Les sociologues des religions et leur objet

Après s’être fondée en reconnaissant la religion comme fait social primordial, la sociologie a longtemps subi le soupçon de n’être pas suffisamment affranchie de la théologie avec laquelle elle était censée rompre. Les récits autobiographiques de sociologues actuels, anglophones et francophones, qui ont passé tout ou partie de leur vie professionnelle à étudier les religions, témoignent de la difficulté à trouver la bonne distance avec un objet aussi problématique. Les figures narratives qui en résultent varient autour des schèmes de la quête de soi, de l’aventure intellectuelle et de la carrière réglée. La réflexion sur le rapport à l’objet religion semble avoir été plus vive en France que dans les pays anglo‑saxons, sans doute en partie du fait des charges qui pèsent sur une spécialité tenue en marge du système d’enseignement.After constructing itself by recognizing religion as an essential social fact, sociology has long been under the suspicion of not being sufficiently free of the theology with which it was supposed to break. The autobiographical accounts of current English- and French-speaking sociologists, who have spent all or part of their professional lives studying religions, bear witness to the difficulty of finding the right distance with such a problematic object. The narrative figures resulting vary around the patterns of quest for self, intellectual adventure and a settled career. Reflection on the relation to the religious object seems to have been stronger in France than in Anglo-Saxon countries, probably in part because of the load that weighs on a specialty on the margins of the educational system. After constructing itself by recognizing religion as an essential social fact, sociology has long been under the suspicion of not being sufficiently free of the theology with which it was supposed to break. The autobiographical accounts of current English‑ and French‑speaking sociologists, who have spent all or part of their professional lives studying religions, bear witness to the difficulty of finding the right distance with such a proble­matic object. The narrative figures resulting vary around the patterns of quest for self, intellectual adventure and a settled career. Reflection on the relation to the religious object seems to have been stronger in France than in Anglo‑Saxon countries, probably in part because of the load that weighs on a specialty on the margins of the educational system