Outside looking in,inside looking out: An epilogue (of sorts)

Abstract

This epilogue reflects on some of the weaknesses, strengths, omissions and future prospects for Religious Studies in Canada. Taking as its point of departure the CCSR-sponsored and SSHRC-funded state-of-the-art reviews, it moves to an examination of certain lacunae in Canadian departments of Religious Studies, such as the privileging of the historical over the contemporary, the philological over the theoretical, non-Canadian religious idioms over Canadian ones and a marginalization of First Nations traditions. It raises the question of shrinking university budgets and reduced funding for departments devoted to the Humanities, and the repercussions that this will have on how we "manufacture" religion. Finally, it concludes, in typical Canadian fashion, on a pessimistically optimistic note.