I’m really excited about a new book by Christopher M. Driscoll and Monica R. Miller. They’ve co-written Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion, where they tackle how the study of religion has been constructed as a discipline over time and provide a rigorous critique of it’s founding assumptions. I was very honored to provide a blurb for the back cover.

Christopher Driscoll and Monica Miller challenge the authorizing discourses in the field of Religious Studies that deem “proper” method as being free from socially anchored interests or demands. Method as Identity disrupts disciplinary assumptions about identity-based research and will inspire renewed debate about the formation of our methodological presuppositions. With exuberant style, penetrating criticisms, and generative arguments Driscoll and Miller show the key role of identity in producing scholarship. This strikingly original and provocative reassessment of the field is a pioneering and convincing effort. Driscoll and Miller continue to rise up as indispensable voices in the study of religion. Method as Identity is essential for anyone interested in the past, present, or future of Religious Studies.

It’s really a wonderful book and I encourage everyone to check it out and ask their library’s to get a copy.