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Abstract
This dissertation will apply the social theory of 20th century French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to Deuteronomic thought. Bourdieu’s concepts like habitus, field, and symbolic capital bridged the long divide between objectivism and subjectivism. His use in biblical studies has been minimal though his ideas provide great yield for understanding the power dynamics and emergence of biblical literature. The inventiveness of Deuteronomic thought can be described in Bourdieu’s words as a symbolic revolution. The goal is to demystify relations of power that serve the interests of the authors by reading between the lines. It will discuss how societal structures inculcate schemas of thought in individuals, resulting in deep seated dispositions, and how these reflect the ideology of the authors. The study will also expose how these schemas and dispositions are legitimized and reproduced through the unwary intended audience. The project seeks to elucidate what is taken for granted in the texts and “misrecognized”–in Bourdieu’s sense of that term–resulting in a kind of “symbolic violence.” Bourdieu’s theory provides an opportunity to gain many insights on the politics of this literature and its emergence.
