Bourdieu and the Cult of the Saints as Cultural Theology
In: Religion and TheologyUniversity of South Africa Pretoria South Africa
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Abstract
Despite advancements by social historians in early Christian studies, the narrative remains heavily influenced by the writings of bishops and theologians. Practices of non-elites are often dismissed as “popular religion,” implicitly contrasting them with “proper” theology. This paper employs Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus to analyze patron-client dynamics within the early Christian cult of the saints. Such an approach discursively reorients scholarly descriptions away from the pejorative “popular religion” toward a new nomenclature that I am proposing, “cultural theology,” which more accurately reflects these practices as integral to the period’s working theology and cultural milieu.
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Bourdieu and the Cult of the Saints as Cultural Theology
In: Religion and TheologyUniversity of South Africa Pretoria South Africa
Search for other papers by David L. Eastman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Despite advancements by social historians in early Christian studies, the narrative remains heavily influenced by the writings of bishops and theologians. Practices of non-elites are often dismissed as “popular religion,” implicitly contrasting them with “proper” theology. This paper employs Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus to analyze patron-client dynamics within the early Christian cult of the saints. Such an approach discursively reorients scholarly descriptions away from the pejorative “popular religion” toward a new nomenclature that I am proposing, “cultural theology,” which more accurately reflects these practices as integral to the period’s working theology and cultural milieu.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 147 | 147 | 7 |
| Full Text Views | 14 | 14 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 33 | 33 | 2 |
