{"product_id":"critics-not-caretakers-9781032467924","title":"Critics Not Caretakers","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe essays collected together in \u003ci\u003eCritics Not Caretakers \u003c\/i\u003eargue that the study of religion must be rethought as an ordinary aspect of social, historical existence, a stance that makes the scholar of religion a critic of cultural and historical practices rather than a caretaker of religious tradition or a font of timeless wisdom and deep meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book begins with several essays that outline the basis of an alternative, sociorhetorical approach to studying religion, before moving on to a series of discrete dispatches from the ongoing theory wars, each of which uses the work of such writers as Karen Armstrong, Walter Burkert, Benson Saler, and Jacob Neusner as a point of entry into wider theoretical issues of importance to the field's future. The author then examines the socio-political role of this brand of critical scholarshipa role that differs dramatically from the type of sympathetic caretaking generally associated with scholars of religion who feel compelled to go \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The issues discussed in the first edition have not gone away; they are here now with a vengeance. This second edition rises to the occasion with new provocative chapter introductions that are not to be missed. But what is most remarkable is how the old and new come together in a way that will have us read the field—its history, its challenges, and its potential--with fresh perspective and the vigor to make it better.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Newton\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe University of Alabama, U.S.A.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Russell T. McCutcheon’s \u003ci\u003eCritics Not Caretakers\u003c\/i\u003e was one of a small handful of key works from the last thirty years that helped to bring about a paradigm shift in the academic study of religion, a shift that opened up space for all-new avenues of research on the political history of the concept of religion. The material new to this second edition helps readers—both old and new—situate the book in relation to the history of the discipline, the debates that were taking place at the time of its publication, and the scholarship since that has participated in the book’s trajectory; along the way, McCutcheon points to where his hopes for the discipline remained as yet unfulfilled. \u003ci\u003eCritics\u003c\/i\u003e is now essential reading for any scholar writing on the contested history of \"religion.\"\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCraig Martin\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSt. Thomas Aquinas College, U.S.A.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What McCutcheon does so masterfully in this work is to provide clarity on what religious studies as a discipline has the power to do so well: to analyze how people both create and respond to ideas of unquestionable authority, the driving concept behind so many movements we call “religion” today. However, this book’s longevity and relevance lies in its central claim that scholars of religion also have these unquestionable authorities with which they must grapple. This is a must-read for anyone who takes seriously the social and political dynamics that define the academic study of religion.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLeslie Smith\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAvila University, U.S.A.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In \u003ci\u003eCritics Not Caretakers\u003c\/i\u003e, McCutcheon offers a way of writing about and teaching contentious topics, not only in the study of religion but also in the wider humanities and social sciences since it is not really about ‘religion’ but the critical study of a category that has been taken for granted. This augmented second edition is a reminder of what it is a scholar of religion is studying: the ways in which humans categorise, classify, divide the world around them into sacred\/secular, insider\/outsider and so on, bringing to our attention the scholarly assumptions privileging the ‘sacred’ and the ‘insider’ in these bifurcations. McCutcheon gives attention to both theoretical concerns and pedagogy, and thus this book has a practical application for those researching and teaching the study of religion.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuzanne Owen\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLeeds Trinity University, UK.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eForeword to the Second Edition \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments to the First Edition \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments to the Second Edition \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCopyright Permissions \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to the Second Edition \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePart I. Background\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. \"Not Nearly Critical Enough\": Studying Religion as Part of the Humanities \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart II. Redescribing Religion as Something Ordinary\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 2\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. More than a Shapeless Beast: Lumbering Through the Academy with the Study of Religion \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 3\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. Redescribing \"Religion\" as Social Formation: Toward a Social Theory of Religion \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart III. Dispatches from the Theory Wars\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 4\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4. Writing a History of God: \"Just the Same Game Wherever You Go\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 5\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e5. Explaining the Sacred: Theorizing on Religion in the Late Twentieth Century \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 6\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e6. \"We’re All Stuck Somewhere\": Taming Ethnocentrism and Trans-Cultural Understandings \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 7\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e7. The Economics of Spiritual Luxury: The Glittering Lobby and the Parliament of Religions \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapter 8\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e8. \"My Theory of the Brontosaurus...\": Postmodernism and \"Theory\" of Religion \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart IV. Culture Critics and Caretakers\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapters 9 and 10\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e9. A Default of Critical Intelligence? The Scholar of Religion as Public Intellectual \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e10. Talking Past Each Other: Public Intellectuals Revisited \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart V. Going Public: Teaching Theory\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction to Chapters 11–14\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e11. Our \"Special Promise\" as Teachers: Scholars of Religion and the Politics of Tolerance\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e12. Redescribing \"Religion and...\" Film: Teaching the Insider\/Outsider Problem \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e13. Methods and Theories in the Classroom: Teaching the Study of Myths and Rituals \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e14. Theorizing in the Introductory Course: A Survey of Resources \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart VI. This Messy Mix of Historical Human Performance\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfterword to the Second Edition \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBibliography\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIndex\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51019072340311,"sku":"9781032467924","price":35.14,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781032467924.jpg?v=1750779211","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/critics-not-caretakers-9781032467924","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}