Our Primary Expertise - by Russell T McCutcheon

About the Book

Our Primary Expertise argues counter to the longstanding trend in the field by seeing religion as mundane and not unique, which means that the field's research and teaching can have relevance all across human culture, and well beyond academia. Russell McCutcheon offers a timely argument by taking seriously threats to the humanities now happening all across higher education.

Book Synopsis

Our Primary Expertise: A Future for the Study of Religion brings the author full circle--from his first book in 1997, on how claims that religion was unique were used to establish the North America field to his present argument that its future is instead based on the degree to which its findings can be applied in a wide assortment of areas, both inside and outside of academia. Its previously uncollected essays, all with new introductions that frame this timely argument, make plain that longstanding critiques of how scholars go about their work have always been about the study of religion's odd home in the humanities--a place that's increasingly vulnerable in today's university. Calling on members of the field not just to revise their research methods but also the ways that they train the next generation, Our Primary Expertise is the only work in the field taking seriously that scholars of religion can help to secure the future of their own field, if only they're prepared to see "the life of the mind" as a rhetoric that they can no longer afford.

Review Quotes

"One of its most relentless critics for over three decades, McCutcheon here offers counsel concerning the future of the academic study of religion, laying out a case for its ongoing relevance. McCutcheon argues that critically engaging with religion yields crucial insights and transferable skills that should appeal to parents, administrators, students, and scholars of religion alike."--Christian Wedemeyer "associate professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School"

"McCutcheon's is the voice of an optimistic critic who does more than genuflect toward dialogue and change. He reminds us that our field is a set of ideas and of institutions lodged within the humanities, that our methodologies must be useful beyond our discipline, and that there is virtue in muddying the waters. The self-evident simply is not. McCutcheon invites us all to build anew the arguments--and actions--that define religious studies, liberal education, and higher education for tomorrow."--Susan Henking "president emerita of Wells College"

About the Author

RUSSELL T. MCCUTCHEON is university research professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He is the author of many books, including Manufacturing Religion and Critics Not Caretakers, and is the editor of Teaching in the Study of Religion and Beyond and Religious Studies Beyond the Discipline.