The Politics of Classification

Engaging the Work of Russell McCutcheon

Edited by Willi Braun Edited by Aaron W. Hughes

Book cover: The Politics of Classification

Extent: 350 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Philosophy, Religious Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(August 2026)

ISBN: 9781800506787

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $34.00

In stock

Hardback (Published)

(August 2026)

ISBN: 9781800506770

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $100.00

In stock

Scholars put some of McCutcheon’s ideas into praxis as they struggle with, critique, or apply his work to a variety of topics of contemporary interest in the field of religious studies.


This collection brings together an international team of scholars to assess and think with the work of Russell T. McCutcheon. Though McCutcheon is often accused of bringing the field into disrepute, and thus often ignored or dismissed, the chapters collected here prefer to see him as one of the foremost observers and critics of the intellectual practices associated with the field of religious studies. The volume is divided into two sections. The first deals with theoretical engagements of his works: pushing it in different directions, critiquing certain aspects of it, and seeing if some of his earlier work still holds. The second part provides a collection of more practical applications as scholars working in various subfields (Buddhism, Islam, early Christianity, and Christian Nationalism in the US) use aspects of McCutcheon’s work to illumine those subfields. The result is an important volume to understand the work and contribution of McCutcheon with chapters by leading scholars in the study of religion that will be of use to other scholars and graduate students

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Willi Braun and Aaron W. Hughes

PART ONE: THEORY

1. Reflections on the Work of Russell T. McCutcheon 13 Bruce Lincoln

2. The McCutcheonian Device and Some Resisting Paradoxes in Critical Studies of Religions 19 Daniel Dubuisson

3. A Versatile Problem-Solver? Studying “Religion” and Societal Structures 35 Teemu Taira

4. “Two Non-Theologians Walk into a Bar…”: A Micro-Historian in Conversation with a Public Intellectual, Each “of Religion” 56 Johannes C. Wolfart

5. Engaging an Engaged Study and Scholar of Religion: Some Past and Present Proposals and Positions 82 Tim Jensen

6. Savior or Undertaker? The Reception of McCutcheon in the German Discourse on the Academic Study of Religion 120 Steffen Führding

7. Having a Blast in the Motel of the Mysteries: A Redescriptive Archaeology 144 Gerhard van den Heever

8. Modern Classification: Redescribing the Way Our Modern Lives Work 176 Mitsutoshi Horii

PART TWO: PRAXIS

9. The Ubiquitous Muslim: Religion, Law, and the Problem of Classification 205 Aaron W. Hughes

10. What if Everything’s “Religious”? Classification and Power in North American Christian Nationalism 223 Julie Ingersoll

11. Paul’s Gentile Adoptees: A Critique of the Framework of “Conversion” 239 Jennifer Eyl

12. “Instant Classic Hot Potato”: The Taxon “Buddhism” in the Study of Religion 257 James B. Apple

13. Classifying Belief in Islam 271 Adil Hussain Khan

14. A Curious Act of Classification: The Case of Paweł M. 293 Barbara Krawcowicz

15. The Last Romantics: Or, Reclaiming the Muse 311 Robyn Faith Walsh

Index 332

  • Edited by Willi Braun
  • Edited by Aaron W. Hughes