Professor Carole Cusack
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Professor Carole Cusack

BA, PhD, MEd (Ed Psych) (Sydney)
Professor of Religious Studies
Studies in Religion
Professor Carole Cusack

Carole M. Cusack received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Religious Studies and English Literature from the University of Sydney in 1986. She later graduated PhD in Studies in Religion in 1996 and Master of Education (Educational Psychology) in 2001. She has taught in Studies in Religions since 1989, first as a casual tutor and lecturer, and from 1996 as a full-time staff member.

Her research interests include medieval European religion, religious conversion, medieval and modern Paganism, contemporary religious trends, alternative spiritualities and new religious movements. She was the editor (with Dr Christopher Hartney, University of Sydney) of the Journal of Religious History from 2007-2015, and (with Dr Liselotte Frisk, Dalarna University, Sweden) the Founding Editor of International Journal for the Study of New Religions (2010-2013). In 2015 she became Editor of Literature & Aesthetics, the journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics. In 2016 became Editor (with Professor Rachelle M. Scott, University of Tennessee at Knoxville) of Fieldwork in Religion. She has a close relationship with the University of Edinburgh, where she takes her Special Studies Program Leave and has taught on exchange in 2009.

As of 2018 Carole Cusack is a member of eleven journal editorial boards, including: Journal of Religion Media, and Digital Culture (Brill); Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (University of California Press); Implicit Religion (Equinox); Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (Academic Publishing); Atlantis: A Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies (journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies); and Journal of Religious History (John Wiley and Sons).

Carole is also involved in many Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and University initiatives. She was Pro-Dean (Teaching and Learning) for 2013-2014, was Director of Academic Support and Development for two semesters in 2011 and 2012, Associate Dean (Undergraduate) in 2008 to 2010, and Degree Director of the Bachelor of Arts from 2008-2010.

  • Medieval Christianity
  • European Mythology
  • Theories of Conversion
  • Western Esotericism
  • Contemporary Religious Trends

Carole teaches units including:

  • RLST1002 Religion: Text, Life & Tradition
  • RLST3607 Witchcraft Paganism & Western Esotericism
  • RLST2640 Contemporary Australian Religion
  • RLST2631 Celtic and Germanic Mythology
  • RLST3609 Religion & the Medieval World

Carole supervises research postgraduates and Honours students in medieval religion, New Age studies, European mythology, religious conversion, religion and new media, Pagan Studies, pilgrimage and tourism, witchcraft and magic, new religious movements, contemporary Christianity and civil religion.

  • Australia and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
  • Sydney Society for Scottish History
  • Fellow of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries
  • British Association for the Study of Religion
  • Australian Association for the Study of Religion
  • Trustee, Religious Studies Project
  • Review Editor (with Rose Mary Amenga-Etego, University of Ghana), Numen (journal of the International Association for the History of Religions)
  • Regional Director (with Bernard Doherty) of the ‘Australian Religions and Spiritual Traditions’ Special Project, World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP), Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision (2010)
  • CHASS Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision Award (2006)
  • Faculty of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award (2004)
Project titleResearch student
The Goethean Actor: Rudolf Steiner's IndicationsNeil ANDERSON

Publications

Books

  • Buljan, K., Cusack, C. (2015). Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in Contemporary Japan. Sheffield, United Kingdom: Equinox Publishing. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2011). The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2010). Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Surrey, England UK: Ashgate. [More Information]

Edited Books

  • Upal, M., Cusack, C. (2021). Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Stausberg, M., Cusack, C., Wright, S. (2020). The Demise of Religion: How Religions End, Die or Dissipate. London: Bloomsbury Academic. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Morehead, J., Robertson, V. (2019). The Sacred in Fantastic Fandom: Essays on the Intersection of Religion and Pop Culture. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. [More Information]

Book Chapters

  • Cusack, C. (2022). A New Spiritual Marketplace: Comparing new age and new religious movements in an age of spiritual and religious tourism. In Daniel H. Olsen and Dallen J. Timothy (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism, (pp. 79-89). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2021). A Magickal School In the Twenty-First Century: The Grey School of Wizardry and Its Prehistory. In Bernd-Christian Otto and Dirk Johannsen (Eds.), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, (pp. 314-333). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Upal, M., Cusack, C. (2021). Introduction: Islamic Sects and Movements. In Muhammad Afzal Upal and Carole M. Cusack (Eds.), Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements, (pp. 1-20). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]

Journals

  • Cusack, C. (2024). Wulfila, the Gothic Bible, and the Mission to the Goths: Rethinking the ‘Apostle to the Goths’ in Terms of Homoian Theology, Conversion as a Strategy of Empire, and Fourth Century Social and Cultural Transformations. Religions, 15(10), 1177. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2022). Book Review: 'The Magic of Rogues: Necromancers in Early Tudor England' by Frank Klaassen and Sharon Hubbs Wright. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 17(1), 151-152. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2022). Book Review: David W. Kim (ed.), New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives. The Journal of Daesoon Thoughts, 1(2), 171-173. [More Information]

Edited Journals

  • Cusack, C. (2021). Special Issue: Scriptures in the Study of G. I. Gurdjieff and the 'Work". Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 12(2). [More Information]
  • Ezzy, D., Cusack, C. (2019). Special Issue: Religion Studies Autobiographies. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 32(2-3). [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2017). Special Issue: G. I. Gurdjieff, the Arts, and the Production of Culture. Religion and the Arts, 21(1-2).

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

  • Cusack, C. (2016). Did the Crusades lead to Islamic State? The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2015). Schnapps, whipping and sacks: how Christmas traditions evolved around the world. The Conversation. [More Information]

Reference Works

  • Cusack, C. (2019). Kenja Communications. World Religions and Spirituality (WRSP). [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2018). Mock Religions. In Henri Gooren (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Springer Link. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2018). The Family (Santiniketan Park Association). World Religions and Spirituality (WRSP). [More Information]

Other

  • Radford, R., Cusack, C., Fallon, B. (2021), The Religious Studies Project - Discourse November 2021: Religious Freedom, Exemptions, and Festivals in Australia. [More Information]
  • O'Donoghue, M., Cusack, C. (2020), Ten years on: Mary MacKillop, the 'patron saint of trouble makers'. ABC Radio National: Soul Search. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Palmer, S. (2019), Don't call it a cult.

2024

  • Cusack, C. (2024). Wulfila, the Gothic Bible, and the Mission to the Goths: Rethinking the ‘Apostle to the Goths’ in Terms of Homoian Theology, Conversion as a Strategy of Empire, and Fourth Century Social and Cultural Transformations. Religions, 15(10), 1177. [More Information]

2022

  • Cusack, C. (2022). A New Spiritual Marketplace: Comparing new age and new religious movements in an age of spiritual and religious tourism. In Daniel H. Olsen and Dallen J. Timothy (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism, (pp. 79-89). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2022). Book Review: 'The Magic of Rogues: Necromancers in Early Tudor England' by Frank Klaassen and Sharon Hubbs Wright. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, 17(1), 151-152. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2022). Book Review: David W. Kim (ed.), New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives. The Journal of Daesoon Thoughts, 1(2), 171-173. [More Information]

2021

  • Cusack, C. (2021). A Magickal School In the Twenty-First Century: The Grey School of Wizardry and Its Prehistory. In Bernd-Christian Otto and Dirk Johannsen (Eds.), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, (pp. 314-333). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2021). Between Sea and Land: Geographical and Literary Marginality in the Conversion of Medieval Frisia. Religions, 12(8), 580. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2021). Book Review: Lewis, James R. and Huang Chao (eds) 2019. 'Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong'. Fieldwork in Religion, 15, 218-219. [More Information]

2020

  • Cusack, C. (2020). A Tribute to Liselotte Frisk (1959-2020). International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 11.1, 5-12. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2020). Anne Hamilton-Byrne and the Family: Charisma, Criminality, and Media in the Construction of an Australian "Cult" Leader. Nova Religio: journal of alternative and emergent religions, 24(1), 31-54. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2020). Apostate Memoirs and the Study of Scientology in the Twenty-First Century. Implicit Religion, 23(2), 148-155. [More Information]

2019

  • Cusack, C., Leone, M., Sconce, J. (2019). Afterword: Religious and Digital Imaginaries in Parallel Lines. In Simone Natale and Diana Pasulka (Eds.), Believing in Bits: Digital Media and the Supernatural. New York, United States: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2019). Book review: D. W. Pasulka, 'American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 10(2), 258-259. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2019). Book review: Liselotte Frisk, Sanja Nilsson, and Peter Akerback, Children in Minority Religions: 'Growing Up in Controversial Religious Groups (Sheffield: Equinox, 2018). The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 21(1), 131-134. [More Information]

2018

  • Cusack, C. (2018). Celebrating with the Church of the SubGenius: X-Day Rituals of Bad Taste, Burning 'Bob', and the End of the World (Not). In Frans Jespers, Karin van Nieuwkerk and Paul van der Velde (Eds.), Enjoying Religion: Pleasure and Fun in Established and New Religious Movements, (pp. 147-164). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Cusack, C., Scott, R. (2018). Editor's Introduction. Fieldwork in Religion, 13(2), 125-126. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2018). Mock Religions. In Henri Gooren (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Springer Link. [More Information]

2017

  • Cusack, C. (2017). "Squirrels" and Unauthorised Uses of Scientology: Werner Erhard and EST, Ken Dyers and Kenja, and Harvey Jackins and Re-evaluation Counselling. In James R. Lewis, Kjersti Hellesoy (Eds.), Handbook of Scientology, (pp. 485-506). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Nurwanto, N., Cusack, C. (2017). Addressing Multicultural Societies: Lessons from Religious Education Curriculum Policy in Indonesia and England. Journal of Religious Education, 64, 157-178. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Wilson, D. (2017). Australian Pagans: Fashion, Music, and Festivals. In Adam Anczyk and Joanna Malita-Krol (Eds.), Walking the Old Ways in a New World: Contemporary Paganism as Lived Religion, (pp. 21-44). Katowice: Sacrum Publishing.

2016

  • Cusack, C. (2016). Archaeology and the World Religions Paradigm: The European Neolithic, Religion and Cultural Imperialism. In Christopher R. Cotter, David G. Robertson (Eds.), After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies, (pp. 153-167). Oxon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2016). Did the Crusades lead to Islamic State? The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Scott, R. (2016). Editors' introduction. Fieldwork in Religion, 11(2), 135-136. [More Information]

2015

  • Buljan, K., Cusack, C. (2015). Anime, Religion and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in Contemporary Japan. Sheffield, United Kingdom: Equinox Publishing. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2015). Apocalypse in Early UFO and Alien-Based Religions: Christian and Theosophical Themes. In Erik Tonning, Matthew Feldman, David Addyman (Eds.), Modernism, Christianity and Apocalypse, (pp. 339-353). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2015). Foreword. In David W. Kim (Eds.), Religious Transformation in Modern Asia: A Transnational Movement, (pp. xi-xiv). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. [More Information]

2014

  • Cusack, C. (2014). Guest editor's introduction: G.I. Gurdjieff. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 27(3), 259-261. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2014). Gurdjieff and Katherine Mansfield Redux: Alma de Groen's The Rivers of China. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 27(3), 325-345. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2014). Individual Suicide and the End of the World: Destruction and Transformation in UFO and Alien-Based Religions. In James R. Lewis, Carole M. Cusack (Eds.), Sacred Suicide, (pp. 91-108). Farnham, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing. [More Information]

2013

  • Cusack, C. (2013). Discordianism. World Religions and Spirituality (WRSP). [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2013). Enlightenment Concepts, Medieval Contexts. In James L. Cox (Eds.), Critical Reflections on Indigenous Religions, (pp. 65-80). Farnham, UK: Ashgate. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2013). History, Authenticity, and Tourism: Encountering the Medieval While Walking Saint Cuthbert's Way. In Alex Norman (Eds.), Journeys and Destinations: Studies in Travel, Identity, and Meaning, (pp. 1-21). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

2012

  • Cusack, C. (2012). "And the Building Becomes Man": Meaning and Aesthetics in Rudolf Steiner's Goetheanum. In Carole Cusack and Alex Norman (Eds.), Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production, (pp. 173-191). Leiden: Brill. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2012). Charmed Circle: Stonehenge, Contemporary Paganism, and Alternative Archaeology. Numen-International Review for the History of Religions, 59(2-3), 138-155. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2012). Cognitive Narratology and the Study of New Religions. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 3(2), 154-171. [More Information]

2011

  • Cusack, C. (2011). 'Celticity' in Australian alternative spiritualities. In Olivia Cosgrove, Laurence Cox, Carmen Kuhling, Peter Mulholland (Eds.), Irelands New Religious Movements, (pp. 281-299). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Cusack, C. (2011). An Enlightened Life in Text and Image: G. I. Gurdjieff's Meetings With Remarkable Men (1963) and Peter Brook's 'Meetings With Remarkable Men' (1979). Literature and Aesthetics, 21(1), 72-97.
  • Cusack, C. (2011). Discontinuous Meditations on the Phenomenology of Religion. Mentalities: an interdisciplinary journal, 25(Nos 1-2), 1-7.

2010

  • Cusack, C., Hartney, C. (2010). Introduction. In Carole M. Cusack, Christopher Hartney (Eds.), Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf, (pp. 1-14). Leiden: Brill.
  • Cusack, C. (2010). Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Surrey, England UK: Ashgate. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Hartney, C. (2010). Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf. Leiden: Brill.

2009

  • Cusack, C. (2009). Celebrity, the popular media and Scientology: making familiar the unfamiliar. In Lewis, James S (Eds.), Scientology, (pp. 389-409). New York, USA: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C., Digance, J. (2009). Pastoral care and September 11: Scientology's nontraditional religious contribution. In Lewis, James S (Eds.), Scientology, (pp. 435-437). New York, USA: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Cusack, C. (2009). Science fiction as scripture: Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a strange land and the church of all worlds. Literature and Aesthetics, 19(2), 72-91.

2008

  • Cusack, C., Digance, J. (2008). "Shopping for a self": pilgrimage, identity-formation, and retail therapy. In Graham St John (Eds.), Victor Turner and contemporary cultural performance, (pp. 227-241). Oxford, New York: Berghahn Books.
  • Cusack, C. (2008). Foreword. In John R. C. Martyn (Eds.), King Sisebut and the culture of Visigothic Spain, with translations of the lives of Saint Desiderius of Vienne and Saint Masona of Mérida, (pp. i-ii). Lewiston, New York; Queenston, Ontario; Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press.
  • Prior, J., Cusack, C. (2008). Ritual, liminality and transformation: secular spirituality in Sydney's gay bathhouses. Australian Geographer, 39(3), 271-281. [More Information]

2007

  • Cusack, C. (2007). Konkokyo (Golden Light Teachings) and Modernity: A Test of the Faivre-Hanegraaf Six-Point Typology of Western Esotericism. Australian Religion Studies Review, 20(3), 317-333.
  • Cusack, C. (2007). The Goddess Eostre: Bede's Text and Contemporary Pagan Tradition(s). The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 9(1), 22-40. [More Information]

2005

  • Cusack, C. (2005). Religion in Australian Society: a place for everything and everything and its place. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 13, 28-45.
  • Cusack, C., Di Lauro, F., Hartney, C. (2005). The buddha of suburbia : proceedings of the eighth Australian and International Religion, Literature and the Arts Conference 2004. Sydney: RLA Press.
  • Cusack, C. (2005). The Future of Australian Secularism: Religion, Civil Society and the American Alliance. Australian Review of Public Affairs, 10(October).

2004

  • Cusack, C. (2004). Esotericism, Irony And Paranoia In Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum'. In Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle (Eds.), Esotericism and the Control of Knowledge, (pp. 63-85). Sydney: Department of Studies in Religion, University of Sydney.

2003

  • Cusack, C. (2003). Australian Paganism: Remnant of the Past or Way of the Future? Australian Review of Public Affairs, 22(August).
  • Cusack, C. (2003). I'm Hopeful, You're Hopeful (We Hope). Australian Review of Public Affairs, 13(March).
  • Cusack, C., Digance, J. (2003). Religious, Spiritual, Secular: Some American Responses to September 11. Australian Religion Studies Review, 16(2), 153-171.

2002

  • Digance, J., Cusack, C. (2002). Glastonbury: A Tourist Town for All Seasons. In Graham M.S.Dann (Eds.), The Tourist as a Metaphor of the Social World, (pp. 263-280). UK: CABI Publishing.

2001

  • Cusack, C., Oldmeadow, P. (2001). The End of Religions? Religion in an Age of Globalisation. Australia: Department of Studies in Religion, University of Sydney.
  • Cusack, C. (2001). The Essence of Buddhism: How to Bring Spiritual Meaning into Everyday. Australia: Lansdowne Publishing.

1999

  • Cusack, C., Oldmeadow, P. (1999). This Immense Panorama: Studies in Honour of Eric J. Sharpe. Sydney: The University of Sydney.

1998

  • Cusack, C. (1998). Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples. London: Cassell. [More Information]

In the media

Related research articles

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