Teaching Bourdieu on and in the Study of Religion(s)

Abstract

This essay summarizes some salient points of the experience of a few years teaching a biennial graduate-level course on the uses of Pierre Bourdieu for the social-scientific study of religion. The original teaching context is that of a graduate division of religion in a theological school, within an area of Religion & Society and in a concentration on the sociology of religions. Albeit the course is designed firstly with PhD candidates in the latter concentration in mind, participants come from many other concentrations and areas of the division as well. The article synthesizes some key aspects of the process, method, resources, and hurdles of this attempt to propose to doctoral candidates in religious studies a reading, reflection and discussion of works by/on/using Bourdieu which illumines and benefits their scholarly research efforts to understand specific socio-religious dynamics – while simultaneously helps them overcome some of the main challenges and blunders typical of reading Bourdieu.