iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

When in Bucharest… (two deceased Romanian religion scholars who worked in Chicago)

Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Conversation with Didier Eribon (right) on Foucault. Eribon wrote the first biography of Michel Foucault in 1989. He provided a strong defense of his biography against several other Foucault biographies.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

So it exists in Tuscaloosa, and probably soon in Helsinki!

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Reposted by Teemu Taira

Russell T. McCutcheon @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

New book alert.: “Neoliberalism and authoritarian populism are some of the main forces endangering contemporary universities. This applies to the study of religion in several ways…” @teemutaira.bsky.social @equinoxpub.bsky.social @naasr.bsky.social

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Modern classic, perhaps. Radical on the surface, but conservative at heart.

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Reposted by Teemu Taira

Max Ryynänen @maxryynanen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Gianni Vattimo -kirjalla (Bloomsbury) on jo (kaunis) kansi! Pian ulkona. Huom. esim. kirjaan upean luvun kirjoittanut @teemutaira.bsky.social

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

If I had to choose a book that represents poststructuralism in the study of religion, this 1993 monograph by Tomoko Masuzawa would be an appropriate candidate.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Edward Said on Jean Baudrillard’s Gulf war comments

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Re-reading ”Discourse on Civility and Barbarity”, cornucopia of ideas and suggestive arguments.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Imagining God by Kathryn A. Johnson, open access until 18th June. Might be of interest for some scholars of religion, especially psychology of religion. Provides an overview of empirical research and theory investigating how ordinary humans imagine God www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

Imagining God

Cambridge Core - Applied Psychology - Imagining God

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

From Stone to Digital Screen by Damian Guzek. Free download and OA until 12th June. An analysis of gothic cathedrals from the communication and media perspective. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

From Stone to Digital Screen

Cambridge Core - Archaeology: General Interest - From Stone to Digital Screen

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Not really outside my comfort zone but still quite unusual for me to find myself in this company. (my chapter deals with Vattimo's writings on religion).

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

New OA issue of Journal for Religion, Film and Media is out with the theme of death, loss and mourning. My contribution is a few thoughts in a joint film review. jrfm.eu/index.php/oj...

jrfm.eu

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Death, Loss and Mourning in Film and Media | Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM)

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Proofreading a forthcoming chapter. This will be out later this year, in The Politics of Classification (Braun & Hughes, eds, Equinox)

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

"Instead, a far more notable trend involves Gen Z women. While American women have always been more religious than men — attending church more often and identifying more strongly with faith traditions — we see that Gen Z women are bucking that trend" wordandway.org/2026/04/27/n...

wordandway.org

No, Gen Z Is Not Undergoing a 'Religious Revival' - Word&Way

The CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute makes the case that there is simply no evidence to suggest Americans are becoming more religious, either in their affiliation with a particular faith ...

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Proofreading time! Out later this year.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Not much Lacanian theory here, just very sharp analysis of contemporary politics. I like this a lot.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Not sure anything will really happen, but this is at least a relevant case for those studying religion and charity law in England and Wales as well as those interested in societal functions of the category of religion more generally. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Ex-Jehovah's Witness MP Sam Carling calls for law change

MP Sam Carling says volunteers in religious groups should be sanctioned for not reporting incidents.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

There's still plenty of time to submit to the special issue I'm co-editing. JRFM 2027, 13/1 (May 2027); Deadline submissions: 1 May 2026: "To Believe or Not to Believe": Atheism and Nonreligion in Media and Popular Culture. Scroll down the link for more information jrfm.eu/index.php/oj...

jrfm.eu

Calls for Papers | Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM)

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

"I expect every lecture to feel strange, even incomprehensible. [..] But I do hope these lectures give you tools to go on thinking and to join conversations." I wish I would have had this book 30 years ago (it is published in 2024).

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

For me, this is probably the most important programmatic texts in the study of religion in the 2000s. A short piece by Tomoko Masuzawa, published in Culture and Religion (1/2000). It is not that widely read, perhaps because it was published as part of a review symposium.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I am working on this slowly, but I wonder if someone writes about religion in Love Is Blind (all countries, all seasons) before me. A new USA season is available.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Two important Deleuze-scholars (Charles Stivale & Daniel Smith) talking about D's recently translated 1981 seminar on painting and other D-related matters. Quite a deep dive. newbooksnetwork.com/on-painting

newbooksnetwork.com

Gilles Deleuze, "On Painting" (U Minnesota Press, 2025) - New Books Network

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

The postman brought miscellaneous Brill publications.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Contributor’s copy arrived. It’s still exciting, after all these years.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

One of my favourite intellectuals still publishing books at the age of 78.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I haven't contributed to this, but I will write a promotional endorsement. This should be out later this year.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

More Zizek to the shelf. Some of these are essays on current affairs (politics and other matters), and I like that part of his writing quite a bit.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Here "critical" means mostly lived religion (i.e. not highlighting texts but what people do). For some, any approach worth the name "critical" means at least problematizing our key term, religion. I gravitate towards the latter, but some contributions in this volume are still useful.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

This is what scholars want to see: other scholars being inspired by their work and taking it further. This is much more valuable than nice words (although I don't mind someone writing something kind). This is from Yosr ben Slima's "Leaving Islam in the Digital Age" (2025) (see the link in comments)

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

New day and a new piece for proofreading. Here's how this chapter begins ("Religionization of Minorities and Culturalization of Christianity: How to Study Boundary-Cases?").

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Proofreading. This chapter begins with an anecdote.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Most UG students think that the point of study of religion is to examine deep individual experiences. They think that the danger of theories & methods is that we'll be distanced from such experiences. After graduation, some will think differently. But only some.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Food for thought for those interested in the (institutional) future(s) of the study of religion. An interview based on Russell T. McCutcheon's "Our Primary Expertise". newbooksnetwork.com/our-primary-...

newbooksnetwork.com

Russell T. McCutcheon, "Our Primary Expertise: A Future for the Study of Religion" (Rutgers UP, 2025) - New Books Network

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Lancaster Uni rhetoric sounds fake to me: "To ensure our Gold-standard teaching develops with the needs of our students, we constantly review [..] our curriculum [..]. As part of this ongoing review, our Global Religions BA courses will not be running in 2026." www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/underg...

lancaster.ac.uk

Global Religions courses update - Lancaster University

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Some recently bought books. Started reading "Disbelief" (2024) by Gervais and now there's a number of commentaries and response in "Religion, Brain and Behavior". I should be doing something else, but this is quite fun. www.tandfonline.com/toc/rrbb20/0/0

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

"I do indeed think that the old work remains relevant today but, sadly so, since it signals that not much has changed in all of these years." – Russell T. McCutcheon reflects working on Manufacturing Religion (1997), second edition coming out soon. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...

american-religion.org

Against the Wind — American Religion

McCutcheon on Manufacturing Religion (2003)

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

A selection of Bloomsbury honorarium books. Finally here.

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Proofing. This should be out later this year or early next year. See: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Now reading this. Traditionalism is "not a mass ideology", but if you look at the world today, many ideas that comprise so-called traditionalism definitely are quite common (more and less harmful forms).

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Teemu Taira @teemutaira.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Is this the only monograph on religion and prog rock?

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