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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon
@mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
1.1K followers 980 following 850 posts

I’m University Research Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. I was a longtime Dept Chair but now teach, read, write, weed the yard on the weekends and have opinions on the fate of higher ed. .. more

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Russell Tracey McCutcheon is a Canadian religion scholar who earned a PhD in religious studies from the University of Toronto in 1995.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 38%
Philosophy 26%
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 1d
As with FB where I chose the recipient I took seriously the “easy win” aspect, which aimed to give struggling faculty a who might read the post quick strategy they could consider adopting. But I’ll happily send you a free book. Send me your name & mailing address.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 3d
Riddle me this, Batman—is this two pieces of toast or one piece cut in half?
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Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon, Aurélien Mondon

alexaray.bsky.social
Alexa Ray Corriea @alexaray.bsky.social · 3d
It’s boiling in October because you’re using ChatGPT to write your emails, Janice.
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Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Russell T. McCutcheon, Melanie C. Green , and 1 more

seantcollins.com
Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 4d
CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 8d
@seedpods.bsky.social is now steering the RELtoolbox and has linked it to something new he’s cooking up and he needs your help.

religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/10...
Strategies to strengthen the academic study of religion
Strategy group meeting and REL Toolbox to help departments remain strong in a challenging time
religion.ua.edu
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 9d
I assume your campus bookstore started querying you for your book order last March…
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Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

amrel.bsky.social
American Religion @amrel.bsky.social · 10d
Back Pages is back again with your biweekly Tuesday installment: Russell T. McCutcheon on his book, “Manufacturing Religion” (1997). Read further here: www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...
Against the Wind — American Religion
McCutcheon on Manufacturing Religion (2003)
www.american-religion.org
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 11d
Easy mistake.
adamrothman.bsky.social
Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 12d
I love a good correction.
A correction was made on Sept. 27, 2025: An earlier version of this article misidentified one of Chappell Roan’s outfits. She wore a leather two-piece printed like lace, not a leopard-print two-piece.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 11d
10pt font words count for two 12 pt’ers. It’s in the new Chicago Manual.
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Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon, Louis Clerc

artcrimeprof.bsky.social
Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 11d
Edited down this chapter by 5k words!*

*Let's not talk about how many of those words ended up in the footnotes. Hush - you're safe there, my preccccious, my ccccccitations!
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Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

adamrothman.bsky.social
Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 12d
I love a good correction.
A correction was made on Sept. 27, 2025: An earlier version of this article misidentified one of Chappell Roan’s outfits. She wore a leather two-piece printed like lace, not a leopard-print two-piece.
3 19 230

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 14d
Early start here—joining a South African conference session remotely.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 16d
Small can be good too.
a cartoon character is wearing a red hat and a red dress .
ALT: a cartoon character is wearing a red hat and a red dress .
media.tenor.com
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Reposted by Caroline T. Schroeder, Andrew Jacobs

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 16d
New book giveaway: reply to this post with a suggested “easy win” that a program in our field might try to strengthen its situation. The post with the most likes gets a free book—let’s give it a week or so. @rutgersupress.bsky.social

www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/our-primary-...
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 17d
LSU opening.

jobs.chronicle.com/job/37889510...
Assistant Professor of Asian Religion and Philosophy - Baton Rouge, Louisiana job with Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge - Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies | 37889510
The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies invites applications for a tenure-track position in Asian Religion and Philosophy, to begin in F...
jobs.chronicle.com
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Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

mariahaskins.com
Maria Haskins @mariahaskins.com · 19d
There are people walking around in this world who have never known the sharp, hot, chemical smell of a mimeograph or untangled the cord of a landline telephone. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 21d
Send me a msg with your email address.

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 22d
Some would say that one can only act within the sphere of one’s agency. If so, then head down and make a difference there in hopes of the amplifying ripples that always attend social life.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 22d
New initiative: The Religion Department

www.religiondepartment.com
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 24d
And either edition of this (originally 2005) book might strike you as useful also. Into is on “religion” as a functional, seemingly special discourse object in liberal democracies.

www.routledge.com/Religion-and...
Religion and the Domestication of Dissent: Or, How to Live in a Less Than Perfect Nation
In its first edition, Religion and the Domestication of Dissent focused on the representations of Islam that circulated in the wake of the 9/11 attacks—representations that scholars, pundits, and poli...
www.routledge.com
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 24d
Happily. Send it along. And yes—the project is about the conditions that make it possible to make a discursive object of something called religion & the practical implications of that move. It’s a project on modernity. The intro + last chpt of my The Discipline of Religion (2003) might be useful.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 24d
Too many in my field fail to see sacred/secular as a co-constitutive binary with a recent history and instead read secularism as undermining the previously wholistic, sacred worldview.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 24d
Key here is not assuming some pre-classificatory homogenous or idyllic realm torn asunder by modernity. Instead, studying how one system of designation & identity/authority is replaced by another.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 25d
This disaggregation of social life into seemingly distinct spheres & expertise—domains that only interact like billiard balls periodically bumping into each other—can be seen as a construct of modernity, which makes religion/not religion a key rhetoric that helps to make the modern possible.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 25d
The presumption among many scholars that religion as a universal phenomenon is unique and thus cannot be explained naturalistically and can therefore only be interpreted for its special meaning. A view common among those whom they might study, to be sure.
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 26d
Technology!
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 26d
Out next month. Completed a year ago and hopefully not appearing too late for a field badly in need of retooling. @rutgersupress.bsky.social #RutgersUPress

www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/our-primary-...
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 26d
Is that a bad thing?
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 26d
It’s a critique of a dominant model of how religion is studied by scholars. A better primer would be either Religion in 5 Minutes (Equinox) or my intro book Studying Religion (Rutledge).
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 26d
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