Blurb:

This essay considers the particular publics in which scholars of religion might speak, the limitations to critical discourse (as differentiated, by Hughes and others, from uncritical or perhaps “insider” or “theological” discourse) imposed by those spaces, and how we might overcome these limitations. The essay considers a few cases studies from liberal political theory and American religious freedom jurisprudence before closing with some practical questions for critical scholars as they address and thus construct their publics.