Writing Religion at Cornell (Reflections of a Penitent Professor): Near Eastern Studies

I have an admission to make: I have come to think of “writing” as an ersatzreligion at Cornell University. Religionists will tell you they study belief-systems held by communities of adherents and that apart from their particular doctrines and hermeneutic procedures, such systems exhibit some kind of ritual praxis involving an array of obligations and prohibitions. By this standard, the unusual fellowship of individuals associated with the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University looks and sounds a lot like a religious community. Their religion is, quite simply,