Russell T. McCutcheon
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mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon
@mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1K following 910 posts

I’m University Research Professor in the Study of Religion and was a longtime Dept Chair but now teach, read, write, and have opinions on the fate of higher ed.

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Russell Tracey McCutcheon is a Canadian religion scholar who earned a PhD in religious studies from the University of Toronto in 1995.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 38%
Philosophy 26%
Posts Replies Media Videos

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 1d
AAR says they’re working to transfer it to their new site…

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 1d
Repeat to yourself: Severance is just sci-fi fantasy. Severance is just sci-fi fantasy. Severance is just sci-fi fantasy….

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2026. All rights reserved.
www.cbc.ca

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 1d
Olympics coverage is coming so that means the media’s fabricated drama narratives are already filmed, edited & in the can, waiting to make the events interesting to people who aren’t all that interested in the events.
a man in a red and blue suit is sliding down a snow covered slope .
ALT: a man in a red and blue suit is sliding down a snow covered slope .
media.tenor.com

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 1d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:

1. Organic Chemistry
2. Histology
3. Physiology
4. Microbiology
5. Survey of English Lit
jackiantonovich.bsky.social Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
bachynski.bsky.social Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:

1. Origins of Nazism
2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
3. Behavioral Ecology & Conservation Biology
4. Principles of Evolution
5. Thinking and Speaking About Thinking and Speaking

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Jason Mittell, Philip N. Cohen , and 7 more

jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
bachynski.bsky.social Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:

1. Origins of Nazism
2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
3. Behavioral Ecology & Conservation Biology
4. Principles of Evolution
5. Thinking and Speaking About Thinking and Speaking
ericmgarcia.bsky.social Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 2d
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Introduction to Islamic Studies
2. Introduction to Rock Music
3. African Music
4. Arabic 101
5. Southern Politics

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 2d
I had a web version of my intro course long ago. Similar URL.

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 2d
Sigh

Reposted by Richard Price, Russell T. McCutcheon

jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d
God I love this woman
a woman holding a plate of food with the words you just fold it in
Alt: a woman holding a plate of food with the words you just fold it in
media.tenor.com

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 4d
Admit I was never much of a fan of that site. AAR hosted it. New website means they took it down? I’ll nose around.

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

adamkinzinger.substack.com
Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 8d
So the “everyone should be armed” second amendment crowd is using the fact the a man was armed (maybe) as justification?

Is this right?

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 8d
Sorry the free book hasn’t arrived to the other side of the globe as promptly as you wished. It’s on the way to each person.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Russell T. McCutcheon, Robert C. Richards , and 7 more

mattmfm.bsky.social
Matt McDermott @mattmfm.bsky.social · 8d
ICE attempted to order local police from the scene of the Minneapolis shooting, but the police chief refused and instructed his officers to preserve the crime scene.

www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 12d
Warns…? You can always count on @nytimes.com to spin it to some imagined center.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 12d
Listen to “The Headlines,” which brings you the biggest stories of the day from the New York Times reporters who are covering them, all in about 10 minutes.
Canada’s Leader Warns of a ‘Rupture’ in the Global Order, and ICE Is Accused of Killing Detainee
Plus, what’s the point of learning cursive?
nyti.ms

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 12d
Listen to “The Headlines,” which brings you the biggest stories of the day from the New York Times reporters who are covering them, all in about 10 minutes.
Canada’s Leader Warns of a ‘Rupture’ in the Global Order, and ICE Is Accused of Killing Detainee
Plus, what’s the point of learning cursive?
nyti.ms

Reposted by Jonathan M. Gilligan, Russell T. McCutcheon

carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 12d
“.. an arsenal of falsehoods, baseless claims and distortions to justify significant policy changes on the economy, immigration and deployments of the military.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/u...

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

polotek.bsky.social
Marco Rogers @polotek.bsky.social · 12d
Artificially treating digital resources as scarce is one of the most ridiculous manifestations of end-stage capitalism. I will die on this hill.

Reposted by John R. Hutchinson, Tom Clark, Mary Feeney , and 5 more

ndrew.bsky.social
Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 12d
school being canceled because the president sent armed thugs to harass and imprison the populace for voting against him should be the biggest domestic scandal in american history

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

jessicacalarco.com
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 22d
If ChatGPT was really as useful as its proponents claim, OpenAI would not be spending nearly this much money on prime-time NFL ads.

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 25d
Meet an REL alum who works as a Senior IT Systems Engineer at the
Wikipedia Foundation. #RELfutures

religion.ua.edu/blog/2026/01...
Religious Studies Major works in IT, building solutions
Religious Studies training to larger for the larger context and problems helps graduate in IT job build solutions rather than simply troubleshooting
religion.ua.edu

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

lunalore.bsky.social
Luna @lunalore.bsky.social · 25d
“The victim was identified by her mother as Renee Nicole Good, 37. Donna Ganger told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter lived in the Twin Cities with her partner.”

www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
Live: Mother identifies woman shot and killed by ICE agent in Minneapolis
The mother of the deceased driver identified the woman as Renee Nicole Good, 37. Video of the shooting shows agents near the vehicle as Good reversed and then accelerated. One agent appeared to fire m...
www.startribune.com

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

naasr.bsky.social
North American Association for the Study of Religion @naasr.bsky.social · 26d
First NAASR Conversation of the New Year! Join us January 22nd at 1PM EST!

#naasr #naasr26 #religiousstudies #religion #criticalreligion #critical

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Jan 2
That simultaneous head/belly patting routine…?
kathleenbelew.bsky.social Kathleen Belew @kathleenbelew.bsky.social · Jan 2
How else can professors prove "merit" besides SAT scores? Wrong answers only. I'll go first: ability to do sixth-grade geometry homework (two professors in my house fail)

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Russell T. McCutcheon, Brian Keegan , and 2 more

kathleenbelew.bsky.social
Kathleen Belew @kathleenbelew.bsky.social · Jan 2
How else can professors prove "merit" besides SAT scores? Wrong answers only. I'll go first: ability to do sixth-grade geometry homework (two professors in my house fail)

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

annetteyreed.bsky.social
Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · Dec 29
“There is no condition in which the humanities are under attack in which the whole university is not under attack.”
www.chronicle.com/article/the-crisis-of-the-humanities-is-over-thats-not-a-good-thing
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Dec 29
What’re you readin’?

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Dec 29
Don’t disagree but the sites from which the one can be implemented are disappearing quickly, hence my thoughts on a pivot at the degree/curriculum/research level is needed. The humanities model needs rethinking.

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Dec 29
Look forward to chatting if anything sparks a thought or two. Safe travels.

Reposted by Russell T. McCutcheon

annetteyreed.bsky.social
Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · Dec 29
On a train now, so forgive the terseness—although this is what I’m now reading so I no doubt will have more (& hopefully better) to say soon!
Cozy in Amtrak seat with book on lap = Russ McCutcheon’s Our Primary Expertise

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Dec 29
From where I sit it’s the wide presumption among scholars that religion is obviously special that holds us back from responding to the moment—we just cannot imagine why others don’t agree that it needs specialists to interpret its deep meaning. Meanwhile, wholesale liberal arts cuts proceed…

mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · Dec 29
I see a lack of inventiveness to pivot the field for these times. Instead, there seems a presumption that degree programs will remain a basis for action—but they’ve already disappeared in many places & even the so-called Ivies are clearly no longer safe. In fact, we needed new models decades ago.