Nothing Could be Further from the Truth

Reed M. N. Weep was a cultural critic of astounding profundity. A professor of religion at a large midwestern university, in addition to the columns collected here, Weep was the author of a number of very influential book reviews. He was last seen in 2011 leaving the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature in San Francisco to check out the Haight. Alumno Sinllanto was the not only the most outstanding of Reed Weep's students, but also the only one. He completed bachelor's and master' s degrees at a large midwestern university, and is now waiting to hear from several prestigious doctoral programs. In the meantime, the amazing self-produced YouTube videos of Sinllanto playing the spoons have been viewed by tens of fans, that's 'tens,' with a 't.'

• FROM THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER INTRODUCTION: REED M. N. WEEP: THE MAN, THE LEGEND, THE COLUMNIST Alumno Sinllanto Reminiscences of the Editors HE PACKED A PUNCH Russell T. McCutcheon HITTING ROCK BOTTOM WITH REED M. N. WEEP Craig Prentiss WHO WAS WEEP? THE REVIEWER Scott S. Elliott BRILLIANT OBSESSIVE: A REED WEEP COMEDY Craig Martin The Columns 1. THE MCCUTCHEON DECADE, 1997-2001: IT SURE SEEMED LIKE TEN YEARS 1.1 The AAR/SBL Annual Meeting: Mission Review 1.2 How to Write a Book Note 1.3 The Cost of Messiahship 1.4 The Groups Are Where It's At: A Guide to the Annual Meeting 1.5 The Department Secretary: Master of the Universe 1.6 Next on Oprah: Lives Ruined by Student Evaluations 1.7 Higher Education among the Nacirema 1.8 The Bible in Bean Town: A Guide to the SBL Annual Meeting 1.9 Letters to the Editor 1.10 Letter to the Editor 1.11 A Sorry Excuse for a Major: Religion 1.12 Video Vignettes for the Concerned Teacher 1.13 Minutes of the May Meeting of the Faculty Senate 1.14 A Letter from Fidelio 1.15 The Torpedo Rec 1.16 Retiring, But Not Shy 2. THE PRENTISS DECADE, 2002-2004: I COULD HAVE SWORN IT WAS TEN YEARS 2.1 The New Testament Mystery Solved 2.2 The Students of Generation A': A Major Disappointment 2.3 President Bush, Meet Emperor Meiji 2.4 The View from the Head: An Interview with Hyrum N. Rollment, Reed M. N. Weep's Department Chair 2.5 The War and the State of the Union in Esperanto 2.6 Teaching for the New Millennium 2.7 The Origins of Religion Revealed 2.8 The World Religions: Hinduism 2.9 The World Religions: Buddhism 2.10 The World Religions: Christianity 3. THE ELLIOTT DECADE, 2005-2008: IT WAS A SHORT DECADE 3.1 The World Religions: Islam 3.2 Meeting with the Special Assistant to the Provost 3.3 Managing Stress 3.4 True That 3.5 Desert 3.6 ESTPPPMFC 4. THE MARTIN DECADE, 2008-2011: OK, SO MAYBE IT WASN'T EXACTLY TEN YEARS 4.1 The Candidates' Religion 4.2 Death of a Professor 4.3 The Commencement Address I Wish I Could Give, If They'd Ask Me (Which They Won't) 4.4 Bloom's Taxidermy 4.5 Banner Roll Out 4.6 To Betty Purdy, Department Secretary, Upon Her Retirement 4.7 Opera Mundi 4.8 Assessment Is a Journey, Or the Last Column I Will Ever Write about Assessment 4.9 Among the Orsians: The Revolutionary Discovery of a New Religion! 4.10 Keeping Up With the Kollege Professors: The Pitch 4.11 Announcement: Reed M. N. Weep Retirement

At last the long-awaited codification of the wisdom and wit of the eponymous, intrepid Reed N. Weep. A must-read for all who regularly take tweed and paper to academic conferences and for those who dream of one day doing so. All fans of David Lodge will find a peer in Weep's tales of the academy. Willi Braun (who owns no tweed but a parka), University of Alberta If, as Baudrillard once wrote, the secret of theory is that truth does not exist, Reed M. N. Weep puts the secret of religious studies on display for all to see. Well hidden in plain sight, Weep's dispatches are the purloined letter of the discipline. Matthew Waggoner, Albertus Magnus College