Russell T. McCutcheon is University Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, USA.

"Undergraduates will find this collection very valuable.[...]McCutcheon explains, in comprehensible language, theoretical terms and concepts which are significant and indeed critical for the understanding and method of the study of religions. For graduates and post-graduates, as well as for anyone teaching in the subject, the usefulness of the anthology lies in the convenience of having several classic and contemporary readings assembled in one volume". - Journal of Contemporary Religion, 2001