A collection of essays written specifically to help graduate students of Religious Studies and Theology in their quest to become professional scholars and professors: this candid and yet practical guide is indispensable reading for graduate students of religion (and cognate fields). Contributions aim to encapsulate the 'pearls of wisdom' that each contributor feels would have assisted them when they themselves were graduate students. Many of the problematic themes of studying religion or religions emerge, but they do so concretely, that is, within the narratives of the lives of experienced professors. These problems are therefore not simply or predominantly dealt with as mere intellectual abstractions. The biographical flavor of many of the essays will help the graduate student reader relate to the work of more experienced students of Religious Studies and Theology and may even constitute important reading for scholars who are dealing with the oeuvre of any of the contributors. The Next Step in Studying Religion includes 10 essays written by a mix of well established and younger scholars including: David Chidester, Harold Coward, Donald A. Crosby, Michel Desjardins, Marc H. Ellis, Darlene Jushka, Klaus Klostermaier, Kay Koppendrayer, Charles H. Long, Richard C. Martin, Larry Patriquin, Vern Neufeld Redekop, Russell T. McCutcheon, Carolyn Sharp and Jon R. Stone.

"Edward Said's Rhetoric of the Secular" provides an important new reading of Edward W. Said's work, emphasizing not only the distinction but also the fuzzy borders between representations of 'the religious' and 'the secular' found within and throughout his oeuvre and at the core of some of his most customary rhetorical strategies.

Mathieu Courville begins by examining Said's own reflections on his life, before moving on to key debates about Said's work within Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, and his relationship to French critical theorists.

Through close attention to Said's use of the literal and the figurative when dealing with religious, national and cultural matters, Courville discerns a pattern that illuminates what Said means by secular. Said's work shows that the secular is not the utter opposite of religion in the modern globalized world, but may exist in a productive tension with it.

Edward Said's Rhetoric of the Secular provides an important new reading of Edward W. Said's work, emphasizing not only the distinction but also the fuzzy borders between representations of 'the religious' and 'the secular' found within and throughout his oeuvre and at the core of some of his most customary rhetorical strategies. Mathieu Courville begins by examining Said's own reflections on his life, before moving on to key debates about Said's work within Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, and his relationship to French critical theorists. Through close attention to Said's use of the literal and the figurative when dealing with religious, national and cultural matters, Courville discerns a pattern that illuminates what Said means by secular. Said's work shows that the secular is not the utter opposite of religion in the modern globalized world, but may exist in a productive tension with it.

A collection of essays written specifically to help graduate students of Religious Studies and Theology in their quest to become professional scholars and professors: this candid and yet practical guide is indispensable reading for graduate students of religion (and cognate fields). Contributions aim to encapsulate the 'pearls of wisdom' that each contributor feels would have assisted them when they themselves were graduate students. Many of the problematic themes of studying religion or religions emerge, but they do so concretely, that is, within the narratives of the lives of experienced professors. These problems are therefore not simply or predominantly dealt with as mere intellectual abstractions. The biographical flavor of many of the essays will help the graduate student reader relate to the work of more experienced students of Religious Studies and Theology and may even constitute important reading for scholars who are dealing with the oeuvre of any of the contributors. The Next Step in Studying Religion includes 10 essays written by a mix of well established and younger scholars including: David Chidester, Harold Coward, Donald A. Crosby, Michel Desjardins, Marc H. Ellis, Darlene Jushka, Klaus Klostermaier, Kay Koppendrayer, Charles H. Long, Richard C. Martin, Larry Patriquin, Vern Neufeld Redekop, Russell T. McCutcheon, Carolyn Sharp and Jon R. Stone.