Catholic Anthropologists

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In the anthropological study of religion, does having a religious background benefit a researcher or does it introduce bias? Where does theology belong in the anthropology of religion, and what might the two learn from each other? Can one critically study a faith and live it at the same time? This course addresses these questions through a review of the lives and work of prominent anthropologists who identified as Catholic and drew inspiration from their Catholic faith. In examining how these anthropologists shaped the discipline, students will learn about the wide breadth of the anthropological study of religion, an endeavor that stretches from the origins of our species to the high-tech world in which we now live. This disciplinary survey will also lead to questions of how, through these particular anthropologists, insights from the anthropology of religion intersect, complicate, and enrich the Catholic intellectual tradition.