Heinrich Wilhelm Schäfer is a Professor of Protestant Theology and Sociology of Religion at Bielefeld University. He has a doctorate in sociology from the Humboldt University of Berlin and a doctorate in theology from the University of Bochum. He has worked for several years at the National University of Costa Rica and the Latin American Biblical University with teaching in Costa Rica, Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. His main fields of research are religion and social inequality, especially the Pentecostal movement in the "Third World"; Religion and violence, especially conflicts motivated by identity; and the Theory of religion. He has worked in several Latin American countries and is a specialist in applying Pierre Bourdieu's theories to the field of religion.

Publications:

Books:

2015. Habitus-Analysis 1. Epistemology and Language. Wiesbaden: Springer

2015. Identität als Netzwerk. Habitus, Sozialstruktur und religiöse Mobilisierung. Wiesbaden: Springer.

2008. Kampf der Fundamentalismen. Radikales Christentum, radikaler Islam und Europas zweite Moderne. Frankfurt.

2004. Praxis – Theologie – Religion: Grundlinien einer Theologie- und Religionstheorie im Anschluss an Pierre Bourdieu. Frankfurt.

1999. Existe mi mamá porque yo existo? Ensayos sobre el sujeto, la ética y la rebelión. San José (FLACSO).

1992. Protestantismo y crisis social en América Central. San José (DEI) 1992

 

Artículos y capítulos:

2021. "Laicismo, ética y poder religioso-político: comparación de condiciones y estrategias”. In: Renée de la Torre, Pablo Semán (ed.): Religiones y espacios públicos en América Latina. Buenos Aires: CLACSO-CALAS. 203-228.

2016b. "Mission inverted: inter-American religious flows and how to capture them". In: Maryemma Graham/Wilfried Raussert (ed.):Entangled and Mobile Americas. Farnham: Ashgate.

2015. "Pombagira y el obispo: sobre identidades religiosas transnacionales”. In: Wilfried Raussert et al. (ed.): Key Topics in Inter-American Studies. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag: 133-158.

2015. "Towards a Praxeology of Religious Life 1: modes of observation” (with Leif Hagen Seibert, Adrián Tovar Simoncic und Jens Köhrsen). In: Frans Wijsen and Kocku von Stuckrad (ed.): Making Religion: Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion. Leiden: Brill: 147-171.

2015. "Towards a Praxeology of Religious Life 2: tools of observation” (with Leif Hagen Seibert, Adrián Tovar Simoncic und Jens Köhrsen). In: Frans Wijsen and Kocku von Stuckrad (ed.): Making Religion: Theory and Practice in the Discursive Study of Religion. Leiden: Brill: 175-202.

2014. "Identity politics and the political field– a theoretical approach to modeling a ‘field of identity politics’”. In: Raab, Josef (ed.):  New World Colors: Ethnicity, Belonging, and Difference in the Americas. Inter-American Studies/Estudios Interamericanos, Vol. 9. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe: 375-399.

2013. "Cambios en el campo religioso de Guatemala y Nicaragua: 1985 a 2013” (mit Adrián Tovar und Tobias Reu). In: Sendas. Revista Semestral del Instituto de Investigaciones del Hecho Religioso. Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, Mayo-Junio, Vol 1.: 11-32.

2009. "The Pentecostal movement –social change and religious habitus”. In: Bertelsmann Stiftung (ed.): What the World Believes: Analysis and Commentary on the Religion Monitor 2008. Gütersloh: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung: 533-585.

2008. "Fundamentalismos, modernidades y tensiones políticas globales. Sobre la religión políticamente movilizada”. In: Estudos de Religião (UMetodista, São Paulo) 35: 87-107.

 

Activities during his stay in Guadalajara:

Seminar "Conceptos y Metodologías para comprender la diversidad religiosa en México, Guatemala y Nicaragua” (Concepts and Methodologies to understand religious diversity in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua) (with Dr. Adrian Tovar, Dra. Renée de la Torre and Dra. Cristina Gutiérrez Zuñiga); 02-15-2018, CIESAS Occidente

Seminar "Teología de la Liberación y Métodos Participativos" (Theology of Liberation and Participative Methods), (with Dr. Sarah Corona Berkin), 02-16-2018, University of Guadalajara.