Religious Studies Beyond the Discipline

Abstract

Relying on the collaborative input from doctoral graduates in the study of religion who have gone on to successful careers outside of academia, this essay offers a critique of the field for not adapting far quicker to the changing economic conditions of higher education over recent decades but also provides a variety of practical suggestions for how programs in our field can make tactical and substantive changes to better prepare graduate students for a far wider variety of professional futures, inasmuch as we all know that few, at least for the foreseeable future, will ever be hired as tenure-track faculty members.

Religious Studies: Wither and Why?

“…That includes offering an unvarnished look at the inadequacies of current graduate training (e.g., see Aghapour et al. 2023, a paper that is also the basis for a forthcoming multi‐authored volume on rethinking doctoral training in our field) at a time when the severely deflated academic job market means that a program offering, let us say, mock‐interviews and CV writing workshops, instead of internships for course credit, a reimagined dissertation, thick digital humanities skills, and incremental class projects other than essay writing (whose results can be collected into a portfolio of accomplishments), constitutes one that is peddling solutions to the last decade's problems. But my hope is that in the midst of some honest talk about where we now stand, there are also some empowering suggestions for at least one port where we can find some shelter during the current storm, hoping that our action now can have an impact even if the winds have long been howling.…”