Religion in Theory and Practice - Demystifying the Field for Burgeoning Scholars - Russell T. McCutcheon

Religion in Theory and Practice - Demystifying the Field for Burgeoning Scholars - Russell T. McCutcheon

2. Utility and Limits: On the World Religions Paradigm

Religion in Theory and Practice - Demystifying the Field for Burgeoning Scholars - Russell T. McCutcheon

Russell T. McCutcheon [+-]
University of Alabama
Russell T. McCutcheon is University Research Professor and, for 18 years, was the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He has written on problems in the academic labor market throughout his 30-year career and helped to design and run Alabama’s skills-based M.A. in religion in culture. Among his recent work is the edited resource for instructors, Teaching in Religious Studies and Beyond (Bloomsbury 2024).

Description

Much like those who argue that the field has gone through the so-called theory wars of the 1980 and ‘90s and is now critically-informed and thus post-theoretical, there are some who seem to accept the critiques, leveled over the last two decades, of the category “world religions” yet who merely argue that more social formations ought to be considered to be world religions. Rather than just opening the tent a little wider, this chapter—originally an Afterword to a collection of essays on the state of research on world religions today—reminds readers that critiques of this nineteenth-century category go well beyond merely examining the breadth of its application.

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Citation

McCutcheon, Russell. 2. Utility and Limits: On the World Religions Paradigm. Religion in Theory and Practice - Demystifying the Field for Burgeoning Scholars. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 17-31 Sep 2018. ISBN 9781781796832. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=34250. Date accessed: 19 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.34250. Sep 2018

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