New Books Network Russell McCutcheon, "Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia, second edition" (Oxford UP, 2026)
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May 4, 2026 
Russell McCutcheon, academic and author who studies how the category of religion shapes institutions, discusses why he revised Manufacturing Religion after 30 years. He examines how talk of religion as sui generis persists in scholarship and public life. He critiques disciplinary habits, traces intellectual influences, and considers practical alternatives for teaching, mentoring, and departmental survival.
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Sui Generis Is A Political Discursive Strategy
- The critique of religion-as-sui-generis targets a political and discursive strategy that privileges institutions and methods, not merely the word "religion".
- McCutcheon links this discourse to effects from textbooks to geopolitics, showing its broad institutional power.
Critique Goes Beyond The Word Religion
- Saying "it's just the word" misses the substantive claim: scholars still act as if an irreducible sacred core exists even when they disclaim the term religion.
- McCutcheon warns decolonizing moves often recover an imagined sacred essence rather than dismantle the discourse.
Eliade Exemplified A Persistent Scholarly Model
- Removing Eliade from citations hasn't eradicated the underlying approach; his work exemplified a convenient model for handling similarity and difference.
- McCutcheon calls treating Eliade as sole cause a dodge and instead sees him as emblematic of a broader managerial system.
