secondary interest, in that it fails to do primary research on real religions. The volume collects eighteen responses, written across twenty years, that each exemplify the inevitably situated, give-and-take nature of all academic debate.

This Reader presents writings from both those who assume the existence and possible universality of religious experience and those who question the very rhetoric of "experience".

This essay considers a variety of discursive sites, from contemporary film and art to the War on Terror to ask the reader to consider how the classifications we use to name and thereby negotiate our social worlds are implicitly political and are being wielded in the public arena to carry out generally undisclosed/under analysed social work.

Offering a critique of traditional religion scholarship, this work focuses on multiple interrelated targets. It covers the history of religions as a discipline, and examines the ideological basis for, and service of, the "sui generis" argument.

A reference and teaching resource for the study of religion in college and university settings. It provides for students and scholars a collection of specially commissioned articles that comprise a comprehensive and critical guide to the ways in which religious artifacts and practices are defined.

The Discipline of Religion is a lively critical journey through religious studies today, looking at its recent growth as an academic discipline, and its contemporary political and social meaning.